Brett Cullen Kocijan - Deland, FL

Brett is like many lawyers today, tell you what you need to hear to get hired, become unresponsive, and then just wait for the plea deal or divorce trial. It is a broken system and Brett is part of it. Even after told verbally, in messages, and in emails saying in bold will not waive Constitutional right to speedy trial he left town and asked a substitute attorney to waive my right to speedy trial. He did not do one thing he ever claimed he would make priority, and now more than a year gone by and I have only seen my child once over lies. It may seem daunting or overwhelming to do but best thing is file pro se, start collecting all the evidence you can, study the rules and procedures, search for example motions online, and do as much as you can yourself and then hire a lawyer later when needed. Otherwise expect to be out of a lot of money with little return. For my hearing, he calls last minute day before saying he had case law for dismissal and thought he was prepared. First 5 minutes the judge denied his motion. Then throughout the hearing he said multiple times and heard on the mic that we were going to lose. I just kept pressing forward and we won thanks to all the work I did collecting evidence. Brett wants easy way out with little to no work but keep the money flowing. He also does a psychological game with you. If he convinces you to take plea deal he will then start talking about how much he loves trial making himself sound like some great lawyer. That was just one example but he did the same thing on other topics as well. Just to get you to waive your right to speedy trial, he will say he has reputation for being prepared and he is not prepared. If you bring up motion to compel because SA fails to give discovery in time violating rules and procedures 3.220, he will make excuses for them also, they are overworked and understaffed. Not your fault, and this should be your solution to a broken system. Just ask, is he working for you or them. He flat out told me broken system and he learned along time ago to get the best deals for his clients is that he must work with SAs. So there is no fight left. I can go on and on over mistakes he made, promises not kept, no confidence, no desire to really work the evidence, rules and procedures, etc. for the better of a case. I knew these problems existed and tried so many times to get him to understand I know these problems but I need a real lawyer. He never stepped up and caused me so many more problems. My experiences were so bad with Brett that I do not know I will never hire him again, and if I can help it may never hire any other attorney in the future.