A RARE BREED: Motivated by helping others succeed rather than his paycheck.
I retained Mr. McGuire in a bout of desperation after learning that I had mistakenly assumed that I had three years to complete 100 hours of community service for Santa Rosa probation rather than one year of Okaloosa probation which was running concurrently (I received both sentences 5 days apart in the middle of the pandemic). When I realized that the service hours were actually for the Okaloosa probation, which terminated in a little over 30 days, I thought I panicked because I knew it would be nearly impossible for me to get the required hours and I would then be facing a VOP. I first contacted an Okaloosa attorney who basically told me I was screwed unless I handed him $5,000 immediately which I did not have. So, I next called Tom McGuire because I remembered speaking with him previously in reference to a friend's case and I remembered how genuine he seemed.
Well, my initial impressions of him continued to be correct. After explaining the situation to Mr. McGuire on my first phone call to him, he told me to stay on the line while we conference called with the supervisor of probation in Okaloosa county. And that's what we did! This provided me some peace of mind immediately, because we were able to make it clear that my intention was to follow the terms of my probation and that I had simply made a mistake which I intended to make right. Tom then filed a motion the following week to address the issue with the judge and ask for the community service to be converted to a lien that I could pay off. In the mean time, I found a place to perform community service and got about 25 hours in. At this point I had 5 days left and 75 more hours to go. Nearly impossible considering I also have a storefront that I manage full-time. And it was then that Tom McGuire called me up saying the judge granted my motion. I didn't even have to go court. All I had to do was go pay the fine and I had a month to do so. He also told me that I could keep t he remainder of the fee that I hadn't paid him yet, since we didn't have to go to court. This dude is a rock star in my eyes. He knew what to do and he did it. He didn't try to drain my wallet. He just wanted to help. And for that, I am eternally grateful. Thank your dedication to service and willingness to help even those who normally would be less fortunate!