Sam Thomas III Esq. & Associates, LLC - Beachwood, OH

My family hired this man as an attorney for me in a criminal case this year in May after me and my mother were assaulted by multiple cops and hospital staff as they were forcibly discharging my mother. The police pressed charges against me and told me while in jail that they were going to throw any felonies and misdemeanors they could to get something to stick. Sam came and got me and dealt with the judge, but he also confidently told me that we were not going to take a guilty plea and that he believed he could get the charges removed. My dad picked me up and I went home to find out that Sam had given my family the confident attitude that he had given me, so I believed everything would go well and that it was in good hands. However, soon after that, I found out that several other people had reviewed Sam's services in past years, stating various forms of misconduct, neglect, and malpractice. I also found out that Sam had his license to practice law suspended twice due to how he had treated prior clientele. Regardless, I believed maybe he had turned over a new leaf and would do his utmost to help me with my case. I was wrong, of course. For several months now, I have been trying to get Sam to speak with me and my family--let alone meet with us at his office--about how we would handle things, what his plan was, reviewing evidence, communicating, providing important updates and notices, etc. But he would ignore us, give us excuses as to why he hasn't done anything, force us to do the investigations, and if we managed to contact him, he would become aggressive and yell degrading, disrespectful, and unprofessional statements and then hang up on us. One other large issue I only recently confronted him about was if he was telling the prosecutor vital information I had told him in private, which he admitted to. Now, in early January, I will have my last pre-trial, and Sam has done nothing, provided me with no legal advice-and instead goes to the prosecutor for responses to my every question and statement-and said he will do nothing to help me. I regret not replacing him at the start.