Timothy Brian Rien

I hired Tim for defense in very serious criminal charges I was accused of. Tim worked tirelessly on my behalf. He was thorough, always available and understood that there was a huge amount of emotion involved in my case and handled that part of it with sensitivity. Tim met with me on weekends and h...olidays. Tim also met my family with me and separately for me to gently tell them things that I did not have the courage to admit myself. I felt humiliated at times and Tim never waivered in his support for me and when all of the investigation on both sides was over and there was no way around it, he sat me down and told me the truth: the accident was simply my fault. Although hard to here it was true. Tim could have and offered to go forward to trial which would have cost tens of thousands of dollars. He told me he would give me the best criminal defense that he could but was honest with me. Although this was a hard pill to swallow it turned out to be the best outcome for me. He was able to negotiate a plea deal in which I served no time in jail and had minimal fines. Going to trial would have cost me thousands of dollars and probably my home. Tim's honesty saved me not just money though. Tim was able to see that my emotion was in the way of the best decision for my case. He was right. It's been about 10 years. The conviction has been expunged from my record. Hindsight they say is 20/20. Tim led me in the right direction and my life would still be negatively impacted if he hadn't. Thank you Tim.

I enlisted the Law Offices of Timothy Rien to help a friend of mine that was facing criminal charges. Our initial meeting was with Tim, and he was very non-judgmental and helpful -- explaining the process, the cost, and the likely outcome. I really felt like we had an advocate on our side as his of...fice made multiple court appearances and worked with the District Attorney to hammer out a plea bargain. In the end, felony charges were avoided. Although we initially met with Tim, most of our interaction was with Melissa and Joe. I was very pleased with their prompt email updates on court proceedings, and with quick answers to all of our questions.

I had a really bad experience with Tim as my attorney. I was accused of a crime and hired him after my arraignment. I chose him because he quoted me at about half the price of any other lawyer I spoke with. A few days later, he explained that this was a "pre-charging" rate (what you would charge a cl...ient who was being investigated but not yet formally charged) and that I actually owed him twice the initial rate he quoted. While I probably could have had him better clarify what he was asking for in the beginning, it seems dishonest and manipulative to give me a pre-charging rate after arraignment, since a pre-charging rate would be irrelevant for what I was hiring him for. Tim also encouraged me also to pay $4,000 to a private investigator he knew to help with my defense. I was skeptical but Tim insisted it was a good idea. In the end, none of the information he collected was used in my defense. Tim didn't appear at a single of my court appearances, but sent other less experienced lawyers in his place (and this was for a serious felony charge). He had me waive my right to appear in court, claiming that judges subconsciously would come to associate my face with criminality if I came to my court dates. Another lawyer suggested that Tim actually probably didn't want to draw my attention to the fact that he didn't personally intend to come to court for me at all. On one occasion, the lawyer he sent arrived two hours late with no communication. On another, his office sent me a notice of my next court date saying I should not come in person and they would represent me as usual. I went out of state for a business trip and emailed the night before to ask if I could get an update after court. Then they told me I actually was supposed to appear in the morning so I could accept the DA's plea bargain (which I already told them I didn't want to accept). I was confused and terrified because it would have been impossible for me to return on time, and because I wondered why no one had remembered or understood I didn't want to take the plea. Tim wrote me a rather diplomatic email apologizing for the office's poor communication. That was literally the last time I ever heard from him during my case. I thanked him for the email but asked again what had gone wrong exactly, and he had Melissa Adams (another lawyer from the firm) write me a email saying that communication error had actually been my fault because I was supposed to contact them again in the meantime (which no one had ever told me). I asked for clarification and she ignored my email. I believe it was basically a good cop/bad cop routine Tim put together to try to hide how disorganized they were. I often had to wait several days to a week to get answers to questions I had. The crime I was accused of was supposedly caught on a surveillance video. The footage would have completely exonerated me, but someone from the prosecution's side destroyed it. Even with this, Tim's firm wasn't able to neogtiate my case effectively, and I did end up taking the plea bargain in the end out of frustration. Now I have a criminal record. I really regret not going with a public defender because I know they could not have done any worse and I wouldn't have spent $14,000. Had I decided to push forward, I definitely would have hired someone else for trial. I frankly felt as at odds with Tim as I did with the police and prosecutor. I felt like they already saw me as a criminal and didn't believe or care about what had actually happened. Even if the outcome had been the same, I wish I had gone with a lawyer who had better communication skills and appeared to actually care about my case. I would not recommend him for these reasons.

I initially was referred to Tim's office by a colleague back in 2011 when my initial case arose and I needed counsel. I started working directly with Melissa and eventually received assistance from Tim, Melissa and Joe - the whole team. I appreciated them working as a team and being available to me t...hat way. If I couldn't get a hold of one, someone else would respond to me and was well aware of my situation. My case was resolved but unfortunately a restitution claim arose 2 years after, and the team again was back at bat for me. We just recently completely settled, and I appreciate the work put in and the care that was given. I would highly recommend to others. Although I hope to never need to use them again, if another situation comes up I will already know who to call.

I contacted the law office of Timothy B. Rien because my son was in need of some legal counsel. Tim's office was extremely helpful and we were able to get in for a free initial consultation to discuss his case. He informed us of all of our options and advised us along the way on what were the next st...eps and what we could expect along the way. Tim and his associates were extremely professional and helped us through a rough time. We were definitely in good hands and I strongly recommend him. Thank you Tim!