Gretchen Fry Rafuse

Gretchen Fry Rafuse completely misrepresented her style by claiming to be aggressive and responsive, which were qualities we requested in any prospective counsel; she proved to be neither. As her client, I warned her that opposing counsel would drag her down pointless rabbit holes, delay, obfuscate a...nd for Gretchen to avoid these pitfalls and pursue specific, reasonable goals. After five months and most our our hefty retainer used, Ms. Rafuse had achieved not a single goal. Something as simple as obtaining required health care information for a minor child, as ordered by a judge, was beyond Gretchen’s capability despite having a court order empowering her to seek this. She proved unable to handle pointed and honest feedback about her poor performance and chose to display her inability to accept negative feedback by trying to remove herself from the case claiming a “breakdown in the attorney/client relationship.” The only breakdown was in Ms. Rafuse’s willingness to accept her failings, rectify them, and move forward with the task she was given. Ms. Rafuse didn’t file letters when she agreed to, used child care absence as an excuse for not contacting us as agreed, took offense to being called out, and didn’t return calls or emails promptly despite assurances that she would be responsive. We were incredibly disappointed in her service, communications, focus, and excuses.

While my case(s) have been anything short of simplistic, Gretchen has always managed to be able to pick the important things out of the plethora of changes a worried/anxious client tends to want at the beginning of child custody cases, divorce proceedings, mediation, etc. With that, she is straight f...orward with you if she believes that what you want may not be feasible. I really like the fact that she allows me to participate in the process, which ensures me (as a perfectionist) that everything that is important to me is either included or at least discussed with her. She is extremely trustworthy and is a great fit at the Sparta Firm which is comprised of other experienced and talented attorneys. If you are going through a family matter that requires mediation or an in-depth motion filing, I highly recommend that you contact Gretchen for a consultation. Many times you only have one shot at presenting your side, make it worthwhile and contact Gretchen.