Mark Joseph McGowan

I retained Mark McGowan for a prenuptial agreement and paid a $1,750 retainer. Over the course of the engagement, he failed to make any of the edits we discussed in our meetings, advised me to revise the agreement myself at home, and even suggested signing the prenup on the same day we finalized it, ...something that would have invalidated the entire agreement under California law had I not caught the error myself. Even more alarming: he printed my draft on the backs of highly confidential documents from other clients (which included trusts and wills, personal financial information, and clients' home addresses) which he suggested I bring home with me. This raises serious concerns about how he handles privileged information. When I raised these issues, he dismissed them and demanded over $4,000 in additional fees. Now, he refuses to certify the agreement at all, effectively invalidating the document and wasting months of effort and expense. I cannot recommend this attorney to anyone seeking competent, ethical, or reliable legal representation.

Even though this lawyer didn’t represent me, he still managed to ruin my prenup. My wife paid him $1,750 to review and certify her side, but he did almost nothing: no edits after the first meeting, told her to revise it herself, and even advised us to sign it the same day it was finalized (which woul...d’ve made it invalid under California law). He’s now refusing to certify it unless we pay thousands more. His negligence negatively affected both of us. Absolutely would not recommend.