I called Steve Bonnette to get help with a specific, short-term issue post-divorce. It would have taken me about 2 minutes to explain the situation in order for him to determine if he was interested or willing to work with me, and give me an estimate, but I had literally said three short phrases when he interrupted aggressively and said, "No, no, I don't talk about divorce decrees. I'll sit down with you and explain your decree in my office if you want, and I charge..." etc. What he was saying had no relevance to what I needed so I said, "I don't understand where you're going with this because I haven't explained the situation yet." He interrupted again, brusquely, and in a condescending, almost scolding tone, said, "I don't give free advice." By now it was obvious that he was unpleasant at best, and not the kind of person who could listen in order to make reasonable assessments. This is not someone I'd want to work with. I was so taken aback by his attitude, I said, "I'm not looking for free advice!" Then, rather than pointlessly duke it out on the phone, I hung up, though I admit I might have sworn at him before the phone went dead.

If you expect your lawyer to be on your side and serve your best interests, you don't want to hire Steve Bonnette. My husband and I hired Steve to represent us as buyers in a real estate transaction, and it was one of the worst experiences I've ever had working with a professional. In our initial call he was polite, but after we agreed to have him represent us, he was extremely condescending and unhelpful in every single interaction. In the beginning, he flat out refused to send us an agreement detailing his services in writing, which was a red flag that unfortunately we ignored.

Throughout the course of the transaction, a title defect was discovered, and Steve was not even a little bit proactive in solving it. When we asked for updates, he would simply respond that he had not heard anything. Weeks later, we got our lender (who knows Steve personally) involved and she pushed Steve to follow up on the request. Almost immediately, we got answers that ended up killing the deal. Had he been working effectively on our behalf, we could have found out that the title issue was not solvable nearly a month earlier, potentially saving us thousands of dollars that we spent on the inspection, appraisal, and other fees.

However the real trouble with Steve came later. After the house deal fell through, Steve had information pertaining to the title that we felt was important for us to know, so that we could make an informed decision about whether to wait on eventual resolution of the title, or move on and buy a different house. Steve literally held that information hostage, telling us he would not share it until we sent him a check for payment that he had requested only 2 days prior. It was an absurd situation where Steve was sending us extremely long, ranting emails, while at the same time saying he was too busy to forward an attachment that was sitting in his inbox. When we said we would send the payment after he sent us the documents, he threatened to sue us. His behavior was very bizarre. We ended up contacting the Vermont Bar Counsel to advise us on whether his withholding of this information was ethical, and they acted as an intermediary, enabling us to come to a resolution. We never received the information we were looking for.

I plan to file a formal complaint with the Vermont Bar regarding Steve's unprofessional conduct. Bottom line: he doesn't want to help you. In my opinion and experience, he just wants as much money as he can get for as little work as possible.

I'm a Canadian resident & had a legal matter in Vermont. I was referred to Elana Baron. She was very professional and got the job done fast!! She exceeded my expectations.