- Report: #1392377
Complaint Review: Jill Jones-Soderman - Nationwide
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Jill Jones-Soderman
Nationwide, USA
Phone:
866-553-6931
Web:
WWW.FCVFC.COM
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Jill Jones-Soderman Foundation For Child Victims Of The Family Court The Fraud Goes Beyond Clients Nationwide
I wanted to believe in Jill Jones-Soderman. Charles, a long-time acquaintance of mine with whom I had previously worked as a paralegal introduced me to Jill, and recommended that he and Jill, since they are partners, hire me. It seemed like a dream job for me, since I had worked with the Mississippi Department of Human Services and seen how much families and children suffer. I was so proud to become the very first and senior paralegal for Jill's Foundation for the Child Victims of the Family Courts. But this dream job of working with Jill rapidly became a nightmare that I hardly know how to describe.
To begin with, she persuaded me to accept a low hourly rate of $17.50 (about as low as any paralegal with 13 years experience could ever go). And then she told me that the pay might be "irregular". But she said, "we work 24/7, no bathroom breaks"---and that was a pretty fair description of what started for me on June 9, 2017. On Saturday June 24, 2017, we had our first major blow up, when she interrupted a client conference screaming at me that I had no right to be in direct contact with the clients...even though she was there on the phone. I almost quit after that---I sent her my first invoice for hours at that point and she asked "is this your notice of resignation?" And I said, "no, but we had agreed I would submit invoices every two weeks." But I think by then the writing was on the wall---because she immediately asserted that she couldn't pay.... And then she said she had absolutely no money because the ONE paying client she had kept paying her in "small" increments of $5,000.00.... but I got money in increments of $100-$750.
Once I started working, I got about ten different assignments every day, no days off for about the first 50 days.... by which time I had accumulated unpaid legitimate hours (not counting overtime---and some days I worked 16-18 hours) of approximately $7,000.00. One excuse after another---she had to pay Westlaw (except that she never paid it); she had to pay Charles (except she never paid him directly more than $75-$400 a week, since she was providing him with a house---for which the rent was always dangerously late). But basically, the money she said she received just disappeared and nobody knew where it went. Now I had thrown myself into this job with heart and soul because her Foundation seemed like such a beautiful concept. So far as I know, she never paid Westlaw at all. She certainly never paid me anything approaching what I had earned. And then, after I told the guy who brought me on that she was advertising to replace him, she fired me and told me that I was just a consultant and had been paid in full, that she owed me no hourly wages at all.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Jill Jones-Soderman
United StatesIt is time to set the record straight.
#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Mon, January 20, 2020
It is time to set the record straight.
The Foundation for Child Victims of the Family Courts helps children and their protective parents battle against a corrupt court system, which all too often transfers children into the hands of their abusers. The income for the Foundation comes solely from our clients, but these protective parents often have no resources. Because of this, we offer pro bono services as much as possible in order to continue helping as many children as we can.
Because our primary work is battling a corrupt court system, we are heavily dependent upon legal expertise. In 2016 our accomplished Of Counsel attorney--who received no salary for his consulting work for us--retired.
Enter Charles Edward Lincoln III. I have documentation for the account I am giving here.
I had had some interaction with Lincoln for several years and had occasionally hired him to advise me on legal matters (though he was not a practicing attorney, his JD was from Chicago School of Law). I had met him in person one time and discerned no red flags about him at that time.
In early 2017 I engaged Lincoln on an ad hoc basis to give legal counsel for two FCVFC clients, and was satisfied with his work. When both clients ran out of money at a critical juncture in their cases, I decided to take them on as pro bono clients, as I often have done.
Their situation was critical, and the custody of their children was at stake. I expected Lincoln to continue working with me, as I would be paying him from my own resources.
A few weeks later, Lincoln sent me a “Partnership Contract” that he wanted me to sign, a contract that made very surprising demands. I rejected this contract, so discussion of it should be moot.
But it is not moot, since he proceeded to operate in some important respects as if the contract had been signed and was in effect. So I’ll detail here a few of the stipulations this contract included.
- I would pay his rent, telephone, electricity, and grocery bills each month up to $1600.
- I would give him an “allowance” of 50% of the Foundation’s net income.
- I would pay for the moving of all his belongings from various states (Texas, Florida, and Alabama) to his rental property in New Orleans--including a baby grand piano. (And I would pay to have the piano tuned.)
- I would pay a certain woman that he named to become his driver and housekeeper.
- If I decided to back out of the contract, I would owe him $15,000.
- Lincoln himself would be solely responsible for hiring, training, and overseeing all attorneys and paralegals that the FCVFC would eventually have on staff. And oh, he already had a lawyer ready for us to hire: his son. And, most pertinent to the subject at hand, he already had a paralegal: Kristie Hoots Meyer.
“Already had a paralegal,” as in, the “Partnership Contract” informed me that Meyer had already (supposedly) been hired by the FCVFC, and the terms of her payment were all laid out.
I had known of Kristie Hoots Meyer before, and knew that she wanted to work for the FCVFC. I had spoken with her, said I was not ready to hire her, and would let her know if the situation changed.
During this entire debacle, I never did meet Meyer face to face.
I first became aware of Meyer’s presence in the work of the FCVFC on June 24, 2017. At that time I had scheduled a three-way conference call with Mr. Lincoln, one of our clients, and myself. Without my knowledge or consent, Meyer was insinuated into the call. When, to my shock, I learned there was a fourth person on the line listening in to this confidential case, I told her in no uncertain terms to get off the phone.
As a result of this call, I learned that Meyer had been working with Lincoln, generating a bill, so far, of almost a thousand dollars, without either of them ever having communicated with me about it at all.
I made it very clear that Lincoln had no authorization to hire her and I had no obligation to pay her.
Meyer proceeded to disregard my clear statement and tried to interact with me over the next weeks as if she was my employee. I ignored her. Then I found that she had declared herself on LinkedIn as “Senior Paralegal” of the Foundation. (As of this writing, January 2020, that description is still there.)
I was contacted by the Labor Board with a complaint Meyer had filed with them, I responded to the complaint, and the matter was dismissed.
But Lincoln and Meyer continued to conspire to “take over" and profit from the work of the FCVFC. Correspondence between them was uncovered that outlined their plan to extort funds from me, and these writings were sent to the proper authorities. The matter of their coordinated efforts at intrusion into the work of the FCVFC was put to an end.
Those who have further questions regarding anything about me or the FCVFC in regard to this situation are welcome to contact me through the website http://www.fcvfc.org for further information and documentation of the statements above.
~Jill Jones-Soderman
