The same thing happened to my wife about 3 years ago. There was apparently a sign limiting the speed limit on the ramp to the Verrazano to 25 mph due to construction ,(though there was no construction). My wife was clocked at 55 mph. I called a friend to find out who the best lawyer for Staten Island tickets was and was given the name of an attorney. He asked for $1,000 up front, and his paralegal raved about the great results he got. Then all he did was postpone the hearing 3 times in the hopes that the cop wouldn’t show. On the final hearing date ( which we were never even told about) he and the cop agreed to say my wife was 25 miles over the limit and would get 6 points. His paralegal called to tell me the “good news”. Fortunately, I spent about 5 years as counsel to an insurance company providing attorney malpractice and had represented dozens of attorneys. I called the attorney and asked him how many times he had spoken with my wife to discuss the merits of the case or when the hearings would be. he conceded that he never spoke with her, but in his defense said ” you don’t know Staten island judges it is impossible to do any thing” and ” most people don’t want to be bothered going to court”. Of course, he then could not justify his $1,000 retainer. To make a long story short, he asked me what I wanted. I told him that I would accept the full thousand dollars back… and the offer ended that week. He agreed to those terms.
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