R. Michael Collum

Great and Good are hard to in the same person and rare in the world of family law. Michael is one of the good ones and a great lawyer; a calming professional in the contentious world of family court. From our first phone call to today, I am grateful for his knowledge of the law, his calming demeano...r and his exceptional writing and legal comprehension. The journey matters for me and Michael helped me navigate and talk through all the potential scenarios, all the while communicating clear and actionable next steps. We did it together and having Michael on speed dial is a comfort that I wanted to share by writing this review.

Michael Collum is an amazing, compassionate, knowledgeable, reliable, and seasoned attorney. He has been my attorney since 2017, and words alone cannot describe how grateful and thankful I am to have found him. He is a gem. He has successfully defended me in court, and had a fabricated TRO dissolv...ed and dismissed. Michael’s professionalism and integrity are unparalleled. Even in the most challenging situations, I could count on Michael’s sound legal advice. The fact he is so calm and level headed is impressive given the emotional intensity of family law cases. I highly recommend Michael Collum and his law firm, and a five-star rating doesn’t begin to describe his skills and abilities as a family law attorney. He is simply brilliant.

In another life, Michael was likely a butcher. He effortlessly trims the fat. I've been in a complex, high profile family law case for too long. In one conversation with Michael, I learned what was wrong with my case and the clear steps necessary to remedy the situation. Family law is ess...entially a forms based practice that a trained monkey could succeed in. Keeping that in mind, the key to succeeding in your family law case lies 100% with your attorney. Michael Collum is a strategic, results-driven attorney who will slay opposing counsel. Beware: the butcher has arrived.

I highly recommend Michael Collum to handle your dissolution case. He is extremely professional, ethical, personable, smart, and delivers what he says he will deliver. When’s the last time a family lawyer did that in Los Angeles? From Northern California, I hired Michael to represent me in an abateme...nt case in Los Angeles in which my ex’s lawyer unethically filed a default spousal support and would have required me to litigate in Southern California. Michael successfully had the judge set aside the default, vacate the default judgement and rule that Northern California has jurisdiction over our divorce case. Thanks to Michael, I can pursue spousal support and all future court appearances will be in Northern California, not Los Angeles. Thank you very much Michael!!

If I were asked to “build” the perfect dissolution attorney, my creation would be Michael Collum. Michael brings calm and assurance to an emotionally overwhelming process. He is bright, personable, hardworking, accessible, kind, patient, trusted by Judges and is a certified Family Law Specialist. Tha...t means he’s an expert at what he does. He has represented celebrities and the mega rich, yet treated me as if I were both. I am neither. I found Michael in June, 2015, after 20 months of litigation terrorism by my ex-wife and her impossibly unethical attorney. Within 4 months, he settled my case. And I live in Virginia! My first attorney was a warrior, but inexperienced. We were both duped by the unprecedented level of dishonesty and underhandedness leveled at us by opposing counsel. Any correspondence or document we served on him, he claimed he never received. He claimed to have mailed or faxed or emailed documents and letters that he never actually sent. He refused to be reasonable- called “meet and confer” forcing needless and expensive Motions and Court hearings. Then, would not obey subsequent Court Rulings Ordering his client to comply with the law. He dumped 21,000 pages (7 boxes) of disorganized and irrelevant documents on me which had to be copied and reviewed which cost me thousands of dollars. He proffered false evidentiary support and Declared under Oath that lies were the truth. He lied to the Court to the point that she said in open Court “neither you nor your client have any credibility in this Court.” Needless to say, my original $25,000 Retainer was quickly exhausted and, despite sanctions and Orders to comply, I never received a single useable, verified response or document after 20 months of litigation! I was out of money and my lawyer was going to court to withdraw from representing me saying that, even if we won at trial, there may not be any assets left in the estate to split up. At the same time, opposing counsel had filed 4 separate sham Motions demanding that I answer questions and give him documents when I had already given them to him and he was asking for $5,000 in sanctions. I was overwhelmed, broke and devastated. That was in May, 2015. Enter Michael Collum. June, 2015. We spoke over the phone at length and he listened, suggested courses of action and immediately sent me a Retainer Agreement I could work with. He appeared on my behalf just days later opposing the 4 conyrived Motions. Result: Motions Denied. Sanctions Denied. Opposing counsel quickly tried to exploit Michael being new to a file that consisted of thousands of pages by sending Michael a letter ostensibly written by my former lawyer. Michael immediately phoned me and questioned the contents of the document. I told him it was false. He then checked with my first attorney and verified that the letter was a fake. Opposing counsel had used my former lawyer’s letterhead and fabricated a letter and then forged her name to it. Michael informed the California bar association. Simultaneously, Michael and I had agreed to move to appoint a Receiver who would expose millions in assets hidden and undisclosed by my ex. Michael’s invaluable associate, David Handel, had also filed what is called a “doomsday” Motion that would ask the Court to essentially punish my ex and her attorney for all of their fraud and obstreperous conduct by awarding the entire estate to me. All of these actions were certain to succeed. It was now August, 2015. Within weeks, my case was settled. I do not believe there is a better Family Law Specialist in California.