If you want to lose your money and your case, then hire these guys.

They are cheap because they are amateurs when they started their business, because they couldn't get a job elsewhere, and having no experience whatsoever, they make their mistakes on you.

The old saying you get what you pay for is true for this law firm.

Again, if you want to lose your case that you had the upper hand on, then hire these guys. They'll make sure you lose it for sure.

They helped me with an eviction years ago, and I really appreciated their professionalism. They advised me well enough to be able to represent myself and negotiate with a very dishonest and greedy attorney I was dealing with on the other end who represented the property management company.

Open legal services was great to work with. My attorney was so helpful with the legal aspect as well as teaching me how the process works. She was always available to answer my questions and for my court appearances, if she wasn’t she made sure I had an associate there on her behalf. They made my scary situation less scary. I hope I never need her services again but if I do I would call them first.

Yes..five stars for the team at OLS.

To say the least, I am very disappointed with the way this firm handles when you don’t have a positive experience.
I was referred by another attorney who said my case was pretty simple so OLS should be more than capable of handling (that’s saying that if your case is complex, don’t go to them).
I had a consultation with one of the attorneys (Jonathan can’t remember his last name) and he didn’t seem very knowledgeable. I had done a lot of research and had consulted with 3 other really knowledgeable attorneys before trying OLS to see if I could save a little bit of money, so I had done my homework but I asked some of the questions anyway, to see what his response would be, and to see if I felt confident about him representing me in court if it came to that. He would either have to “check” on that, or gave me some answers that he seem unsure of. While I believe that no one knows everything and is ok to find the answer when you don’t have it, if you think about sitting in court and the opposite party attorney having all the arguments and answers the only thing I could picture was him no knowing what to do and me loosing my case.
Also, it was very unprofessional he was yawning the whole time. Maybe because he does this all day and every case seems the same to him I was boring him but this is my life and my future we are talking about, so please have some respect and get enough sleep before you get to work so that your clients feel like they’re worth your time.
I called after my unpleasantness experience to request a consultation with another attorney and spoke to the receptionist who said that their policy is that they cannot assign clients to other attorneys. I tried to
But what is saddest of all, is that I tried to speak to the attorney supervisor Shantelle Arguile and twice she refused to take my call. It makes me feel like she is not interested in my concerns.
Obviously being a lower income firm, I am sure they have clients coming out of their ears, so why would they worry about retaining customer, or improving customer service and client experience.
You sure get what you pay for.

When i was in a really sticky situation i went to OPS. I felt nervous going through them due to never having to have an attorney before. The Superb Shantelle was my PD and she made it the easiest and most stress relieving way. She was also very warm, kind, helpful and overall amazing at her job. Thank you guys so much!

So far, it's been a really positive experience

Awesome

Matthew is a great attorney, he's very supportive and helpful with advice.

Mary and Shantell worked so hard for me and I ended up being very satisfied with the outcome of my divorce.
But I don't want to leave out the others behind the scenes like Gretchen! She is wonderful!
Matthew is the one to see if you need a Will, everyone at Open legal services, Thank you!

You have a better chance at winning your case by throwing dimes down the drain. In the eight months that I was with this firm I was tossed back and forth between four different attorneys. I waited weeks for a response to simple questions. I asked on six separate occasions that my ex be drug tested and it never happened. I will not use this firm again.

All of the people are very genuine, kind, and effective! They have helped me out a ton.

Mary and Shantelle helped get to see my four years old son, it wasn't easy but not impossible. Open Legal Services really went above and beyond from what I was expected. Now I get to see my son after one year I have not seen him and I am the happiest dad ever!
Thank you much Mary and Shantelle!

Very good attorney

Went in for a consultation, and received a lot of helpful answers.

Outstanding law firm and I am so happy with their services!

My attorney, Ari Barusch, was amazing! I had an easy case, difficult ex husband, and she has helped me every step of the way. What was dragging on for years she helped me to resolve in a few months. I am grateful for all of her help, she was worth every penny.

Even better if you can't "afford" an attorney they will work with you to find a price that fits your budget.

It's been awhile, but my experience was less then stellar with this law firm. Regardless of the evidence I had, which they wouldn't look at, and due to my "overly emotional state" my interactions with my attorney were unbelievable. He was so condescending, and impatient. Then we had a mediation where I tried to inform him my ex was full of it, and bullying me from another room. I was advised to accept what was...so I did. Both of my children have been in years of therapy now, due to what my ex and his wife chose to do to them, because my attorney who was paid to represent me, and in turn my children did NOT fight for me.
I went to an attorney 6 months later, he agreed to work with me on payments, which he did. He actually listened to me, and looked at the evidence I had tried to show OLS...plus the additional things I had acquired and within only a few months, my ex willingly signed his rights away to his kids. Because my attorney LISTENED and fought for my babies.

