Kathleen G. Galen

I hired Ms. Galen to handle my divorce which included child support and child custody issues and I am extremely disappointed in how she handled the entire case. Ms. Galen told me at the beginning of my case that she would contact me weekly to give me updates and tell me about any progress that had ha...ppened with my case, I actually had to find out from my soon-to-be ex wife about ANY changes in hearings, paperwork that needed to be filed, or Friend of the Court updates. The only time I ever spoke to her was when I contacted her first, and then she would chastise me about perhaps giving my ex wife half of my retirement (we are both in our early 20s and she has a full time job), or the fact that since I asked my wife for a divorce that she had every right to be upset with me and everything she was asking for I should probably acquiesce to. Not only did she tell me personally that I was in the wrong, but she told my wife's attorney that she did not think highly of me and that I was "acting like a baby" throughout the whole case. When I confronted her about saying this, her only reply was, "It doesn't matter what my opinion of you is," - no denial or apology. I think if you hire someone to look out for your best interests and that person looks out for the opposition, that person is unethical and has a lack of integrity; if Ms. Galen thought that she couldn't represent me to the best of her abilities due to her personal feelings about my case, then she should have told me that up front. Not to mention the countless grammatical and spelling errors included in all of the official documents she prepared and then charging me to correct her own mistakes. I still haven't received my divorce decree because she said she had already gone "above and beyond" her duties and she was "done with this case" the day that the judge signed off on it. If you are a man, do NOT hire Ms. Galen to represent you in your divorce case, it is apparent to me now that she only feels sympathy for the female side in a child custody case and will not represent you fairly.

My son hired Ms. Galen to handle his divorce and I was assisting with the bill. My son asked that I be copied on all correspondence and pleadings. Overall, we were displeased with the representation received. Ms. Galen was very abrupt with my son at times and even verbally denigrated him to opposi...ng counsel. We know of this because my ex-daughter-in-law’s attorney told her of the unflattering comments made by Ms. Galen and she told my son. When my son confronted Ms. Galen, she told him that her opinion of him did not matter; she never apologized for making the comments. It was very evident that Ms. Galen’s assistant, who is not an attorney, was preparing some of the pleadings. The first pleading that was sent to my son for review was rife with factual and grammatical errors. My son pointed the errors out to Ms. Galen, who, again, never apologized. She did correct the pleading and billed us for the time spent making the corrections. It was only when I refused to pay for errors made by her staff, and pointed out by my son, that she removed that charge from the bill. Speaking of bills, it’s very difficult to get one from Ms. Galen. After I paid the initial retainer, I asked several times, as did my son, for a current bill. Ms. Galen finally forwarded a bill 3 1/2 months after she started representation. Of course, by that time, expenses to date were more than double the cost of the retainer. And when the bill wasn’t paid within 2 weeks, Ms. Galen contacted my son to find out when she could expect payment. The bottom line is that Ms. Galen is condescending, not detail-oriented, and not attentive to client needs. I would urge people to look elsewhere if they are interested in retaining a quality attorney.

Kathleen was prepaired for trial and presented my case professionaly. She changed tactics to allow the truth to be herd and I felt she represented my voice well. Mine was a custody case that went to trial (very rare) but she was good at informing me of what I needed to do, what I should do, and what ...I should not do. Im a father who was awarded custody of my son and alowed to move 180 miles from Mt. Clemens to start my life over in the family business with my son. I have to give some of the credit to the judge who was wise enough to see through the smoke screen but Kathleen did an excellent job!