I'm sure there are many excellent lawyers at this law office. My comments here refer only to Mike Brown. I am taking a reverse mortgage and Home Equity Bank require that I obtain "independent legal advice.", for which I am charged $700. I spent 20 minutes with Mike Brown. He opened the meeting by saying "The reason you have to see me is because their mortgage rates are higher than a regular mortgage and they want to make sure you can't come back later and say you didn't understand" He was required to sign a Certificate of Independent Legal Advice which states "During the course of the consultation I explained the nature of the Mortgage/Charge, the parties' rights and obligations thereunder and the fact that the loan balance grows over time. The client expressed full understanding of my advice and appeared to fully appreciate the legal risks and oblgations...." At no time did he explain ANYTHING. At no time did I "express full understanding..."
Beyond giving me the wrong information about where the funds would be deposited (he told me TD, in fact they will be deposited in RBC), he offered no information at all.
I consider myself a very savvy "senior", but had that not been the case, it would not have been easy to get him to explain the rights and obligations of the parties to this mortgage. He certainly did not fulfill the requirements of the Certificate he signed. His goal was to get me to sign the necessary documents and get me out of there as quickly as possible. He was brusque and unfriendly and certainly for anyone less confident than myself, he would have come across as quite intimidating.
Before attending this appointment I was planning to enquire about whether this firm handles wills. After meeting with Mike Brown, I would rather die intestate than seek his advice on a new will.