Mark Timothy Blake

Mark put together a will/trust for us. Work was ok/standard. We later needed a soft copy of a doc that was part of that service (had lost the email previously sent that had contained it). Instead of re-fowarding that previous email or at minimum letting me know there'd be a charge and a substantia...l charge at that, he sent the docs, and then billed us nearly $200. That's a $360/Hour rate looking at the time he says it took (which was overblown by about 200% from how long it should have taken). Unbelievable that somebody you thought you could trust, attempts to take advantage of people like this. He most likely has a bunch of rich clients, where this is just a drop in the bucket and pay these things without even looking at them. But for most of us, this is a large sum of money, and massive considering the services received for being charged it. Do not trust him.

About a year ago I called Mark Blake's office because I needed a Power of Attorney to help with the settlement of my late father's east coast estate. Since that was such a pleasant and successful experience, we decided to return to him for help with estate planning. During the first meeting he li...stened to us, understood our specific concerns, and advised us. We arrived at an agreement and he arranged everything exactly the way we all agreed it should be. The work was done quickly and thoroughly. At our second meeting he went over everything with us, all of it straight-forward, we signed the papers, and left the office knowing that things were in good order. Now I wonder why I procrastinated so long. It's a wonderful feeling to have everything in place, and to know that whatever happens in the future, our decisions will be honored and our loved ones protected. Mark Blake is a pleasure to work with. He is pleasant, intelligent, cordial, and he listens. He inspired confidence from the very beginning, and as time goes by we find that he is always quick to respond to messages and helpful. An added benefit is that the law offices are easily accessible in downtown Walnut Creek, but I think that even if we moved away from the East Bay we'd still call Mark Blake for any legal need. We would (and do) highly recommend him to our friends.

Mark was well-reasoned and professional in representing me during my hard-fought divorce. He clearly strove for excellence in his preparation, and maintained a calm confident demeanor whether in conference or court. His involvement resulted in equitable closure to a previously illogical and drawn-...out legal process.

Mark did an exellent job in explaining and simplifying what options were available in establishing a family trust and assisting with our estate planning. Based on the information and data we provided to Mark he prepared all the legal documents we needed to sign and instructed us on how to get our ac...counts moved into the family trust.