Michael William Bugni's Reviews

I'm confident that if I had not used Michael as my divorce attorney, my divorce would have been ugly, very expensive and ended up in court. Most importantly, my children would have been the ones most adversely affected.

Michael helped me with my strong but seemly impossible desire to keep my divorce amicable and out of court, primarily for the sake of our children. My ex’s lawyer tried to pull a bunch of dirty tricks to antagonize me every chance he could and force the case to go to court. Even though it was tough, Michael and Bita Soltan-Qurraie (another wonderful lawyer in Michael’s firm) helped me get the divorce settled out of court and without any hearings.

Unlike what I’ve heard other lawyers typically do, when things happened where I got upset with the process and with my ex’s lawyer’s constant badgering, Michael didn’t encourage me to become more aggressive too but rather keep to the high-road which he knew was paramount to me. He made it clear that I hired him to be the objective party when my ex and/or I lost objectivity. Unlike the one-sided, aggressive and demanding communication's my ex's lawyer always sent to us, Michael always kept our communications respectful and with as fair language as was possible.

A key turning point happened when we finally had an agreed upon four-way meeting with my ex and her lawyer just so we could solve some key procedural issues and proceed with the divorce. Michael effectively turned it into a mediation meeting instead when he discovered after talking to my ex and her lawyer that SHE was willing to settle all of our remaining divorce issues right then. After assuring I wanted the same, in fairly short order, we settled all the issues that hadn’t settled in nearly six months of conflict. Michael's mediation experiences made this all seem natural. Also, since he is a part time judge at the family court in Seattle, it gives him further insight into what will happen in court if it leads to that.

Michael's firm also has an outstanding staff of paralegals and assistants.

I’m happy to say that once my ex’s lawyer was out of the picture after the divorce settled and was done with, we have become friends again and have remained good parents which has made the divorce much easier on our children. I can’t imagine what would have been the outcome if her lawyer would have got his wish and pushed us to fight in court. My key recommendation, if there is no abuse or other behavioral or criminal factors forcing a divorce, keep it out of court and hearings. One day your children will thank you.

The disappointing thing is that my ex's lawyer is rated quite high on this service. Reading his reviews mostly explains why. He typically gets exactly what his clients want, regardless of reasonability. That lawyer seems to shield his clients from really knowing everything he is doing and not let his clients know of less aggressive options. It seems to have nothing to do with fairness and with what is best for the children and even his own client but all to do with the spouse's lawyers who weren't as experienced, balanced and objective as Michael Bugni.

Thanks Michael!

Mr. Bugni is weak when it comes to representing his clients "Best Interest" with regards to parenting plans. Mr. Bugni is a decent lawyer but because he is also a "Mediator" is not as aggressive a Lawyer you may want when it comes to divorce.
I eventually had to fire him.