Kenneth F. McCallion - New York, NY

My experience with Kenneth F. McCallion was awful. I hired him through the New York Bar Association’s referral service to take over a lawsuit against a former psychiatrist. Looking back, I can’t believe I trusted him. From the very beginning, I felt like it was me doing all the work. The case was already strong - strong enough to survive a motion to dismiss and summary judgment and it moved forward because of the evidence, the established record, my effort, and the work done by his associate overseas. McCallion’s contribution was minimal. There were signs early on that I should have walked away. He repeatedly misspelled opposing counsel’s (very simple) name in email after email, and he mixed up basic terms like “legal malpractice” and “medical malpractice” more than once. These weren’t isolated slip-ups, they were constant. And unless I pushed him, reminded him, or practically dragged him to do something, the case went nowhere. Emailing him felt pointless; the vast majority of my messages received no response. It consistently felt dismissive and unprofessional. His billing practices were something else. The invoices he sent me felt hastily assembled and didn’t appear to match the actual work performed. He’d list a bunch of supposed tasks and then tack on “28.5 hours” (for a period of 11 days!) next to his own name adding that ridiculous “.5,” as if that somehow made it seem like he was actually keeping careful track of his time. Then, right underneath, he’d list his wife (his paralegal) with “14 hours – no charge,” to make it seem he was doing me some great favor. And every single time he would send these things, he’d write “discounted invoice.” But nothing prepared me for what I saw when we finally got into the courtroom. Calling his trial performance a mess doesn’t come close. It was something I could not in my worst nightmare have imagined. Disorganized, unprepared, constantly flustered. He showed up with almost nothing written down and actually improvised the entire cross of both the defendant and defendant’s expert. The questions he asked were so poor that the judge reprimanded him repeatedly - even rephrasing the questions for him to make them acceptable - and objections from opposing counsel were sustained again and again because the questioning was that bad. Every time the judge yelled at him, he looked like a deer caught in the headlights having no idea what to ask next. He even yelled at the judge for being "unfair" to him. Nope. The judge made it clear he was furious over McCallion’s inappropriate questions and his wasting of the court’s time. Watching him question witnesses was excruciating. Long pauses, no structure, no strategy. He didn’t even use the defendant’s deposition – not once! - despite the fact that the defendant had made statements any competent attorney would have pounced on. When he said, “no further questions” I put my head in my hands not believing what I had just witnessed. The worst part is that I shouldn’t have been surprised. Everything he did at trial was exactly what he’d been showing me for three years: lack of preparation, lack of initiative, lack of engagement, lack of anything resembling a functioning trial lawyer. Only now, the consequences were devastating. What happened in that courtroom cost me an enormous amount: financially (I paid him around 100K), emotionally, and in terms of the justice I had spent years fighting for. What I lived through with this attorney is something I wouldn’t wish on anybody. In my opinion, his courtroom performance benefited the other side far more than it helped me.

My experience with Kenneth F. McCallion was an absolute disaster from start to finish. I hired him through the New York Bar Association’s referral system to take over a lawsuit against my former psychiatrist. Looking back, I can’t believe I trusted him. From the beginning, it felt like I was doing all the work. The case was extremely strong—it survived a motion to dismiss and summary judgment—and it moved forward because of the evidence, the record, my effort, and the work of his associate overseas. McCallion’s contribution was next to nothing. There were early signs I should have walked away. He repeatedly misspelled opposing counsel’s very simple name in email after email. He mixed up basic terms like “legal malpractice” and “medical malpractice” more than once. These weren’t occasional slip-ups; they were constant. And unless I pushed, reminded, or practically dragged him to act, nothing happened. Emailing him was an exercise in futility—most messages went ignored. Passive-aggressive, dismissive, and unprofessional. His billing practices were blatantly unethical. In my view, they bordered on outright fraud. His invoices looked like they were slapped together in minutes, with no connection to reality. He’d list a bunch of supposed “tasks” and then assign himself a completely fabricated “28.5 hours” (for an 11-day span!) as if adding “.5” made it believable. Then he’d list his wife (his paralegal) with “14 hours – no charge,” pretending it was some act of generosity. Every invoice came with the same insulting line: “discounted invoice.” It was classic bait-and-switch nonsense from someone who assumes his clients can’t spot an invented bill. But nothing compared to what happened once we entered the courtroom. Calling his trial performance a mess is charitable. It was an S-show of epic proportions. He showed up with almost nothing prepared—no written questions, no plan, no structure. He winged it. The judge had to reprimand him repeatedly because his questions were so poorly phrased that objections were sustained over and over. Each time he got called out, he froze like he had no idea what to do next. He even snapped at the judge for being “unfair.” The judge wasn’t unfair—he was appalled at the disrespect McCallion showed by arriving completely unprepared. Watching him question witnesses was painful. Long pauses, fumbling, no strategy whatsoever. He didn’t use the defendant’s deposition testimony even once, despite clear lies and outrageous statements any competent lawyer would have torn apart. When he finally said, “no further questions,” I literally put my head in my hands. The worst part is that none of this should have surprised me. His trial behavior was the natural extension of everything I endured over three years: lack of preparation, lack of initiative, lack of attention, lack of basic competence. Only now the consequences were catastrophic. What happened in that courtroom cost me enormously—financially (I paid him about $100K), emotionally, and in terms of the justice I had spent years fighting for. If he offered to help someone get out of a traffic ticket for free, I’d tell them to run. Retire, Kenneth Foard McCallion. Stop hurting people who come to you believing you’ll fight for them. What I endured with this attorney is something I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Hiring him is basically handing the verdict to the other side. I am not a hateful man, but I HATE Ken McCallion.