Karen Purcell Reynolds

As part of my advocacy with Parents Against Racketeering Attorneys, I want to warn others about my personal experience with Karen Reynolds. When I retained this white collard thug, I had primary physical custody and shared legal custody of my daughter with no prior CYF involvement, school issues, or ...truancy concerns. Ms. Reynolds frequently bypassed me and communicated with my adoptive mother (the payer, not the client). I learned of a scheduled custody hearing only days before it occurred because she had failed to notify me directly- despite having my contact information. Her courtroom performance was unprofessional and passive. She allowed opposing counsel (Attorney Erin Patton, who had far less experience) to dominate the hearing. When I sought to replace her, I was pressured to reinstate her and subsequently paid $15,000 toward a demand for trial. After that, Ms. Reynolds did little to protect my interests and instead billed me for unnecessary “research” and communication. The most disturbing event occurred in December 2021: immediately after I terminated her representation again, police arrived at my home attempting to detain me for an involuntary psychiatric evaluation (“302”). I remained calm, and later confirmed there was no supporting petition or documentation- not even a note of concern in my file. I have body-cam footage and a complete client file confirming these facts. In my view, Ms. Reynolds acted unethically, failed to protect my parental rights, and engaged in retaliatory conduct that directly harmed my custody case.

Karen was great at selling her services during the initial face to face appointment. She listened attentively and delivered on exactly what I asked. She answered all my questions well during the process of drafting a proper Property Settlement Agreement / Divorce Agreement. Ultimately her draft was ...accepted by my ex-wife, her lawyer and the court. After I the Divorce Agreement Document was complete, I had trouble getting a hold of her via phone so I began email correspondence. This did not work out well for many reasons. I was trying to keep everything efficient, however I could not help but feel that I was not going to get the service I needed unless I set up face to face appointments and rack up billable hours. Via email, the service level deteriorated and I could not help but feel roped along in the process of filing the documents needed to complete my divorce. Perhaps this is a problem with all divorce lawyers, they ultimately want to help see the entire divorce through but in the process they may seek to own the process in a way that can be a serious drain on people's finances. Ultimately, I had to severe the business relationship during the filing process to protect myself financially from being overcharged for filing paperwork. In the end Karen was very respectful of this. I realize not all divorces are the same, and it sounds like Karen has a very unique skill set to deal with complicated divorces. However, if you have a simple divorce I would be careful with her or any lawyer to make sure you do over-pay for services you can complete yourself. When I tried to take over the filing process, set financial parameters, and create a consultative business relationship, Karen became more vague and the service level deteriorated. I realize I created an environment where I would continually get worse service unless I came in face to face to get and on same page and rack up some billable hours. I was lucky that I ultimately could file all of my paperwork on my own and did not have pay thousands of dollars more than I could afford to complete my divorce. My divorce is now complete. In summary: -Karen delivered on exactly what she said she would. I am ultimately happy with her expertise in drafting a Divorce Agreement/ PSA. -Be careful with all lawyers not to let them own your divorce process and rack up billable hours. Research what you can do on your own if applicable (ex - filing paperwork). -Set the stage with how you would like to correspond and be clear about that with your lawyer (whether it is Karen or someone else.) -I would recommend Karen to help draft a document, but not to file the actual paperwork. -My advice to Karen is to get better at getting business done via email.

I can recommend Karen to anybody going through a divorce. She gave me an understanding of the process, kept me updated, offered alternatives, and was a good steward of my money. She would communicate with me via E-Mail, phone, and of course in face to face meetings. Finding a lawyer that you can t...rust is a difficult process - I got lucky with Karen.

I went to Karen for help with a very contentious custody situation. Her legal advice and expertise was much better than I could have hoped for. She was excellent about keeping me informed and answering my laundry list of nuanced questions. She was professional, supportive, and informative from the... very beginning all the way through the end of an extremely contentious proceeding. I truly felt like she was living the experience right along with me and it showed in her representation of me in court. I could not be any happier and I would recommend Karen to anyone.

Initially, my impression of Karen was that she was a consummate professional with extensive experience in family law. While that is certainly how she markets herself, it soon became apparent that Karen had little interest in actually working my case. Karen was impossible to get a hold of. My divo...rce proceeding was prolonged as a result. After I proceeded to hire another lawyer, she took 6 months to refund my retainer. All the while, ignoring my emails and calls. Additionally, I never received a single billing statement. So it's literally anybody's guess exactly what she billed me for. And wait for it...here comes another rebuttal from Karen. At least there's one thing that she can respond to in a timely fashion.