Bad people work here, I paid money and they took all of it for nothing i want full custody of my son so i can get him away from a bad situation and all Ari did was nothing if i pay you my hard working low in-come money. I want someone to tel me this is what we are going to do . THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU THEY WANT MONEY THEY ARE LAWYERS WHO LOOK DOWN ON PEOPLE AND LIE IF YOU ARE POOR THEY WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU. THEY HAVE THE DEGREE THEY BETTER THAN YOU.

So nice. So helpful. Live them

This law firm started out saying all is good you have a good case nothing to worry about and was also told our lawyer was experienced. Oh boy was that wrong. First off we found out or lawyer (ARI) had just barely received her license and had to have a supervising attorney to do anything. We paid them almost $2000 dollars up front as well. She claimed that we would have custody of our kids in no time and yet to our surprise was not further from the truth. When we call and leave messages for a call back we don't hear from them for weeks at a time and when we did get a call back ARI could not answer any questions we asked and her supervisor just changed the subject. ARI filed everything late if she filled it at all and left out the most important evidence as well. Everything ARI did hurt our case and I mean everything. Meanwhile during all this they kept telling us that they would tell us if we needed to send more money and we would ask them everytime we finally got ahold of them and they would say no we are still good on funds then we would get a call and say that not only is all the money used up but that we had a negative balance. I would blame this on being a new lawyer but the fact that she had a supervising attorney rules that out. I have explained all these things to many other lawyers and they came to the same conclusion I did that the fact of the matter is ARI was actually WORKING for the person we were fighting in court. If you think all of what I said its not true I would be glad to share all of the case notes and court documents to prove it. I have asked for a refund but no dice and when we did get a new lawyer and he requested all of the documentation we paid this law firm to get they did not send all of it just the stuff that didn't matter. They kept all of the evidence our new lawyer needed to win our case. Good thing we kept copies of everything. I am not writing this out of spite or even hate I just don't want anyone else to spend good money and get ruined like we did. Don't trust them and don't hire them please do yourself a favor and go elsewhere. Oh and the most important part is ARI helped keep or two boys in the home of the man abusing them!!!

OLS is staffed by industrious, innovative thinkers who are redefining what a law firm can be. In an episode where she lost a civil court case to the town plutocrat and his army of lawyers, the matriarch of a famous cartoon working-class family explained to her daughter, "People like us can't afford justice." OLS is leading a movement to make that sentiment obsolete.

I paid for a one-hour consultation with David and Shantelle, to get ideas for taking their model and making it happen here in Seattle. I definitely got my money's worth. I still get emails from them with more ideas for me, even though I didn't pay for that. A great value.

If I could give 0 stars I would. What a waste. We ended up getting a new attorney and everything that took months with OLS took 2 days for our new one. They will jerk you around. No answers. File late. Charge more and more with no explanation or itemized summary. Please do not go to them for help, no matter how desperate.

I was impressed by how skillfully my attorney handled my case.

Shantelle and David were extremely responsive and helpful! Setting up an appointment to learn how to add a sliding scale to my business plan was quick and easy. Shantelle was incredibly helpful and gave me information that was easy to grasp and very relevant to my current practice. I learned so much in a short time. Thank you so much!! And thank you for the work you do!!

I had a great experience with open legal services. They helped me with my case and I am very satisfied with the outcome of my case. I highly recommend them.

(Translated by Google) Shantelle is a fighter, and you will be impressed.

(Original)
Shantelle is a fighter, and you will be impressed.

Open Legal Services has started a movement to offer affordable legal services to those that traditionally did not have access to attorneys. As consultants to my practice here in Philadelphia, it is clear that the attorneys at OLS have one goal: to serve low to middle income families to the best of their ability. They have also been a resource for many attorneys across the country venturing into this new business model trying to revolutionize legal services. Kudos to all the attorneys at OLS for trying to make this work for their clients and for making the business model accessible to other attorneys as well.

