Law Offices of Joseph J. Mainiero

Mr. M's lack of professionalism, lack of effort and lack of ethics is appalling. I thought by hiring him it was going to ease my mind in a difficult situation but instead his involvement in my case made things exponentially worse. He lied to us consistently about the "actions" he was taking in our case. Meanwhile, he was not doing anything at all. He was supposed to be a bridge of communication between my family and ACS and did not communicate with either side. While he did answer the phone eventually when we called him, he never called us on his own despite the number of messages we left. He never called ACS to talk with them about our case leading them to believe we were "uncooperative" and "hostile". Our case was marked substantiated when it was a cut and dry issue of mandatory reporting that should have been easily closed.

Joe *** talks a big talk, but he his non-actions are speaking way louder than his words. It is now one month after severing our contract and I am still begging for the refund of the retainer that was promised. It is daily excuses and lies from him again as to why I haven't yet gotten my money back. He blames his staff and lies about being out of the office, forgetting that when I spoke to him last I called him directly in his office. The damage he he has caused my family is irreparable and it will be a long, long time before we even begin to recover. As we embark on a war with ACS that should have been but a scuffle, we are mentally, physically and financially drained due to our error in hiring Mr. M.

On October 5, 2009 I went to Joseph Mainiero, Esq. (office located at 305 Broadway, Suite 402 New York, NY 10007) to discuss procedures regarding divorce. At the end of the conversation, I entered into an agreement to retain Mr. Mainiero as my lawyer to handle an uncontested divorce case. Mr. Mainiero's fee for this uncontested divorce was 1,000.00. On October 5, 2009 I paid him the full amount that was being charged. Late November I began to call Mr. Mainiero at his office and left several messages. When I finally spoke to Mr. Mainiero on the phone he would give me all kinds of excuse and leave my questions unanswered.

On January 4, 2010 I called New York State Civil Court and asked for an index number regarding my divorce case. The clerk informed me that I was not in the system. With this information I immediately called Mr. Mainiero's office and spoke to him about this matter. He assured me that he had the papers and would mail copies to me immediately. I spoke with Mr. Mainiero on January 11, 2010 to again get some clarification regarding this matter of not receiving the copies of all the forms he filed in court regarding this matter. Mr. Mainiero again tried to smooth things over by telling me he want to straight out this matter and gave me an appointment to come to his office on January 13, 2010 at 4:30 pm. I agreed.

On January 13, 2010, at approximately 3:30 pm, Mr. Mainiero's legal assistant Kim M. ** called my office and left a message on my voicemail stating Mr. Mainiero would not be able to keep his appointment with me because he had to turn a client over to the FBI, and he is currently at 26 Federal Plaza, but he said he could meet with me tomorrow at 4:00 pm. When I returned, Kim called and she stated the situation. Mr. Mainiero was in and I abruptly stopped her and told her that I was livid because this matter had been going on for 3 months now and no documents had been filed. Kim asked me what papers you need because I have your file in front of me. I told her she could fax me all the documents that was filed in court to my office. As Kim looked through the file, she stated that the only paper on your file is the retainer agreement. Then she said, "Oh, I should not had said that." I told her she said it because it was true.

I am asking your office to look into this matter because apparently this attorney is pretending to help people in legal matters and is getting paid for it. Should your office need any further information, please feel free to contact me. I thought I was entrusting this matter to a professional and trustworthy law firm but it is not and I have been under stress and tension.