Zachary Thomas Townsend

About a year ago I hired this lawyer to help me recover and protect my young daughters trapped by a known violent abusive felon in Wheaton. I knew going in, that DuPage corruption was in play, and we might not succeed. I didn't ask him to guarantee success, just do everything possible. During the cou...rse of his representation, we paid nearly a hundred thousand dollars to find protect and save my daughters from a nightmare. In the end, his office accomplished nothing that proved the girls were alive. During this time of his representation (and his astonishingly weak in court performances), we got a fraudulent restraining order on the girls beloved Grandmothers funeral, and a denial of all contact including phone calls, despite zero allegations of harm by me (the Father) to anyone anywhere. In the end (today) its became plainly obvious the only things he really cared about, was soaking my elderly father desperate and grieving with the loss of his wife of 60 years, and only hoping to re establish contact with his lost beloved granddaughters trapped in sexual exploitation and violence by corruption in DuPage. Throughout this time I pleaded with Townsend to take offensive legal action to protect these children, which he refused to do at every single turn, claiming those actions were not legally justified. A two min search on Google, revealed to me those actions to save these girls were enshrined in State and Federal Law. He lied to me about our legal rights and refused to file legally justified motions to protect the children. In the end all he could muster was to advise me to waive my constitutional rights, the ones he was hired to protect. 5 months after Covid hit, he advised me he would no longer meet wirh me in person no matter what safety precautions breaching his representation agreement, and then withdrew from representation leaving my innocent daughters exposed, because I brought it up to him. Today he refused to address the Judges systematic bias trapping children in violence with felons because he was scared of the Judge. He has knowledge but a bloated staff which I believe warps his view of responsibilities to protect his clents rights, and proved to me he was only interested in covering his own behind and churning an old grieving grandfather out of his family assets, right before he cut and ran leaving little girls trapped with a known violent felon. Words cannot explain how bad he hurt my family for $ while refusing to honor his representation contract.

I have been working with Zach Townsend since 2014 and I have nothing but good to say about Zach. He is an incredibly astute lawyer who not only acts with precision in the courtroom, but also follows through quickly and accurately with all phone and email correspondences. Zach is, generally speaking, ...very knowledgable in all areas of the law and gets back to me in an efficient manner if he needs to reference information he is not 100% sure about. I appreciate the fact that Zach is not only a barracuda in the courtroom, but he is also a congenial person with whom I am able to speak freely to and feel comfortable around. I recommend Zach to anyone I know because I am confident that he will represent any and everyone with their best of interest and I know that he will always act in the best interest of his clients.

As the title states, avoid this attorney and anyone associated with him at all costs. It would be difficult to list all the issues of professional misconduct this "lawyer" engaged in during his representation of me during my divorce, but I'll try. For starters, upon receiving his retainer, he advised... me to immediately stop paying anything to my ex spouse, as "child support is determined by a judge, not by what your estranged spouse decides it should be". Before my divorce was even finalized, I was already paying back-child support. When I asked him how this could happen, he simply said, "well... you haven't been paying any child support". When I reminded him that I did so on his advice as my attorney, he quickly changed the subject. He would routinely set up conferences with him during the proceedings, keep me waiting 30-45 minutes, and when his iPhone buzzed during our conferences, he literally got up and walked out of the room while I was in mid-sentence. Getting him to return a call during the divorce was worse than pulling teeth. After the divorce, when I called him with basic questions about the standard aftermath of the case, he wouldn't return my calls at all. The only thing he seemed to want to discuss during my divorce was when his next check was coming. I can assure you from personal experience that should he decide that today is the day he needs payment, he will not even discuss the case with you until payment is made. During the conferences we did have, I essentially had to bring him up to speed on the developments he was supposed to be seeing to and protecting me through as my hired attorney from square one - each time we met. It was obvious he wasn't working on my case at all. His basic strategy, to paraphrase, throughout the divorce was "we're going to give them everything that they ask for, so that they don't ask for anything more". When you hire an attorney, you do so because you do not understand the legal system and need someone to protect your rights. If you didn't have this lack of knowledge and need of services, you would obviously represent yourself. I can assure you - I would have done far better going into court without an attorney than going in with Townsend's representation. I've spoken to other attorney's in the area and members of the IL Bar Association since my divorce, and they have all informed me that Townsend and the Crosby Law Firm are constantly under review by the IL Bar Association's Ethics Committee for just such issues as I brought to their attention. I would urge you - Look into it yourself. I can just about accept the code that a lawyer's job is not to see that justice is served, but rather to ensure that the best outcome possible is achieved for their client. I cannot accept the code Townsend and his associates follow, which seems to be that it doesn't matter whether or not their client's best interests are served, only that their client's checks keep coming in. When I told Townsend this was costing me far too much for the results I was getting, and I was having to take out bank loans to pay him, he casually replied, "Well... lots of people live beyond their means"! Unbelievable. At that point I was too far invested in him to retain another attorney, but I know wish I had simply "lived beyond my means" and fired him, because the end result would have been the same. He took me for over $10K and got me nothing I stated I needed in our initial consultation. On the day the divorce was finalized, he didn't even read the final settlement until we were in the conference room outside of the courtroom 20 minutes before we were to go before the judge. After the papers were signed in court, I was never able to contact him again, despite numerous attempts. Save yourself the money and the disappointment you'll feel from knowing the attorney you paid to protect you has no interests in your best interests, and go to court without representation rather than retain this man.

I had used the American Law Firm to gain custody of my four children. I met with attorney Zachary Townsend explained my situation to him, and he let me know the flat out the good points of my case and the bad things that might be a issue. I liked the way he didn't beat around the bush and fill my hea...d with crap. Once I decided to go on with the case Attorney Townsend was right there on track getting things filed asap. Also He kept in contact with every step of the way either by phone or text every time I needed to talk to him he seemed to be available and if not I was receiving a call back in a short time, usually due to him being in court witch is understandable meaning that it is him job, witch I understand completely. I Just want to think Attorney Zachary Townsend for making my dream of having custody of my four children come true, also taking the time to help me get the child support for my children. I would recommend American Law Firm to anyone and if your looking for a attorney that's going to be hard working and takes pride in his work just ask for Attorney Zachary Townsend. Thanks again Attorney Townsend...