Eskenas Leonard A Atty

I hired Mr. Eskenas approximately 10 years ago to pursue a simple civil case in a state court. As most lawyers do, he painted a rosy picture of how he would go about arduously helping me with the case. Not long after he entered his appearance on the case, I heard nothing from him. Weeks went by, then months, then years. I repeatedly tried to contact him in the last several years, but he would not return messages. Finally, after contacting the court directly and being informed that the case was about to be dismissed due to lack of activity on his part, I managed to contact him and told him I would be firing him and hiring a new lawyer. During this phone conversation, he made no apologies and had no interest in speaking with me. He hurriedly tried to get off the phone with me. Throughout the 10 year duration of the case, he made zero court appearances and filed zero motions with the court; therefore, I asked him in an email to return my retainer after he refused to provide an itemized list of the «work» done on the case as required by state rules. He informed me that he would not return my retainer even though the rules say he must do so. He even had the audacity to tell me that if he had charged me his hourly rate, it would have exceeded the amount of the retainer! I’ve yet to see any proof of this — because it doesn’t exist. He should be grateful I’m not asking for punitive damages since his inaction nearly cost me the case, and it was only by serendipity that it was not dismissed. Additionally, his lack of knowledge and professionalism is remarkable. After faxing him a copy of the court docket, he made the completely ridiculous statement, «I did receive the paperwork. However, it makes no sense, and thus I do not believe that you have a case in your favor.» Any competent lawyer should be able to understand and interpret a simple court docket sheet! After researching bar association rules in the state, I found that he has broken AT LEAST 9 distinct sections of the rules. This is not surprising since he has already received one public reprimand by the state’s licensing board in March of 2014. Any person with an average IQ would be far better off pro se rather than wasting time and money on this lawyer. He lends credibility to the quote, «99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.» The only reason for the 1 star rating is because a 0 star is not possible