Brian Joseph Clausen

Dealing with separation and facing a painful divorce, I could not have asked for a better ally than Brian Clausen. Coming highly recommended by a trusted friend, he exceeded any expectations with his professional counsel and compassionate advocacy throughout my ordeal. It's not easy trusting a nea...r-stranger at an emotionally overwhelming time in your life. But Brian offered a steady presence throughout my divorce, balancing compassion with candid guidance when I had tunnel vision. He tactfully held ground on my behalf in tense meetings and mediations without losing sight of big-picture goals. Brian and his team run an impressively organized operation that exudes professionalism in every detail. Above all, I felt heard, reassured, and empowered thanks to his strategies and accessibility day-to-day. He was my hero and worth every penny.

Brian represented me on and off over 10 years in a very emotionally changed case where I had to fight repeatedly for visitation and ultimately custody of my child. Brian was professional, insightful, and dedicated to my case. He and his assistants were always quick to respond to any question, conce...rns, and recommendations by both phone and email. In my change of custody case, Brian built a strong case along every relevant legal factor considered for a change of custody. His strategy paid dividends in overcoming a biased guardian ad litem who, despite clear legal and medically documented physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, along with evidence of neglect, recommended that the child remain with the mother. His attention to detail and clear articulation during the court proceeding enabled the judge to make a well-defined and sound decision in my favor. Brian has also provided me with effective legal counsel for proceeding with a change of name for my minor child. This enabled me to properly file and personally represent my child in a change of name proceeding. I highly recommend Brian Clausen if you want to ensure you have the strongest case possible to be argued in court or to allow you to negotiate from a position of strength. Brian’s fees are reasonable, fair, and worth every cent.

Brian represented me on and off over 10 years in a very emotionally changed case where I had to fight repeatedly for visitation and ultimately custody of my child. Brian was professional, insightful, and dedicated to my case. He and his assistants were always quick to respond to any question, conce...rns, and recommendations by both phone and email. In my change of custody case, Brian built a strong case along every relevant legal factor considered for a change of custody. His strategy paid dividends in overcoming a biased guardian ad litem who, despite clear legal and medically documented physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, along with evidence of neglect, recommended that the child remain with the mother. His attention to detail and clear articulation during the court proceeding enabled the judge to make a well-defined and sound decision in my favor. Brian has also provided me with effective legal counsel for proceeding with a change of name for my minor child. This enabled me to properly file and personally represent my child in a change of name proceeding. I highly recommend Brian Clausen if you want to ensure you have the strongest case possible to be argued in court or to allow you to negotiate from a position of strength. Brian’s fees are reasonable, fair, and worth every cent.

I originally was referred to an assistant of the firm that just graduated from law school by my brother who also practices law. He didn't want to represent me due to the conflict of interest from shared property. She failed her ethics test and was let go from the firm. I had already fill out all the ...paperwork and had all my statements in order. So I decided to meet with him on my case. When I asked him how much he expected the divorce to run after he went over the billable terms; He stated, $5,000 if we don't have to go to court and over $10,000 if it gets really ugly. I am 30 without kids or a huge estate. Though it sounded a little high it didn't seem too bad. So we went forward and I put down a $3,000.00 replenish-able retainer. We served Heidi papers. She got a lawyer and they decided not to start with mediation. So we went to court for the initial meeting where they establish a meeting with a mediator. This a meeting that last less then 30 min and nothing is decided on. He then told me that they had agreed to go through "due diligence". Which I said OK. I then talked to my soon be ex-wife about coming to an agreement without Brian. In the mean time his assistants re-requested all the information I had already gave him and up to date statements. Which was work I was required to redo and was billed for. We went through that $3,000.00 and I replenished it plus paid the amount I was already over by. I came to an agreement and told Brian the terms of the divorce. We canceled the court ordered meeting and started the paperwork. The whole time I got tons of mail on things that I didn't care for or need. All of which I was billed for. We were nearing $9,000.00 and I told him that I couldn't afford him if we where going to break this amount. He told me that there should be enough to cover the last of it. Needless to say I got a bill for a little over $400.00 that amount. I had paid it thinking it was the last amount. But that was not the case. I just got one more bill for $250. Thanks Brian for blowing through the $5,000 amount like it was water, creating un-needed work for me and billing me for more than everything.

Much time was spent up front gathering documents before filing-then the same docs were needed after filing, resulting in duplicate work and additional billing. There were several times when multiple calls and emails were made requesting the same info-also padding the billing. Mr. Clausen did not fu...lly inform me in the late stages regarding financial documents that impacted the bottom line for what I would owe my former spouse. He also said he would write the j&d and in the end the opposing atty wrote it and we ended up capitulating to some significant items that were not part of negotiation. Overall, I believe that divorce lawyers are effective at padding the bills and making tactical errors (some of which may just be an unavoidable part of the process). But some of the agreements made were not accomplished (writing the j&d) that were significant and there was significant duplication of work and billing. I would not recommend this lawyer.