John M. Butler, Attorney at Law

John Butler is one of the top best lawyers in West Virginia. He is brutally honest about everything but that is one of things that I like about him, he dont sugar coat nothing but has a great professional way about it. It is hard to find a good lawyer anymore these days, especially now with fighting the covid-19 but this is one of the top lawyers i would go with. He very affordable, he doesn't price gouge you, he will work with you and makes it fair on the payments. I am more than pleased with him and all he has done for my family and I

Great for locals, horrible if you're from out-of-state. I retained Mr. Butler to transfer a custody case from a different state to WV. I had 4 different people refer him to me, so I had high expectations. I am from out-of-state and needed a lawyer that would have my and my kids best interest in mind because I am not local to where my kids are currently living. I met him once in person, and then I talked to Mr. Butler once on the phone on August 12th. I was never able to talk to him on the phone or in person, even when I asked, and after that had to do everything else through his secretaries. Originally he told me his fee would be $250 an hour and a retainer of $2000. Then he said it would most likely be another $2000 when he represented us in court. But when I got the bill, he wanted the $4000 up front, which I couldn't afford and was not what I had thought we had agreed upon as I wasn't sure I would need court representation. I had my wife call and ask if we could just pay the $2000 to begin with and the secretary said yes and that the papers would be filed that day. That was the 6th of September. I called the office in October and asked what the status of my papers was because I hadn't heard anything. I was told my papers had never been submitted because they were missing my signature. I asked why I had not been notified and they said and I quote, "we were waiting for you to call." Seriously? They couldn't call me or write me a quick email to notify me they were missing my signature? Then they sent me a paper I had to get notarized. I was frustrated they hadn't notified me earlier and now I had to leave on a trip and knew it would be two weeks before I could get that paper back to them, making things take longer. I got back and sent them the paper, then called in November to see if the papers had been submitted. The secretary said they had not, but did not know why. She said she would find out why and then call me back. She never did. I sent an email on December 17th asking if the papers had been submitted and got a response that they had been submitted on November 7th, but no progress could be made because they were unable to locate my ex-wife to serve the papers. I sent my ex a text message that day, and the next day I got an email that Mr. Butler had heard from my ex's lawyer that day and she got the papers. If Mr. Butler would have just communicated with me that he couldn't find my ex, I could have taken care of it in November instead of having another month of wasted time. The lack of communication was horrible. Then I kept getting a bill for the other $2000 even though we hadn't been represented in court yet. I asked my wife to call and she spoke to Erick who just kept saying, "Did you read your contract?" "per your contract" blah blah blah. Absolutely horrible customer service and very rude. All the while I kept asking if the papers had been submitted. I finally got a copy of the papers on January 14th, five months later, after calling again. Didn't get a signed copy until the last week of February. I then called one of my friends who lives in that area and asked if this type of behavior was normal for WV lawyers as this was my first experience with lawyers there. He said he was really surprised because he thought John Butler was a good man and had actually gone to him to a consult the week before I retained Mr. Butler. I asked him how much Mr. Butler was going to charge him had he hired him and he said he'd been told $150 an hour and $1250 retainer. My friend is a local and his case is very similar to mine. That's when I realized that Mr. Butler had completely taken advantage of me because I'm from out-of-state and apparently he must think that makes me rich because I've had to deal with other attorneys from bigger cities. So basically, if you're local, John Butler will probably do a great job for you. If you're not local, or especially if you're from out-of-state, run the other way.

You just lost a slam dunk SSI case because of your secretaries incompetence

Fair and fairly priced. If they can't help you, they'll point you in the direction of someone better able to. Small town service with a smile.

He's not as smart as he thinks he his.