I developed this project….soon to be book…..to help men and women wade through the disgusting discipline of what are called “Family Attorneys.” Below is a comprehensive guide to attorneys listed from worst to the best. You will find out that in my experience there are few “acceptable” Family Law Attorneys. We will also be adding other Men’s experiences in Washington, Georgia and across the country so stay tuned!
Baseline:
What you need to understand is that you are not working with the “Best and Brightest” which is why they are in Family Law and please don’t assume they actually care. It’s all about money and the more conflict that can be generated the more money everyone makes. Do not trust sites like Avvo.com that are actually financed by advertisements from these attorneys and Avvo.com refuses to take any constructive comments if they are not five-star.
Most ironically you will find that the worst attorneys are actually rated highly on Avvo.com because of its incestuous business model. Further, reviews on Yelp or Google are often taken down because free speech is not allowed. This is one of the reasons I created this website to be a “Go-To” objective reference in the pillaging and lack of ethics these attorney’s represent, especially, in King County Washington. Please also note that each attorney listed I have worked with, consulted with, hired and or had interactions in the court room with directly.
#1 Offender – Veronica Freitas
Veronica Freitas is a voracious bully, atheist, bigot and anti-Semite based on statements she has made in court and on the record. Veronica spends a lot of money on advertising on Avvo.com and fake reviews on Google for a reason. She’s a bully and uses her militant lesbianism to attack and intimidate Judges and others. Veronica spends liberally on Avvo.com so don’t be fooled by the Avvo reviews as they are edited testimonies as Avvo.com and does not accept negative commentaries.
BEFORE YOU HIRE VERONICA PLEASE READ or request a video of any of her motions in front of the court. She is a spaz with incoherent arguments mainly because she is bouncing from court rooms and really has no clue about your case except that all men are the devil and all her clients are victims. Veronica’s definition of a victim are Stay at Home Mom’s (SAHMs) with expensive cars, kids in private school, enjoy the fruits of vacations and a large house because their spouse works their ass off.
Based on direct experiences of Veronica’s behaviors, ethics, integrity and the way she handles herself in court. The fact that I hope all consumers take away from this is that if you choose Veronica she will raise the conflict to the highest level to ensure she is compensated the most and it will ruin any future relationship with your spouse. Veronica preys upon women’s emotional state (she does not accept male clients) and preys upon them. If you have children Veronica Freitas will affect their relationship with you and their Father. Her tactics include servicing men at your children’s school in front of kids, their friends and families. That’s her articulation of a strong woman.
If you don’t believe me you should interview any reputable attorney and they will groan, laugh or shake their head because her peers have little if any respect for her. Some attorneys are equally as hateful and have a bond with Veronica that revolves around their hatred of men and families given that she is not a mother nor God-forbid will ever be one. Most attorney’s I have spoken with will immediately start to share with you their favorite Veronica Freitas stories. What has impacted me most about what I have experienced and the conversations I had is that Veronica really lacks integrity and her behaviors are indicative of a very angry and unhappy person that preys on people in real need.
Abuse of litigation is what Veronica Freitas is known for and its ends up hurting children families permanently. Her strategy based on her behaviors and documentation is that she gets paid the longer the trial date gets pushed out and the higher the conflict the bigger the paycheck. Veronica Freitas is the least ethical attorney I have ever come in contact with and her peers agree which is why nobody wants to work with her. In fact, many women have left Veronica Freitas due to the damage and conflict she has incurred. It’s not because she’s a winner or successful as many of her ex-clients would tell you that have gone to other attorneys because of her level of conflict she manufactures.
Veronica Freitas legal practice works like this; She has anywhere from 5-7 very young and inexperienced legal assistants which you will work with. The results are poorly written motions but you can ensure they will crank out as much as they can. Veronica will then justify it by telling you that your spouse will be forced to pay everything.
I have witnessed her in court call the Judge a Sexist, I have seen her cry in court when she has not gotten her way and I have seen her scream at Commissioners, Judges and opposing counsels. She has also directly called me names as you expect a bully to do and has gone after my family and girlfriend.
You can’t get the smell of Veronica Freitas off you when your done. Veronica is that negative influence that will rub off on you during your most vulnerable time and create the greatest amount of stress on you and your family.
Chin Legal Group
Michael is a circus attraction and unlike clowns like Neal Feinerman he’s more of a dunce.
Michael Chin is an attorney that is dishonest and lacks any credibility whatsoever. His biggest issue is he is deceitful and that leads to incompetence. His back office team, Elyse, is the most inefficient person as I sent her the same email 5-6 times and I had to come to the office to coach her on how to search her email box. Yes, seriously.
Michael commits to filing motions and forgets until he was specifically reminded three or four times. In fact, Michael’s writing skills were so poor he asked me to write all the motions that were filed. Based on Michael’s handwriting and lack of oration skills he’s a pretender and a fraud.
Michael’ pathetic oral arguments in court were stunning, he stammers and lacks articulating the facts of the case or motion brought before the court. Michael showed up to a motion looking like he slept in his clothes the night before which presented a very unprofessional appearance.
