Christopher Karlen

Chris Karlen was my third attorney in an extremely contentious and litigious divorce; I wish he had been my first. My first attorney was arrogant, lazy, and incompetent. She played the petty power game of always making me wait at least 10 minutes for her, did not return emails or phone calls, and fai...led check a simple box on a legal form that cost me time with my children. My second attorney was cowered by an aggressive, domineering GAL and was always ready to acquiesce to opposing counsel’s demands. My first meeting with Chris was at 7:00 am; I was five minutes early, he was waiting for me. He doesn’t text, there are very few emails, but he will call you to discuss every detail that is relevant to your case. Additionally, if you need to call him on a Saturday night at 10:00 pm, he will take your call as he is probably still working. To everything there is an art. Paul McCartney would sometimes do eighty takes to perfect a song, Hemingway rewrote “The Old Man and the Sea” thirty-seven times. Chris has a pathological need to work, his father is still working at 90-years old. It sounds a little strange, but doing divorce law is his art. Law, especially divorce litigation, is a very dynamic playing field. In a divorce there may be children, custody issues, parenting concerns and proving allegations, negotiating maintenance, and the variable of going to trial. After thee decades of solely divorce practice, Chris’s genius is in outcome optimization. He does this by analyzing the extant facts, weighing probably outcomes, knowing the vulnerabilities of the opposing side, being mindful of the costs of litigation, and being able to weave a successful course that may be a settlement, may be going to trial, or may even be a combination of negotiation and a trial. Divorce is an excruciatingly difficult time, which unfortunately is often exacerbated by people having to hassle with their own attorney that they are supposedly paying to help them. Hire Chris, be honest with him, and he will navigate you through this difficult passage in you life.