Katherine Ryan

Katherine was my divorce attorney and I don't feel she represented my best interests with any sincerity and her focus was on billing until I was wrung dry, at which point, she dumped me as a client against my wishes. In the long run, she did me a favor but at the time it was very stressful and I was ...left unrespresented because I couldn't afford to lay out another retainer, as she was aware. She was not successful in securing a good deal with the other side, repeatedly brushed off my concerns and didn't bother to inform me of any strategy or what to expect. Her "bedside manner" was pitiful. When I had a status conference coming up again, she threatened that if I did not come up with the balance several days in advance that she would not go on my behalf. I scraped up most of it but could not come up with the entire amount. She accepted that and seemed ok with the small balance left. She went in to the conference and announced to the lawyer, court clerk and judge that she would not be represnting me further, without having informed me. Afterwards, she explained to me what had transpired, urged me to take the paltry offer from the other side and only then let me know that she wanted off my case because I had lost faith in her. I told her that we did not need to like each other in order to continue, should be keep things professional and that I had no recourse to replace her as my funds were dry. If perhaps she had secured spoousal support from my ex who earned far more than I did, I could have afforded to pay her but she was not interested in pursuing that. She did not seem to care about the dire financial situation I was in and had ignored my suggestions that she try to get court ordered compensation from the other side as well. I knew this was possible from other separated people I knew in simiar situations on both counts. It had been approximately 6 months since forward progress had been made in our case. I kept paying for status conferences and to only keep hearing how the other attorney does not return calls. The offer she was suggesting I consider was ridiculously low and I truly believe she wanted to move on to someone with deeper pockets and had lost interest in my case. I asked her not to take herself off my case because I needed representation and she said if I did not sign to allow it, she would go to court and would get the judge to let her off anyway. She agreed to waive her fee for the last court appearance because if I had known she was quitting, I would not have wanted her speaking on my behalf. I felt coerced into letting her resign. I am now being pursued for the balance on my account at a larger amount than agreed. I offered her a settlement but instead she hired a lawyer to pursue it in court. That feels like bullying again from someone who knows the law against someone who cannot afford professional representation. I was referred to her because my prior attorney made a large financial mistake that, luckily, I caught when discussing it with someone who was more experienced than I am. The person who referred her said she would fight for me and be a pit bull. Unfortnately, rather than feel like she was representing me, I felt that she was fighting me rather than fighting for me. In the end, she did me a favor because I represented myself and got a far more favorable deal than she had pushed me to take. It involves retirement funds which I can't touch yet so that doesn't help me with affording her current bill, which is higher than she last agreed to accept. I was stressed about going in on my trial date without a lawyer for almost 6 months. Divorce is stressful enough already but she left me to feel defenseless for months, literally.

Katherine and her associate Nick are truly exceptional in what they do. They are professional, extremely diligent, thorough, very knowledgeable and come very prepared to court when representing their clients. When I laid out to them about a change of child visitation modification, they went in with a... plan and stuck to it. Katherine has a very diligent associate in Nick who represented me while Katherine was on maternity leave. Nick kept Katherine informed while she was on maternity leave and Katherine made herself available when needed even though she had a new born to take care of. This clearly shows that she is dedicated to her clients and her business. Being a highly competent divorce attorney, I highly recommend Katherine Ryan and her team.

I didn't have an attorney on my child support case, didn't know how to present my case, and the judge didn't hear what I had to say because my ex would interrupt me and wouldn't allow me to speak. So I got a judgment that didn't justified my child's expenses or the father's true earnings. Upon t...hat, I decided to get an attorney to represent me to appeal the decision. When I went to Mrs. Ryan and explained my case, I asked her if based on her expert opinion I would be likely to win the appeal or not - as I didn't have much money to spare and didn't want to waste my time and energy on a losing battle. She said it was a pretty straight-forward simple case and it was very like to get an increase on the child support. So I gave her my money. Mrs. Ryan didn't even deal with the case but gave it to someone else to handle it. I provided all information requested. They presented the information I had presented before and I lost the appeal. When I found out about it, I called and left messages numerous times before she would talk to me. I was never rude or nasty, I was in shock. When she finally took my call, she had an attitude as if I was the one who did something wrong. She told me, "you should have provided more documents and more information" and got off the phone soon after. I'm not an attorney to know what documents or information would have looked better for my case. I provided all that was requested from me. If I would have known how to present the case better and what to present, I wouldn't have paid thousands of dollars to an attorney. It is the attorney's role to defend the client, strategize to win the case, and asked from the client all necessary information and documents based on her knowledge of the law. I am extremely disappointed and feel totally robbed!

Ms. Ryan represented me during the course of my divorce and was professional, knowledgeable and dedicated every step of the way. She always had my personal interests at hand and and truly acted in a way that showed she knew what issues were important to me. Ms. Ryan repeatedly went above and beyond..., always getting back to me in a timely manner with solid information and a well-thought out course of action. I would undoubtedly use her again as her superior competency put my mind at ease. Ms. Ryan truly is an asset to her team and certainly made the harrowing divorce experience as painless as possible.