This review reflects my personal opinion and experience.
INEFFECTIVENESS
- Failed to establish effective communication with law enforcement although he claimed he was doing so
- Failed to get me bail
- Didn't even bring up my five years of law enforcement volunteer work, or the ten character letters he had on file for me from prominent community leaders, or my constitutional right to bail
- ineffective negotiation with the DA. Said he had a "really great" 45 minute call with the prosecutor, then he made an offer and failed to even get a counter offer or find out if the DA had consulted the other parties in the case, which is a requirement by law
- refused to immediately release discovery to my new attorney after I fired him
FALSE ADVICE
- Said I wouldn't be arrested without his prior knowledge, because he was calling the DA every day. I was subsequently arrested without warning and denied bail.
- advised me that if I switched to a different attorney, I should wait until after the preliminary hearings, since I had already paid him through that. I later found out that was terrible advice when all the other attorneys I consulted told me they would absolutely want to handle the prelims in order to set it up properly for their strategy at trial.
- told me the DA would never accept plea bargain on only some of the charges to dismiss the others, and my only plea option would be guilty to all charges. I later found out that a partial plea bargain was very common and even had a name: "Charge Bargain."
- Told me after I was denied bail that my only option was to wait until after preliminary hearings or pay him $13,000 to file a writ asking for bail. I later found out that I was entitled by law to one bail review. I also found out that my being denied bail was illegal, which he never told me.
- When I needed a copy of a court order to get me phone access in jail, he told me I would receive a minute order that day, before being taken back to jail from the courthouse. I never received it and still didn't have phone access.
- Before I was arrested, I told him I was not willing to be caged. He said, "They're not going to cage you." Within a month, I was in a cage.
UNPROFESSIONALISM
- Refused to email a copy of the police report to my email address, claiming it was because he didn't know who else might have access to my email.
- When i respectively called attention to his poor performance, he stood over me while I was handcuffed and yelled, "We're done!" I told him I would be leaving an online review, by dictating over the jail phone to my son on the outside. He then yelled, "You're a piece of shit!" and "You're an idiot!" I told him I would include that in the review, and he said, "Do that, and I'll sue your son." Scafiddi's behavior in name calling and threatening a client's child has been the biggest failure in professionalism I have seen in my entire life.
- Refused to honor agreement regarding capping his fees. Refused to refund large retainer payments I had made for cases that were dismissed prior to his performing services listed in our contract.
- When I hired Michael, I specifically asked him if he would be the one representing me. Instead, several less experienced attorneys have shown up to court in his place several times. In fact, the attorney listed on my case with the court wasn't even him, but someone he contracted with, who has never even shown up to court.
- Told me he had scheduled a psyche assessment for two weeks out. After months of my asking him, it turned out he had never even scheduled it, and never got the assessment done at all. read more