This is tough, I've debated over leaving this review for a couple of months. I so wanted this to work for me and was thrilled and relieved to find this firm, a nonprofit and sliding scale for people like me who don't qualify for free legal assistance but can't afford an attorney. I was assigned an attorney with OLS who only had a couple of months experience in family law, couldn't answer most of my questions, and ultimately charged me for the time I spent asking questions that he couldn't answer AND the time he spent taking it back to his senior attorney/ peers... then back to me. I needed someone to represent me and stand up for me but that just didn't happen. My ex-husband was bullying me through his attorney making demands contrary to our divorce decree, lying in court documents, and after less than 2 weeks with this firm I discovered that they were backing down on everything his attorney was demanding and advising me to give in. What???!! When I fired them and picked up my file it contained his notes on some documents and he essentially DIDN'T BELIEVE ME! It was as if I had hired an Attorney to help my ex. It made me sick to see this and I was relieved I'd moved on. I fired them and hired an experienced attorney (who by the way only charged me $30 more an hour then these guys!) who has fought for me and represented me well! She BELIEVED me!! 3 months later...we just went to court and I... won! My ex owed me thousands in back support, medical bills for our kids, and debt he never paid. He lied in documents, lied in court, and had nothing to back it up while I had TRUTH in documentation and the law on my side. My bill with OLS for the 2 weeks I used these guys... was over $900!!! I was essentially paying for an inexperienced attorney and his on the job training. He literally ignored documents that were filed with the court by my Ex's attorney (3 1/2 weeks prior to my hiring OLS), stating that he was only hired for my "order to show cause", the problem is he became the attorney on record for me (and would have cost me my case because he ignored a document.) I never SAW this document until the day after I hired my NEW attorney who promptly filed documents to dispute it, THAT DAY! When I hired a new attorney and requested my retainer back from OLS, I was FLOORED to see that OLS billed me for SO MUCH time that my assigned attorney spent "researching" my questions, while my current attorney could simply... answer them on the spot. He filed NOTHING with the court, met with me for an hour and a half initially (most places will give you a free consult by the way, not these guys),...where I repeated everything twice so he could write it down, I was in trouble from the start with these guys. This firm is a great CONCEPT, but it's truly flawed. I felt gouged for fees and literally got NOTHING out of the 2 weeks I had them, and this was money spent I couldn't afford to be out, truly. Trust me, you WILL pay as much or more (as was my experience) with OLS as you will for an experienced attorney, I assure you. You can find prices ranging from close to what these guys charge and way up, look look look. My current attorney immediately answered my questions, stood up for me with my ex-husbands attorney bombarding her with demands, and filed documents the day after I hired her (damage control), and my first months bill was about half of what OLS billed me for... researching my questions and backing down to my ex's attorneys demands. Do your research, find an Attorney with experience, there ARE affordable one's out there, especially if it's a family law case where your children are involved.

I am quite positive someone who works or represents this firm will write and post a rebuttal to my review but oh well. I feel it needs to be addressed. This was a costly lesson in you get what you pay for. If you are looking for half price legal services with good proper representation, keep telling yourself over and over you get what you pay for. My fiance was going through a very hard post divorce conflict with her ex husband and needed help with a modification. We met with an attorney and paid the retainer. The initial meeting went well it lasted almost two hours and we laid out a plan and the attorney was very confident with all we had that we could have a very favorable outcome. For the next three weeks the attorney we met skirted us and basically did nothing. We then receive a email from him stating he was taking another job and would be handing the case file off to another attorney who would be in touch. Two more attorneys later passed around we where back to where we started. At this point its been a month and they have done pretty much nothing. We set up a phone meeting where we spent the next hour+ explaining and going over every detail as done before. What basically happened next was they decided the case would be to in depth and complicated for their scope to proceed like we where promised initially. So basically what happened in my honest opinion was they legally stole half her retainer and did nothing for her and wasted a month of her time. Its sad we live in a world where people like this can take advantage of a single mother and frivolously squander her hard earned money.

Open Legal Services provided our agency with expert consultation and guidance as we evaluated an opportunity to start a similar business in Florida. Their compassion for the clients they serve was most remarkable and their commitment to providing world class legal services at an affordable price was nothing short of inspiring. While we struggle to meet the standard Open Legal Services has set I can recommend this organization with complete confidence.

I'm frustrated. You represent stating you have experience attorneys however when asking for an attorney after you collect your $75 consultation fee (let me remind you people who are actually looking to save)you are constantly put on hold and told let me talk to my supervisor. Then you proceed with "Well we are not able to handle this complex of a case but let me give you another number!"???. Why would you take the fee and take advantage of people. Treat people honestly and they come back but treat people with bs and the wrong you did will spread like wildfire.

