Susan Millican O'Brian's Reviews

Lawyer's Comment: I would like to respond to the above inaccurate comments. My office is not staffed with "new" attorneys. The attorney working on the above client's case has 9 years' experience; the other attorneys have 6 1/2 years; 4 1/2 years and 2 1/2 years. Just last week this person's attorney won a case where the comment was that "we make the impossible possible." We work very hard on our client's behalf. We NEVER pad our bills and are extremely ethical, keeping a timer on a timekeeping system so that we are accurate. We also require clients to sign a Legal Services Agreement that details how all charges are made so that there are no surprises. This person did not read the Agreement thoroughly (apparently) as she was charged exactly according to the Agreement. Our Legal Services Agreement also informs the client that we cannot call them on a daily or weekly basis to inform them when their funds are running low. It is impossible to do so and handle client matters at the same time. I most often do not bill for time when I consult with one of the other attorneys, but there are always exceptions, as we strive to "brain storm" about situations, but it is certainly not the "norm.". Our bills go out twice a month - which I believe is twice as often as most law firms. We adopted this policy to aid the client in managing their finances. We care very much about our clients and hope we can resolve the problem with the person mentioned above.

Lawyer's Comment: 1. I would like to respond to these misrepresentations. I did not arrive at the divorce "mediation" without the client's file. One often does not bring the entire 2 or 3 banker's boxes full of files to a mediation, but relies upon all of the materials supplied beforehand to the mediator, which consisted, in this case, of three huge binders, along with a long cover letter and lots of documentation. When the mediatior made an unusual request asking for back up documentation on all of the parties' credit cards, I called my paralegal, who happened to be my son-in-law, and he drove the boxes to the mediation. In order to hold down costs for the client, I had my paralegal previously input all of her credit card information into tables which greatly helped to explain her position on the spending. Since my paralegal had done the actual inputting, he was in the best position to answer the mediator's questions on each entry. As he stayed at the mediation to do so, his time was billed for that time. 2. We did not give the client the wrong court date. We appeared at the Eastside Courthouse and were told that the Court was closed that day for no apparent reason and we had no advance warning of such closure. Sometimes that happened when a Commissioner was unable to come over from Seattle for the afternoon. They have since closed that Courthouse, which was very convenient for Eastsiders, and now all cases have to go to Seattle or Kent for formal proof. The client's husband felt that the wife had received such a great settlement that he refused to comply with it and we had to first go back to arbitration, and we had to file a Motion with the Court asking the Judge to enforce it - - which he did. The client received an excellent settlement, and the mediator in that case would sustain my conclusions 3. Finally, a company did call our office, long after we represented the client, but left no identifying information. As a courtesy to her, we called the former client to let her know that someone had called so she could follow up with her ex-husband. We were under no obligation to do so. The client had excellent representation and would not have been as successful in her lawsuit were it not for the thoroughness of our firm.