Lastly, Michael did not show up for my trial and several hearings while I was traveling on business which created immense problems for my children and me. Just another pathetic and ill-equipped divorce attorney that will eagerly take your money up-front and not deliver.
Neal Feinerman
Neal, like many attorney’s hold a special place in many people’s heart’s. Neal is one of those attorney’s that mis-represents himself as a fighter, well-organized and the best attorney in King County. Neal feels so full of himself he literally does not stop talking….I mean for several hours. Like every annoying kid you grew up with Neal is the kid that’s never achieved much nor was the smartest kid but will tell you just how amazing he is.
Speaking of, when I challenged him he instructed me that his IQ was 209 at which I explained to him does not exist. Its self-evident that Neal qualifies as an A+ narcissist from our interactions. My issue, however, was with his credibility and performance. It’s obviously not a credible statement to state that you have a 209 IQ nor is it reasonable. In short, Neal is ethically and intellectually dishonest stemming from his inability to listen, his false narrative of being brilliant and ignoring his clients. It’s clear Neal has a confidence problem which affects his credibility and overall performance in court. Oh, the Commissioners and Judges cannot stand him!
Neal would make ad-homenum personal attacks on me and threaten to quit like the child that I explained above. In fact, Neal on more than several occasions would over-bill me for services already settled and paid-for then play stupid. Fact is he’s a proven fraud.
For example, I requested some seven (7) times for him to obtain complete and un-redacted financial records for my ex that was hiding money and funneling all money through her friends bank account. Although it would strengthen my case substantially he was too lazy and refused to seek subpoenas even after the financial records came back from my “ex” as significantly incomplete. It took seven iterations of requests from him to get it done and it was still incomplete and he poorly argued its merits in court.
Neal is like many Family Attorney’s. He bragged that he was such an impressive Trial Lawyer in California which brings up the question why would you want to be a Family Attorney at the circus they call King County Family Court. Fact is, Neal is a clown in the circus and not a serious attorney.
Rene Cespedes
The below is reflective of my direct experiences with Rene Cespedes and through written and electronic communications. It’s true, honest and I can state the Renee is not a serious person mis-representing himself as a Family Attorney.
Rene always has the “dog ate my homework” look on his face. What do I mean, Rene cannot met a deadline or keep his commitment. I’ve heard it all as his client; I was sick, I had a family crisis, I couldn’t make it to court because of the rain and lastly he did reference his dog or maybe it was a cat that ate my motion. We are talking weeks late on commitments or simply not showing up for court. Further, his week and hapless arguments would probably work if community colleges had “moot courts” and I think he was the Editor for an online University. His work product and professionalism so bad I believe from my experience he has a mental capacity problem.
Renee markets himself as an ex prosecutor. If our prosecutors were full of the Renee Cespedes’ of the world criminals, angry ex-wives in need of more money would rule the city. Wait a minute, they actually do and Rene is part of a cadre of family law attorneys that remain the laziest, least skillful and least effective of his profession.
There are reasons that attorney’s that can barely be effective in their profession flock to family law. There is a reason why corporate attorneys or banking council would never be called a Family Law Attorney. Family Law attorneys take advantage of their clients. Rene lacks ethics, the proper acumen to be effective as an orator, lacks the ability to keep his word aside from the fact that Rene writes like a third-grade student.
Moreover, this can be stipulated by multiple people and I have experienced first hand that Rene Cespedes is a weak attorney. An attorney full of excuses that lacks ownership, lacks the background, will check-out and not be in contact for weeks and writes like a child.
Stay away from yet another Family Attorney motivated by money and his lack of caring for his client.
Matthew I. Cooper
If you’re evaluating family law attorneys I would not recommend Matthew Cooper. Matthew is a competent attorney but lacks diligence in tracking motions, responses and executing clear communications to the court. I had to release Matthew due to an overall lack of confidence and OVERBILLING. In fact, he charged my $17,000 and after showing him that I track the duration of every call and all our interactions he immediately have me a $7,000 credit on the spot.
With that said, there is only one type of attorney who is worse than an attorney like Matthew Cooper and that is an attorney that does not listen and blatantly does what they choose to do as opposed to working together at your direction.
BTW; This is holding my tongue and being brief.
Michael W Bugni & Associates
Read the reviews on Mike and decide for yourself but Avvo is full with the antics you will received from Mike Bugni. I can easily stipulate that they are correct plus Mike has a gigantic ego to boot.
(This was my first impression of Mike on March the 23rd) Mike appeared to be a top-notch individual and presented his Christian ethics as part of his practice. His perspective on Family Law is very different then some 95% of the other attorneys I have interviewed or hired and then had to dismiss for lack of performance. NOW REALITY
As soon as my $10,000 check was cashed Mike became a different person and it became clear that Mike had a gigantic ego. His preaching and long emails discussing nothing of substance to the case except proving how smart he was became boring and expensive fast.
The worst was how Mike divulged previous clients issues like the Gentleman from Avvo reviews which I bet was the “Greece Case” that he chose to discuss until I told him that it was unprofessional.