I was very happy with Nic Caine, not only did he resolve my case but I have a refund coming too! He Rock's & is a life saver! :)

Worst experience ever by incompetent Para legals and Lawyers !!! Took my case I spent 2 hours with Blake the Para legal , we went over every detail during that 2 hours , and then 4 days asked me again to give her a list of those items we went over , they set up a mediation date without even consulting me , when I tried to call them to find a better date they accused me of being a difficult client and said I called 2 times in 10 days which means that I am abusing there time !!! Then after they tried to charge me 500.00 they then said they did not have the time to take my case and resigned from representing me without my knowledge , I found out from my ex and his lawyer that they resigned !!!! I never even met the lawyer when they took my case he was to busy , the paralegal and lawyer did not ever communicate to each other . They do not help you at all. Stay away , they will cause more problems and keep charging , and if you have questions about your case and ask them to explain things they will call you confrentational.

Worthless waste of time and effort. I was told initially they would fight for my daughter and then when I met with a different attorney at their office, he didn't want to fight. He acted like she was totally at fault. I will say it again, save your money and your time!!!
Not to mention I paid them cash money, didn't get to talk to anyone for a week and then they are making me wait 2 weeks to get my money back, which makes it really hard for me to pay for another attorney. They gave me the excuse that it had to clear the bank first.....cash clears instantly!!

My wife and I recently used Open Legal Services for a termination of parental rights, and adoption by my wife of my biological son. Throughout the whole process the entire staff was professional and always quick to respond to any questions we had. They were both friendly and informative. I would like to mention in particular Mr Chase Ames who was our attorney through most of our case. Chase was absolutely amazing! He kept us informed of what was happening with our case every step of the way. He also let us know what to expect going forward throughout the process so we were never confused as to what was going on with our case, what was expected of us, or how our case was progressing. Chase, and all of the staff we dealt with were phenomenal.

I believe that one star review isn't giving us the entire story. I retained Mr. Spencer and the services of his firm for some legal issues with my ex and this included custody issues. He was completely honest immediately that if I was going for custody, it would be nearly impossible on my budget. I could expect to spend a minimum of $20k on legal fees and even then, the court has a tendency to keep custody as it was initially awarded (joint custody in my case)
I paid the retainer, and he helped me draft out some more reasonable expectations I could hope to resolve from mediation. When mediation failed, he did state that most of my retainer was exhausted and came up with several acceptable options of how I could proceed from that point with my limited funds. He didn't just take my retainer and run as this person implied. Open Legal Services helped me MUCH more than any of the two other for-profit lawyers I had retained previously, or the other lawyer and mediators I paid consulting fees for.
I only wish I had heard of Open Legal Services sooner!!

They did a great job with a very difficult and drawn out case. I would recommend them to anyone.

They took a retainer for a lengthy custody battle wherein it was evident that we likely would have to go to trial, then, after mediation failed, told us they weren't prepared to go to trial because they lacked the resources to do so. WHAT!!???!! All of the money we gave them was wasted "reviewing the file" and attending a failed mediation that everyone knew in advance would most likely fail. When the next step was trial, they said they weren't prepared to go do trial, lacked the resources to do so, and we would need to retain another firm. Now we have to pay another attorney to start all over reviewing the file. Our money was wasted. I would not recommend them to anyone.

Open Legal Services accomplished what I needed done and at very reasonable rates (based on income). My attorney responded to my questions in a timely manner and made sure everything was done fairly, and properly according to my situation. I would recommend them to anyone.

I was grateful that Staci followed through when I needed her to! I had retained a divorce attorney, who was handling a criminal case for me as well. There was no follow through on his part. In counsel with his firm, they tried to convince me there was nothing they could do to get the criminal case dismissed! They would have allowed a negative judgement to be placed upon me unjustly! I fired them and retained Open legal services. I was given Staci Visser to represent me. Staci did her job, and my criminal case was dismissed!

Excellent! Would be totally lost without their help and advice. Recommend calling. Excellent in the courtroom, very knowledgable.

Shantelle Argyle at Open Legal Services is a life saver!!
I was referred to her by the court clerk because I was in desperate need of legal help for my 16 year old son's custody battle. I was working the case on my own because we just simply could not afford regular attorney rates or the retainer to hire one, and we made too much money to be able to qualify for any pro bono help. I was stressed out beyond belief and help was no where to be found!
Then Shantelle swooped in and saved the day! She's an amazing attorney who is in it to actually help people and not just to make a ton of money. She also treats her clients with enormous respect and like normal human beings and not just people that are "beneath" her because of them not being attorneys themselves. I would HIGHLY recommend her!! She's absolutely amazing, I just can't say that enough! She will definitely be the first person we go to in the future if any need for an attorney arises.