I went in to Elite Criminal Defense for a consultation about a year ago, having multiple open misdemeanor cases. I also had warrants, as I knew that I would be retaining private council versus using a public defender, but was trying to get my finances in order before retaining one. As such I didn't go for the arraignment and warrants were issued. I did go back and try and get on calendar, but only one of the warrants was retracted. My mother and I had a consultation with Manny Scribner. I would not dispute the positive things mentioned in other reviews about him. He is certainly outgoing, compassionate, and friendly. However, please do not be confused by the other reviews implying that he is a lawyer, or would be the one handling your case/representing you in court. It is, however, easy to understand why other reviewers, and you, yourself, during the meeting would believe him to be your potential lawyer. He represents himself as the person that would be handling your case. However, my mother noticed his business card said "Legal Administrator." When my mother questioned whether or not he was a lawyer and would be handling our case, he answered no to both questions. I asked who would be my lawyer and he could not tell me. He said me it could be one of three or four people and started naming names of people we had neither met or heard anything about, and said it's really whoever has time on their schedule. Manny is in fact the glorified "pitch man." Tells you that they can do whatever is necessary to get your life back on track, etc.
He then asked for my mother's ID and debit card strangely, even though we had not agreed to pay anything and disappeared for about 5 minutes. When he returned, he told us the estimate for Elite's representation was $24,000 or $6,000 (!!!) per case. Again, these were MISDEMEANORS cases that were straightforward, cut and dry. I had a petty theft charge, a paraphernalia charge, 2 drug possession charges with trace amount of drugs found....these were not felonies or drug sales cases. There were no special circumstances or anything like that. They were very, very simple cut and dry that should be easily resolved with probation, deferred sentencing or dropped altogether. Given I did not have a record prior to these offenses. Jail time was not likely. We told Manny that we had another consultation with a lawyer and wasn't weren't gonna commit to anything however I knew from talking to others that had had some similar charges that the fee should be nowhere near double digits much less $24,000. He could tell that he was losing us so he disappeared again and brought back "the closer" who is an ACTUAL attorney - I forget his name, but asked us what's the hesitation? is it the price? I said well we have other meetings that we are going to take, but my mom interrupted and said yes it is the price. He then told us that if we signed right then and there, that they could give us a 50% discount but only if we didn't take other meetings and we signed before we left the office. That showed both of us how overpriced this firm really is. The lawyer proceeded to tell me that my life was in shambles. I had hit my rock bottom and that the only way out was by retaining their services so that they could bring me back and make me a respectable member of society again. I should mention that I am gainfully employed, making 6 figures and am certainly not at my rock bottom nor is/was my life in shambles. Maybe there are people whose confidence has been shaken by their legal troubles that might actually believe that BS and be shamed into retaining Elite's services, but we did not. I was offended by his characterization of me and my stature in society/life. All in all, it felt like a really bad used car salesman was talking to us. "Saying what can we do to get you in that car today?" Except in this case it was what can we do to extort money out of you for overpriced services? Needless to say, we did not retain their services. We later went to meet with the most respected defense attorney in San Diego, certainly by reputation and word of mouth, Roland Haddad. When I told him the quote that we were given, he said it is people/firms like that that give lawyers a bad name and why people think that we are all crooks. He was blown away by what they were going to charge us. He told us that no attorney should charge me anything more than $5,000 for my cases. He charged me $4,000, and I ended pleading guilty to one possession charge and received summary probation, which is a fantastic outcome, and certainly a much more favorable one than I had anticipated. Do yourself a favor: hire Roland Haddad or find a different defense attorney, preferably one that isn't part of the legal corporate churn, where you're randomly assigned to the attorney up on deck to take on a case. you shouldn't have to strain yourself financially to obtain competent legal representation. read more
