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6/6/18 |
1 |
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A Criminal. Acting to benefit other attorneys in Cook and Lake County who are criminals too!
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7/9/15 |
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If I wasn't financially poor, then I certainly would have gone with another lawyer. Unfortunately, I am a single mother of 3 and few other options. I guess that I shouldn't expect more from a lawyer that charges a third of what other family lawyers in the area do. His only redeeming value is that he is aggressive. However, that doesn't necessitate that he is good nor knows what he is doing. I had an emergency order of protection against my friend ( my ex keeps saying it a boyfriend), and Charles Rapin did little to prevent my ex from walking all over me. I haven't seen my daughter now in nearly a month, and I have to wait another three weeks at the very earliest to get a chance to see her. At this point in time, it looks like my ex is winning, and may very well get to take my daughter out of my life permanently. What is Charles Rapin doing about it? Absolutely nothing! He wont even return my calls unless it is to ask for more money. Avoid this lawyer at all costs!
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9/18/14 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
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RUN, RUN, RUN away from this attorney!! All he cares about is collecting a retainer fee and then running up your bill by calling you while he's out driving around in his car and spending hours on the phone telling you how great he is. He offers no strategy or game plan for his clients. He prepares his motions by just copying and pasting boilerplate legalese from previous cases. His only advice is to settle without a fight. He files frivolous motions without his client's consent that do not contain the client's wishes. He rarely returns phone calls and his office is frequently closed for several consecutive days. He's very arrogant and pompous and constantly asks for additional retainer fees as a condition of further service, but can never seem to produce any billing records as to how the money was used. He talks a big talk, but doesn't walk the walk. Firing him and going with another law firm was the best decision we made concerning my recent litigation.
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10/13/13 |
3 |
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I too wish I had seen these ratings before I hired "Charles". Smooth talker in person but he is rude and arrogant if you don't agree with him. I wasted $5000 hiring him for what any decent criminal defense atty could have done. I missed a court date because he never gave me the correct time. I'm going to report him to ARDC for theft since he took $ and did not fulfill the legal work he agreed to do.
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8/18/13 |
1 |
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I wish I had not believed all of his lies that he told me! Once he got my money he never returned any phone calls, never responded to any emails and did not show up nor tell me about 3 court dates. I have since released him but have yet to hear from him regarding a refund of my retainer fee and my file for my new attorney. So, I am stuck having to start all over with a new attorney and this should've been taken care of over a year ago. VERY bad attorney!!! Do not waste your time or money!!! I too have filed a complaint against him with the supreme court.
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8/2/13 |
1 |
2 |
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I concur with the opinions below, Charles Rapin is not a good attorney. He doesn't even try, just takes the easy way out and collects the fee. I would not recommend Charles Rapin to anyone. I took him ignoring the early signs because he was cheap and I needed a lawyer in the last minute. And the only thing you get is his low fee but you will regret later.
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6/10/13 |
1 |
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I am a single parent that is active duty military. He made it sound like everything would be quick and easy. I referred other clientele to him, which he took care of within a reasonable amount of time. I have been trying for almost a year and a half to get an order for child support. I had to move due to the Military, at which point he no longer continued to work on my case. This continued to the point that the state of Illinois no longer had jurisdiction and I had to hire another attorney in another state. He refused to send files to the new attorney. Still to this day he refused to return the retainer, provide a bill, or return any phone calls requesting these things. I have had to file a complaint with the Illinois Supreme Court against this attorney. Would not recommend this attorney to anyone!
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1/30/13 |
1 |
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Charles Rapin is not a good attorney who will back you, in my opinion. I would not refer Charles Rapin to anyone. Wanted to fire him but did not have the funds for another attorney. NEVER returned phone calls or emails. He even stated that I needed "hand holding". NEVER received an invoice for his services so I did not know where I stood with him financially until it was too late.
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SYSTEM: 2 negative duplicate or disallowed ratings automatically removed |
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10/10/12 |
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Wow - I really wish I would have read these reviews before I hired him. Seems to be the same MO. I wouldn't do it again and would never recommend anyone to him.
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5/17/12 |
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Mr. Rappin stalled our case as long as possible. He never returned phone calls and was very rude and spoke down to us when he did. We asked for specific things to be done in our case that we believe the other side would have agreed to and he ignored our requests and drew up an agreement that ended up prolonging the case since his requests were unrealistic, as we had previously told him. I would NEVER refer him to any one. Also, there were many times when he didnt even show up for court and didnt let us know til it was way past the court time to be there. He is very sarcastic and makes un-needed comments. I wish I would of fired him 3 months into the case when I started getting a bad gut feeling. Do not retain this man. Your case will only drag on, you will have to pull teeth to get any sort of contact with him,and when you do he will act as if it is unheard of to have to return a phone call, and the belittlement and rudeness is not worth your sanity.
