Rachel Margolis Sodergreen

Rachel was easy to work with, likeable,patient, organized, smart, etc. Overall, however, I was not highly satisfied. In fairness, we lacked 30-+ year-old records on my retirement assets while I worked with Rachel, so it was difficult for Rachel to advocate for me while we waited for those records. ... (I finally obtained them about a month after hiring a new lawyer) We worked together for 6 months. Towards the end, she was a bit too amicable with the opposing counsel. At one point, she said, "you did some things and she did some things...." (implying, "it's time to get your best settlement." My former wife was completely responsible for the divorce). During our third and last meeting, which a senior member of the firm attended, I was advised to agree to an unsatisfactory compromise. This was upsetting, to say the least; but it WAS consistent, however, with their resigned attitude: "well, you had a long marriage....it's a shame that she'll get so much." I got back in touch 6 months later, when it was clear that my THIRD lawyer was much worse and had to be replaced, Rachel declined to take back my case. As always, she was very kind and clear...the reason was that the same senior partner said that they didn't have the time to take my case again. In the end, after hiring my FOURTH lawyer, I got a very good settlement. The negative aspects of this review have more to do with Rachel's firm and the senior partner I mention. If a lawyer, especially his or her firm, doesn't truly care about your case, it's hard to get a fair settlement. I think the firm is going through a transitional period. I found that they did not advocate for me strongly enough, and that some of that had to do w/ a lack of familiarity regarding non-marital vs marital assets, and co-mingled vs non co-mingled assets.