A review posted on Google and several other sites.
“My experience with this law firm was deeply disappointing. They made promises they couldn’t keep and showed no real progress on my case for a full month. Rather than addressing my legal concerns, they pushed me toward accepting a continuance that would have serious consequences for me and my children. Their priorities seemed clearly focused on their fees rather than helping me resolve my situation. I would caution anyone considering their services to look elsewhere for legal help. Despite my requests, they’ve withheld my retainer funds, which I urgently need to secure proper representation for my three young daughters.” H. Ridge
Responses From Themis Legal Group – Mike Sturgil, attorney:
About half of their responses and claims are accurate. No false allegations were made against Themis Law Group or any of their attorneys or staff.
08/14/2024
Mr. Ridge, we disagree that anything was done wrong or incorrectly by our firm. We agreed to represent you in your divorce case with children and you agreed to pay the retainer of $7,000. You paid the initial $2,000 but have not made any payments beyond that. We worked on your case, conferred with opposing counsel and the court, drafted documents, reviewed evidence and documents, prepared for trial, reviewed and replied to emails you sent, had phone calls with you and appeared at the pre-trial conference. Opposing counsel was present at that pre-trial conference and advised the court that she had not received all the requested discovery from you and that she was not ready to proceed until the discovery was answered. The other attorney is the one that requested the continuance in order to complete discovery, which you had failed to provide prior to our representation. She also advised the court that you had contacted her directly and called one of our attorneys a liar, when that was not the case. The other attorney advised the judge that our office has been professional and responsible in our representation of you and has been honest in all our dealings. You also contacted the court directly and have emailed others calling one of our attorneys a liar; as such, there is a clear conflict in our representation of you and we are required to withdraw as counsel. The Judge agreed, you appeared at the hearing late and the Judge asked you if you were opposed and you said you were not. After the hearing, you apologized to me in the downstairs lobby.
After receiving your email, I contacted the Texas Ethics hotline for attorneys and advised them of the situation. The Ethics Attorney advised me that we are entitled to be compensated for the work performed on your case, which has exhausted the $2,000 paid so far and has a negative remaining balance. She also advised me that we are entitled to collect the outstanding balance, should we choose to do so. We have done nothing unethical or wrong in our representation and your threat to take action against us is unwarranted. You have threatened to file a grievance unless we pay you off, something we cannot do. You were aware that contacting the court when you had representation was improper, yet you still decided to reach out directly to opposing counsel and make false statements regarding our firm and one of our attorneys.
Additionally, you have left a false and slanderous review on Google, which you know is untrue. We hereby demand that you remove the false, libelous review, otherwise, we will take further action against you to ensure it is removed and the truth is told. Additionally, we will seek legal fees for the efforts you force us into taking to have the untrue and false statements removed, as well as costs of court and any other compensation that we are entitled to.
Mike Sturgill, Attorney
Themis Legal Group, PLLC
True Colors of Themis Law Group
Is there any Empathy at Themis Law Group? I am a single Father of a 12 year old and two 9 year olds – all beautiful girls. I worked my tail off day and night, day and night for months and months to save up enough money to hire a law firm to help me gain a better custody arrangement with my baby girls. I only saw my children a total of four (4) times in an entire year because their mother moved them 1,500 miles away from me. I can’t think of anything more cruel to do to a parent or more damaging to do to three young girls.
I took that money I saved and hired Themis Law Group. They told me everything I wanted to hear and yet here we are. I told them that nothing means more to me that me being able to see my baby girls – I care about nothing other than my three baby girls, Nothing!
Integrity at Themis Law Group: Is there any integrity at Themis Law Group? I explained to them that I need the money I paid them refunded because I needed to hire another law firm to represent me at my upcoming hearing – the hearing that will help me get my baby girls back in my life. This hearing affect me and my family for the rest of our lives! The almighty Themis Law Group must really need that $2k because instead of refunding me my money they have taken retaliatory against me and have threatened to sue me if I don’t remove the reviews that I posted online. THEMIS LAW GROUP SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!
Questionable Practices at Themis Law Group: Is it professional conduct for Themis Law Group to employ intimidation tactics and attempt to pressure me, their former client, into paying thousands for minimal work? Consider this: How many billable hours have they already invested, and will continue to spend, sending unprofessional emails, generating questionable invoices, responding to the formal grievance I submitted to the State Attorney Bar, and defending against the lawsuit I’ve filed? This will ultimately cost them far more than the $2,000 they’re pursuing, even if they somehow convince a judge to rule in their favor. One would hope their legal expertise exceeds their business judgment. If they represented you, wouldn’t you prefer they focus on actual client matters rather than pursuing unearned and undeserved payment from a dissatisfied former client?
Mike – do you need a new suit, a new computer for the office; what could you possibly need to take my $2k for. You and I are the only two people that know if you and your firm earned this money. I assure you that if you did I would have moved on and went back to fighting for my baby girls. You made this part of my fight. Do the right thing so we can put this behind us and move on…
Themis Legal Group – CAN YOU DO BETTER?
UPDATE 08/23/2004 I Can’t tell how much of this is true at this point. True Colors – Themis Law
Attached is the list of activities and time spent on your matter, totaling $2,224.00 in billable time and $300 in non-billable time.
Your petition continues to make false claims that you know are not true. We spent time on your case which cannot be returned to us. If you want to get a refund from a store, you can’t also keep the item you wish to return. It’s impossible for you to return the time we dedicated to your case and as previously stated, we are entitled to be compensated for the time and work we spent on your matter.
You continue to make threats in an effort to shake us down, you know that it was your actions that created a conflict and required us to withdraw from your case. Additionally, your failure to respond to discovery, prior to hiring us, is what led the opposing counsel requesting a continuance.
A quick review of the docket shows that the opposing counsel filed a motion to compel on July 11, 2024, as a result of the inadequate discovery responses you filed on May 14, 2024, more than a month before hiring Themis Law Firm.
If you choose to file a lawsuit in bad faith, knowing making false statements and claims against us, appropriate legal action will be taken against you. Likewise, you have refused to remove the false, libelous review and we will take further action against you to ensure it is removed and the truth is told. 2026 updates to be posted.
Family Support in the time of Family Crisis
