I mistakenly signed up for John and his side kick, Amanda Szukala in a divorce case. He asked for a extraordinarily large up front fee, not a retainer, and I later found out why. After many months of directionless, meaningless communication, and miss-steps, I fired him. John is old and useless- basically a "potted plant". Amongst other items, I was duped and forced into a blackmail situation from which I lost my family cottage. The accounting co. Stout, Resius and Ross that was brought in, was part of the charade.
After spending thousands of dollars and dragging this out for personal profit, and unethical gain I switched attorneys. Many other noted attorneys and a judge agree it was a bad case of lawyering! Please run from this group. A good reason why lawyers can get a bad reputation.

During the initial visit with this attorney he was very solicitous and knew just the right words to bring me to tears. In hind sight it was a ploy to gain my confidence. He gave his little speech which included numerous wealthy people who he represented in the past. I certainly did not have that kind of money. The kind old man offered to reduce his NON-REFUNDABLE retainer to only the value of 8 months of my salary. The retainer paid to "RETAIN his excellent services and vast experience", his exact words. All time would be billable by the fractions of an hour.
As Schaefer's expert discovery began he employed a private investigator to follow and photograph my spouse to obtain evidence, who sent me separate invoices. Even though Michigan is no-fault state. Then a forensic accountant was brought in, who sent me separate invoices. Next I was sent to psychologist to determine if my spouse damaged my psychiac, again separate invoices. Final outcome: All these "discovery" tactics were just illusions to impress me, generate money to his sidekicks and produce more billable hours to his invoice to me. The settlement of this divorce drastically reduced the "marital assets" and left me with an extremely bleak future. But I can brag that I had the best Birmingham attorney money can buy.
This man, who has passed his prime, should be ashamed. I had hoped to never again lay eyes upon him. However, I now run into him on quite a regular basis at Kroger's Woodward and Maple store. His face stares back at me from the inside front of the grocery shopping cart advertising his "premier" practice. And when he's not accompanying me in my cart, I see him bearing down the aisle on the outside front of another shopper pushing their cart.
Possibly advertising on Kroger's shopping cart is cheaper than hiring a full fledged advertising agency.
Better yet, maybe Mr. Schaefer should retire and spend more time attempting to improve his golf game.