Law Offices of Norman E Reitz

TL: DR version: Unacceptable work, hostile attitude, nightmare experience.
To be honest, I considered how much detail to include in this review because my experience with this attorney was so negative and he was so hostile I considered whether it would be prudent to share details that would allow him to figure out who I am. I decided I will tell the story, in order that people seeking legal help can choose an attorney knowing the quality of work and attitude my family encountered with Norman Reitz.
My family hired Norman Reitz to prepare a trust declaration and durable power of attorney. After my father’s stroke, he asked my sister and I to take care of some financial affairs, confident that we would be able to do so since he had hired an attorney to set up all the necessary paperwork. We rushed to his bank with the legal documents Norman Reitz had prepared, and were shocked when the bank’s legal department informed us that the documents Norman Reitz had prepared were not acceptable!
My dad was in the hospital and wanted the peace of mind that comes with knowing all his affairs are in order. In addition to dealing with his medical situation, my sister and I now had to scramble to correct the omissions in the trust declaration Norman Reitz had prepared. The bank we were dealing with was just across the parking lot from Reitz’ office, so we decided to stop by and see how he could help us. It never occurred to either of us that he wouldn’t want to immediately correct the issue, especially during the exact type of exigent situation which calls for the use of a durable power of attorney.
We quietly entered his office and sat in the waiting room. There was no one there to greet us, but we could see Reitz was in a meeting in a room right next to the waiting room. After a couple of minutes, he came out and barked at us that it was «unprofessional» to drop in to his office without an appointment. I was stunned. This was his greeting?! I explained the urgency of the circumstances, and he cut me off, going on again about how it was unprofessional to drop in without an appointment. We just sat there, completely stunned. He then listed all the professional types of offices at which one should not drop in (architect’s offices, dental offices, medical offices, and so on). He called us «unprofessional» again, with no sense of who exactly has the professional duty in the attorney/​client relationship. I had to stop him and explain that both my sister and I were professionals and that if a client came in to my office with a problem in a case I had worked on, I would make sure to make time to see that client. He then sputtered that he is not me, and then he tried to shame us, saying that we should be focused on my dad’s medical issues right now and not finances. I started to explain we were following my dad’s instructions so that he could have peace of mind, and it was important to him that we handle his affairs while in the hospital.
Reitz interrupted me again with another rant about how we were being «unprofessional» and said that he didn’t have the client file with him, anyway, it was in storage. He said he didn’t have a paralegal then and couldn’t do anything, anyway. (We had all the documents with us but he never gave us a chance to discuss that, he just kept lecturing away.) I could not believe that instead of rushing to correct the issue with the legal documents he created, he was admonishing us for coming to him for help! I finally could not bite my tongue any longer and stated that it was actually unprofessional, in 2016, not to have client files backed up on his computer.
Instead of taking care of my dad’s affairs quickly and rushing back to his side, my sister and I had to spend the afternoon researching and drafting our own amendment to the trust declaration. Once I completed my research, it was clear to me that a competent estate planning attorney could have whipped up an amendment in the time Reitz took to admonish us for coming to his office. :(An employee at the bank kindly went to the hospital after her shift ended to visit my dad and notarize the amendment we prepared ourselves, just so my dad could feel at ease. Now THAT is a true professional.