Molly B. Kenny
Get out your checkbook men. Molly wants a check immediately from men. Molly is happy to oblige different engagement structures with women and most of all she’ll drop you without the 10K in checks coming in every month. She doesn’t like court but will gladly take your 10K and answers emails. Veronica discussed with my “ex” that she loves working with Molly because she does not want to win and that she will “settle.” Molly actually like Veronica and other high-conflict attorneys which she prefers so she does not have to go to court but blows though time responding to emails. She gets to sit at her desk (of which she rarely leaves) and refuses to be your voice preferring to ALWAYS work with other high-conflict attorney coercing her clients to accept deals not in the clients best interest.
If you don’t agree she will drop you as a client and keep your earnest monies without explanation.
Rhodes Legal Group
AGAIN BE WARNED: THIS AREA OF LAW CONSISTS OF THE WORST TYPES OF LAWYERS. As a consumer, please do not trust Avvo reviews as they only publish positive reviews or mediocre reviews that are ambiguous; Avvo is funded my attorney advertising.
I explicitly hired Robert Rhodes to represent me in a false Temporary Personal Protection Order.
NOTE: This is the core strategy of lawyers like Veronica Freitas to create high conflict cases with false charges. As many spouses travel their assertions only revealed I was in another state at the time.
Robert and I contracted for him to handle the case including the hearing, revision hearing and any responses to the court in order to free my good name. After providing Robert with my credit card which he promised would not run it without prior authorization Robert Rhodes demanded cash payment up front of $2500. Robert then continued to charge me far beyond his billable hours. I asked Robert several times via phone and through email to review the hours and time that he was spending on the case. Robert told me that I was not entitled to see review his billable hours and since he is the first attorney that wanted to be paid in cash and on a flat fee I was concerned about his ethics. Sure enough, the night before my court case Robert called me and threatened not to show up tot he hearing if I did not pay him more money in cash.
Attorney’s like Robert Rhodes preys on people’s fears, especially, during tough times. Robert breached our agreement and received unjust enrichment during our engagement during a short two weeks. Robert Rhodes promised services that were never received. Worse, Robert lost our case because he was not prepared and while on vacation missed filing for a revision hearing.
Robert simply wanted to extort me for monies and cash that he expected to be paid without providing his hours and without an ability to discuss the charges and fees. His threats to not attend the trial go well beyond his contractual and ethical social contract with me as a client.
Valor Legal Group
Mikel does not have the competence to have a license to practice law. Competent attorneys laugh when they review her work and watch her oral arguments. This is not a time in your life to have incompetence and bad advice.
This review is real and are my first hand accounts and experiences with an unethical, aloof attorney that from my experience appears bi-polar in that one minute she’s writing a motion and then suddenly advising against the contents she just wrote? There are a lot of terrible attorneys in the Family Law field. Mikel misrepresents herself and her expertise and she will endanger your case as she has done mine.
Specifically, Ms. Carlson is an aloof attorney that calls other attorneys to make up for her lack of competency understanding the law. Most interesting, she actually admitted to me that she was a very poor speaker in front of the court and I can wholeheartedly agree with her self assessment. She is terrible in court and argues with little to no emotion or conviction.
If you reference the real Avvo.com feedback on Ms. Carlson, especially, the comment dated on June 27th truthfully exemplifies Ms. Carlson’s lack of competency. Ms. Carlson is a nice woman, however, she should not practice law; she lacks any ability to articulate verbally or in writing, she does not follow-up on important motions, nor can actually attend a pre-set conference call on time (I am not talking hours not minutes late.)
Ms. Carlson actually had to call multiple attorneys to help her better understand my case legally. Shockingly at the last-minute before four motions before the court she had to call in a new attorney to cover for her which took hours to bring the new counsel up to speed literally two days before the hearing and I had to spend hours on the phone during my Memorial Day coaching the new attorney.
Buyer Beware in retaining Ms. Carlson’s services.
McKinley Irvin
For those in long high conflict divorces this firm can deliver where others can really mess up your divorce process, especially, with predator attorneys like Veronica Freitas.
If you want them you’ll have to enslave yourself to the firm. If you don’t pay weekly they will drop you immediately.
Steven Fields
If Steven was not a generous over-charger and was better at orating in court he would actually be a pretty good attorney. Personally, I believe Steven Fields is a good person and means well but he is unsophisticated. His writing is poor and I spent a lot of time re-writing, editing and doing all the work with organizing supporting documents.
Gouras and Amis
Virginia Amis is an incredible person and a top Family Law Attorney. I am grateful to have met her and thank her for the work she was able to accomplish. Virginia is straight-forward and incredible compassionate about what she does in it is reflected in her results. The only problem is that she lacks commitment to individuals and their cases. Her practice is in a bit of disarray and cannot manage her workload overcommitting and then having to apologize for not getting the work done.
If you have a high conflict case or a case in which your spouse craves attention through court motions Virginia may not be your best choice due to her firms limited size and the resulting time constraints.
She is one of the top attorneys in the greater Seattle Area.