Not good. Didn't tell me any more than I already knew and charged me hundreds of dollars just to talk for a few minutes. As was said in the other comments this guy just continuously asks for payment and does not provide any substance or depth of analysis. If you need estate help consult a real lawyer. read more

I wish I did not have to resort to providing the following review, but it is necessary to warn other unsuspecting people. I paid Mr. Brinckerhoff $1,200 to represent me in court for a civil matter since I could not realistically be there myself because I do not live within a 1,000 mile radius of the court. I spoke with him on the phone and specifically told him, "I need someone to represent me in court for a hearing regarding a motion I filed to dismiss a fraudulent foreign judgment against me." I also spoon-fed him all the case and statutory law and told him about the overwhelming amount of fraud and corruption in the matter, all of which he disregarded. He could not even find crucial case law that I told him about on the phone. Two days before the hearing, he told me he would not be appearing in court since my motion "will be passed." If true, then why did he take my money? He said he spent "9.5-plus hours" on the case and that the "retainer has been more than fully used" and that he was only willing to return $25. That's ridiculous, especially when I spoon-fed him all the statutory and case law! While the rate was agreed at $200 per hour, he should have told me beforehand that he wanted to perform more than one full work day of "research" to educate himself on the relevant law. If he had, I would have never paid him in the first place. I specifically wanted someone to represent me in court--which I told him--NOT someone to learn fraud and collections 101 on my dime. Effectively, what he has done is analogous to someone who takes his car to a service center because it is in dire need to have its brakes replaced. Instead of replacing the brakes, the repair technician changes all the filters and tells the customer that he wasn't sure how to replace a couple of them and had to search his repair manuals. Regardless of whether the filters were actually replaced or not, this is not the service that the customer wanted or needed, and he shouldn't have to pay for it. Furthermore, he said things that are false. He said that I "retained the unrecorded deed" for a property that I conveyed to someone else. I never said any such thing and never kept the deed. He also said that I "kept personally all rents" from that property, which I also never said and which is not true. I am paid to manage the property, but all rents go directly into the owner's bank account. Additionally, he said "You now have legal and criminal issues with the trustee you need to solve." I'm not sure why he would think there were criminal issues to resolve unless he spoke to others involved in the matter and listened to their nonsensical claims. Certainly, there are criminal issues--just not where he is alleging. All such issues lie with the government and other criminal actors associated with the original Massachusetts case. Despite his incompetence, I offered to let him keep $250, but I said that he would need to return the rest. He most likely concocted the story about spending all that time on the case as a smokescreen because he didn't want to appear in court and argue the merits based on fraud. Nearly everyone who is part of the system pretends that fraud and corruption doesn't exist in it and will ignore fraud and corruption, just as he is doing. The only fraud he has mentioned in any of his communications with me is that of which he is falsely accusing me. He is ignoring all the real, provable fraud in the matter--as if it didn't happen and never happens in our legal system. He has called me "stupid" and made other condescending remarks. I have far more experience in the legal system than he has--in more states, in more areas of law, and in more courts. In fact, I've written a highly rated book related to the U.S. legal system titled Stack the Legal Odds in Your Favor. He was very eager to get his hands on $1,200. He said to me during our initial conversation, "What can you send me? Can you do $1,200 or $1,500?" This is something a shyster, not a reputable lawyer, would say. That was a red flag. He was free to decline taking my case, but not AFTER I paid him to represent me in court and then choose not to return my retainer after he decided not to go. He has insanely advised me to just roll over and pay a fraudulent creditor in a case wherein I'm 100 percent correct and have all the evidence to prove it. All other lawyers with whom I spoke basically said I have a "slam dunk," which I do in any non-corrupt court, but those lawyers were not available for the hearing. It would be appalling if Mr. Brinckerhoff was a criminal defense attorney. He would probably tell his clients, "Just sit on this funny chair. You won't feel a thing." For those interested, the case originating all of this is a toxic cauldron of fraud and corruption. An open letter with fully supporting evidence can be found here: www.stloiyf.com/evidence/letter.htm. read more

I agree with the most recent commenter who appropriately used the term "shyster". In terms of his legal advice, I disagreed with some points he made, but overall he seemed like he generally knows what he's talking about. The reason for my negative review is that he seems to care more about taking your money than anything else. I had originally called into a different law office asking for a free initial consultation and they referred me to Nelson. A day or so later, I received a phone call from him asking if I'd like to setup a consultation appointment. I said sure and arranged to meet with him. Towards the end of our meeting, despite never discussing that he charges for consultations, what his rate is, or that he expects you to pay on the spot, he stated something along the lines of "Just so you know, I don't do free consultations." He also said that he thought he might have mentioned this before, although he definitely did not as we only spoke for about 1 minute to arrange the appointment, and I think he probably knows he never mentioned it -- whether intentionally or not. Given this omission and the fact that his website said to call for a free consultation (wording since updated), I was kind of surprised when he said, "so, $250 sounds reasonable to you, right?" He then tried hard to get me to pay on the spot, even pushing to see if I had Zelle which I had never used, before eventually agreeing to just hand me an invoice. Subsequently, I received a barrage of emails inquiring if I had sent the check yet, all within a week of being in his office. In one instance, he even emailed me in the evening and subsequently again the following morning around 8am from some sort of different personal email account (if this doesn't scream shyster, I'm not sure what does). I hadn't even looked at his former email yet. I waited two weeks before sending his payment, which I don't think is unreasonably long, but I would have sent it sooner if not for two reasons 1) I knew if I had a simple question related to our consultation visit, he wouldn't bother answering once he had the check, and 2) I found his tactics and pushiness to be so offputting that I didn't want to reward that type of behavior. I'm a business school professor and earn a good living, so this was really just about principle. There are a lot of attorneys out there, so save yourself the stress and find another one. read more

Nelson Brinckerhoff is a fantastic attorney! I highly recommend him. Nelson is a great person and highly professional. He is responsive, reliable, and extremely knowledgeable. read more

I have used Nelson for 2 situations and his fee has been fair and he has followed through and gotten the job done expediently, efficiently and fair. Very Happy read more