Customer Service

LawyerShop places great weight in our evaluation of law firms on the customer service the lawyers provide. Several things impressed us about Adler Bytensky Prutschi Shikhman. The firm has a system to ensure clients can always contact their lawyer. ABP guarantees clients will have messages to lawyers returned with 24 hours. Also the firm has developed a "block fee" system to save clients money and control the costs.

"Every client gets a tremendous amount of personal attention. They are not sent to court on their own. They do not find themselves having to call into my office to get updates. We will be calling them on a regular basis and updating them. I will be in court personally or one of my partners or associates will be in court for them," explains Edward Prutschi.

Adler Bytensky Prutschi Shikhman lawyers personally appear on behalf of their clients at each and every court appearance. This allows their customers to focus on work and family, and not on their criminal case. Regular and detailed updates on the status of the case are provided. And ABPS always makes its attorneys available to answer questions.

When ABPS lawyers are in court, the firm's office staff will respond to concerns immediately and professionally. If clients need to speak to their lawyer directly, he or she will be contacted and will return the call at the first available court recess. After hours and on weekends, the firm's telephone lines are forwarded to personal cellular phones making an ABP lawyer available instantly at any hour of the day or night, seven days a week. If the lawyer happens to miss the call, rest assured that voice mail messages will be returned promptly - usually within 2-3 hours, but always within 24 hours. Also, Adler Bytensky Prutschi lawyers are fluent in ten different languages.

Some lawyers bill by the hour. Every minute they spend on a case costs money. Adler Bytensky Prutschi lawyers typically negotiate a block fee arrangement with clients. This not only helps set an accurate budget for legal fees - it can often save thousands of dollars.

"People perhaps don't realize that in the area of criminal law, fees may not be as out of range as people may think. There is a perception that senior lawyers as a general rule are billing four, five, six, seven hundred dollars an hour. And that can be true at the corporate level and that can be true at major firms. In our office lawyers generally bill on a 'block fee' basis. So we're not quoting outrageous hourly rates. We will tell a client up front, 'this is what we estimate the charge will be if the case takes this long to resolve'," explains Edward Prutschi.

Victims of crimes often feel overwhelmed by the complexities of the criminal justice system. Crown attorneys represent the 'public' - not victims. Crowns are often overworked and are unable to spend significant time with the victim in the course of preparing for a trial. LawyerShop was impressed that a key feature of Adler Bytensky Prutschi's great customer service is helping victims of crime. The specialized lawyers at ABP understand that victims have needs in the criminal justice system too.