Rachel K. Fitzgerald

Rachel helped out a ton with my disability case, and it means a lot as I'm a 27 year old male with Autism as well as learning issues which has caused years of work issues mainly due to the fact that I could not keep up with work demand mentally. While the process was a bit intimidating having a lawye...r that was familiar with the process, as well as the judges, helped out a ton which Rachel was. It really helped to have a lawyer as well as a judge that understood my mental handicaps as well as why I needed to be on disability to prevent the stress of unemployment ❤️

I hoped my nightmare with Atty Fitzgerald ended 11/2017 when she voluntarily withdrew from my case but she is still haunting my case to this day by substantially delaying my benefits with false fee claims that the judge ruled against over eight months ago. Know that if you hire her and she loses (whi...ch is quite likely since she will quite early on) she will always be part of your case and delay your entitlements as long as possible. In June 2016, I hired Atty Fitzgerald to represent me in an SSDI claim and specifically asked her if he handled appeals and federal court, she said yes. She also suggested that I linger in the hallway to overhear some of her other clients hearings so I would know what to expect at my hearing. A week prior to my hearing in 2017, the jugde's office contacted me asking about missing records which Atty Fitzgerald had but didn't submit. When I inquired with her staff about the missing records they told me not to worry about it and she wold take care of it at the hearing. Minutes prior to my hearing (which she was 15 minutes late) she asked if I would accept her withdraw as she wansn't prepared. The judge denied her request and ruled my case unfavorable. Atty Fitzgerald imediately sent me a letter withdawing from my case although she "believed it had merit with the Appeals Counsel" and included other attorneys that might assist me further. Fast forward to 6/2019, my new attorney won in both federal court and a remand hearing at which point Atty Fitzgerald filed a fee petition for 25% of my back pay (which at that point was substantial since she tanked my original hearing and it took three years to resolve). The judge denied her fee petition for several reasons, most importantly that she volunitarily withdrew as such SSA had no authority to pay. Further more her billing was "frivolous and excessive". He outlined that she could take me to small claims court for the minimal reasonable charges, but she didn't do that she appealed to the federal level. In a nutshell, had she done her job right the first time she would have been awarded fairly roughly 4k............but she tanked it and bailed out leaving me scrambling for another three years fighting for benefits and once I became entitled to them, all the while she was a ghost, she froze them up for over nine months preventing both my current attorney who legitimately should get paid and me hanging dry...........this matters on a moral level but also on a housing level as well. How many of us need these benefits and while the SSA takes long, this attorney in particular makes the process longer. See it's clear that she makes more money the longer the claim is in process since she gets a percentage of the back-pay, so it's obvious that she will sabatoge a case early then let another fight for it, only to shark back later to drink the blood which she could have prevented in the first place........but why would she when the system allows her to maliciously manipulate it? She has zero regard for clients nor the taxpayers, her only favorable reviews are for LTD............do not hire her for SSA or SSDI claims. Further, I know from being contacted by the State Bar that I am not the only one to suffer her immoral negligence, but she's good about hiding reviews and reaching out for five star ratings. So I hope this one isn't censored as many others have been.

I used Rachel Fitzgerald for my WC claim and she got me a great settlement without even having to go to court. She then represented me for Social Security Disability and we won those benefits as well! I would highly recommend her for Workers Comp and Social Security. Very knowledgeable and a stron...g attorney

Rachel helped me with my SSDI claim she was more than helpful explaining every step involved in getting and applying for SSDI.She answered all my questions and concerns that I had prompt and to the point I would recommend her and her firm to anyone having problems with getting SSDI and or Work Comp c...laims.

I was injured over three years ago and it had been an up hill battle from the start with Workers Compensation. We were referred to Rachel by another attorney we had seen for personal liability even before we would need her. Our personal liability lawyer had nothing but wonderful things to say about ...her and only recommends her out of his office and he is a highly known attorney in the valley also. We made contact with her, was sent her information, signed the forms and was told if we ever needed her in the future to give her a call, we were now on her client list. Well over a year and a half past and we needed her, WC stopped paying and I had not reached my end of healing time or level. She stepped up immediately and told us what we needed to do, sent the forms we needed to sign and what we needed to include back with it for other paperwork. She ALWAYS returned my phone calls when I left messages if I did not reach her right away. Of course if it was something that I just needed a quick answer on, of course I talked to her assistant or paralegal, they were awesome. They understood exactly what was going on in my case and what needed to be done and if not they would refer to Rachel. Every form or letter that was received in their office, yes I did receive a copy of for my file and it always had an explanation of what it was for and if it didn't, I had been told prior to receiving it, what it was for. I did have a lot of contact through email because of my injuries, so my husband did a lot of my correspondence but we never were out of the loop with their office. As we finally neared a court date with the WC insurance agency, I was brought in to meet with experts and I was told about them and also about the defenses appointments that I needed to attend. The team was with me each step of the way, Rachelle would follow up with a phone call and always made sure we did not have questions or concerns. Then as we got closer to the court date, we spoke often as to what we both thought was a good settlement offer. We had no idea what was good and fair but we had a number and it came in with what Rachel was thinking. We did not back down as Rachel felt we had a very strong case and could take it to court. A few days before the court date we were offered a very generous 6 figure settlement that was actually better than expected settlement. This was able to pay medical bills, pay the firm and allow us to have a monthly stipend to help out with household bills as I am still not able to work. I would recommend family and friends to Rachel and her team. She is also currently helping me out with my SSI disability claim as it does not look like I will be able to return to work anytime soon. Again, I am so very thankful that we had Rachel Fitzgerald as our attorney to help us weed through the paperwork and mess of a Workers Comp claim and lawsuit, it is no fun but she made it understandable and we were able to pay our bills. So do not hesitate to give her a call if you are need an amazing and knowledgable attorney.