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11/9/11 |
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Charles is very rude! He was very good at stalling my divorce.my husband and I went to mediation and he disregarded the agreement and made his own order, knowing it would be rejected. I also could never get a return phone call from him. I would never recommend him
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8/25/11 |
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I hired Mr. Rapin for my divorce case in Jan 2011 and I paid him a retainer fee of $5000. My husband and I reconciled in Jun 2011. During the 6 months there were only two minor paper works to do. The case was closed on 07/11/2011. Now Mr Rapin will not return my phone calls and e-mails. Also when I told him that I did not need his service anymore on 06/04/2011, he refused to be fired. He said a judge had to approve it. It seems that lying is his only forte! Stay away from him!
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4/27/11 |
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My Dad and I needed to make a quick decision about making a will and a living will because his wife (my step-mother) was in the ICU. He charged us $5000. In retrospect, we may have been cheated!!!
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SYSTEM: 2 negative duplicate or disallowed ratings automatically removed |
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6/11/10 |
5 |
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I would highly recommend Mr. Rapin he represented me in an out of state custody case. He was easy to reach when needed professional and prompt in resolving my case. He always did temperature checks with me to see if I was satisfied with his services and most importantly stated the facts in my case and pointed out the untruths of the opposing party. My custody case was resolved in a matter of 3 months thanks to Mr. Rapin and his dedication to my situation.
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5/28/10 |
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i cant rate mr rapin on anything other than profesionalism. i went to his office for my appointment and no one was there except another client who also had an appt at the same time. i never got a phone call to appologize or to explain why he didnt show
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1/12/10 |
5 |
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5 |
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I hired Charles for a military divorce lots of back forth because my ex was in another country at first and then in texas for the remainder of the divorce I was very satisfied with the services charles provided to me and how quickly it was done considering the distance and all the requirements for a military/civilian divorce.
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12/12/09 |
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5 |
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Charles did a wonderful job, he helped me straighten out the mess my original lawyer made after my divorce with regards to my children and custody issues ....He always called me back and made sure I understood everything that was going on ... he never took a shortcut that would hurt my case he was very though and always took time to listen to what I had to say or read an email that I had written .. he knew the importance of what I needed to do and got me the results I wanted !! Highly recommended
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12/10/09 |
5 |
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Mr Rapin has been doing a great job for us in trying to get a handle on a case that another law firm botched badly...and we are still paying for it. Mr. Rappin has explained all of our options and constantly gives us realistic expectations in each step. Communication is key with him, to the point I never get his voice mail, Mr. Rappin actually answers his phone (imagine that!)We are in a continuing case and would feel lost in this legal chaos if not be his tenacious attitude. We would highly recommend anyone in need of a lawyer (especially family law) to hire Mr. Rapin.
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11/3/09 |
5 |
4 |
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I was in the unfortunate situation of being charged with a DUI, and retained Mr. Rapin. He had motions ready to go by our 2nd meeting, and gave me a realistic assesment of my chances. he also asked me what was most important to me before proceeding, and proceeded to represent my interests to both a hostile judge and a hostile prosecutor. His motions said to the prosecutor that we meant nusiness, and they negotiated a plea that was much better than I expected. I was very happy w Mr. Rapin, and would recommend him to others. He was tough, and looked after my concerns.
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6/9/09 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
Mr Rapin did a great job for us in wrapping up a legal issue that previous attorney had for years. Gave us a realistic assessment of our exposure in the case, drove it to mediation, and came away only slightly nicked. Communication was a 2 way street, and I wouldnt hesitate to hire Mr. Rapin again.
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5/4/09 |
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Stay away!!! Didn't respond to requests for legal input after retainer was paid. Fired him because of lack of response - took much too long to receive retainer back. There are many better attorneys out there.
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6/13/08 |
4 |
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Very poor communication, rude.Took my $ and did NOTHING but made a few phone calls, only one to me inquiring about more money. Did maybe 1 hour worth of work. I let him go and requested the bal of my retianer back and he refused saying he did what he was suppose to, but I didn't hear from him for over 3 weeks and it took 6 calls on my part to ever get a call back...a week later. He sent me nothing to show what he claims he has done. Don't let his web page suck yopu in..he is not concerned for you or the family at all, just about dragging things out and getting as much money as he can for himself, this is based off of my experince with him. I am out retainer money and have NOTHING to show for it.
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8/30/07 |
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If you are looking for an attorney who will bat for you in a contentious situation, Charles is appropriate. If the divorce is not contentious, he will do what he can to make it one. It was unfortunate as I was in a situation where my ex and I worked to resolve all decisions prior to filing the case. Charles totally ignored the draft MSA and wrote a new one that I knew would not be accepted (and he didn't tell me he was going to do it - I find this unaccetable). To that end, I had to let Charles go and my divorce was completed 7 days later. It would still be going on if I had continued to retain him.
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