Fuqiang Zhang Esq. - Flushing, NY

Stay away from this lawyer at all costs. We hired him to purchase a co-op and he literally ruined the entire transaction due to his lack of professionalism. We hired Zhang to purchase a co-op in Long Island City back in June. When we spoke to him regarding the contract from the seller, he sounded very out of the loop and tried to steer the conversation toward general real estate process when I asked him about building specific questions. For example, he didn’t even know whether the transaction was a sponsor sale or a resale, despite the fact that he was supposed to have worked on the deal for a week and had access to the offering plan and other documents. That should be a huge warning sign, but due to the time constraint, we decided to go forward with him. The next few weeks were a nightmare. We couldn’t reach him on several occasions since he never provided his cell number, direct line, or email (the email on his business card was the firm’s general info account). All communication was through his paralegal who always claimed that Zhang was unavailable at the moment. The paralegal, who is not qualified to practice law in New York, was answering some of my questions and providing advice. This was against the law in NYC (I reported to the New York State Bar Association). The situation was so bad that the seller’s attorney thought the paralegal was the attorney. There were multiple arguments on the phone between the attorneys due to Zhang’s hot temper. Toward the end, the seller decided to walk away based on the attorney’s advice. Seller’s attorney doubted if Zhang had sufficient experience in co-op purchases. Zhang’s lack of professionalism and bad temper were such a disgrace to the legal profession. When you meet him for the first time, he will try to discuss the process with you, after which you would pay the fee. You likely will not hear from him again. And if the deal breaks, he gets to keep the fee you’ve already paid.