Rachel Elizabeth Castrejon

I felt compelled to write a review of the one bright spot I found while going through a difficult divorce – my lawyer Rachel Castrejon. For me, the circumstances leading to my divorce were unforeseen, and my (ex-)husband was proceeding very swiftly. I knew I needed to find someone who could quickly... understand my unique & complex situation, and who would fight for my rights in this antagonistic divorce scenario. What I found was so much more than that… From the first meeting with Rachel Castrejon, she showed her warmth and compassion for the pain I was in, while pragmatically leading me through each step of my challenging divorce journey. Rachel consistently presented a fierce-but-fair legal front through her keen understanding of the law, her relationships in the legal community, and through her experience with the courts in Marin County, the judges, and opposing council. While recognizing my feelings of what would be “fair” given the circumstances leading to the divorce, Rachel was frank about what the law says, the rights of both sides according to the law, and what my realistic expectations should be for a settlement – nothing more and nothing less. She is a strong advocate of mediation, and she relentlessly pursued mediation as a way to better manage the emotional and financial strains of the divorce proceedings. As well, Rachel surrounds herself with a dedicated and first-class staff; the entire office showed devotion to my case and regularly offered their help and guidance to me with tasks and actions while always remaining compassionate. Rachel exhibited the utmost professionalism in all aspects of the divorce proceedings and consistently operated with integrity - even when faced with unfair and dishonorable tactics sometimes used by opposing council. She was always honest with me and definitely did not “sugar-coat” any tough news or information, and yet, she had a way of comforting me by validating my sometimes emotional reaction, but remaining calm and rational with our options, recommendations, and next steps. Rachel has a great communications style; she was able to quickly compose articulate and hard-hitting responses & letters that were concise and got to the heart-of-the-matter quickly & accurately. And finally, Rachel showed a real interest in a “complete solution” for my life after divorce. She gave excellent guidance and advice for the other important things that needed to be handled outside of the services she provides, such as personal finance, estate planning, etc. I wholeheartedly recommend Rachel Castrejon to anyone facing the unfortunate circumstance of divorce – she was professional, provided excellent guidance, and ultimately negotiated a fair and satisfactory divorce settlement. At the same time, Rachel supported me as a human being going through a painful chapter in my life, and she continues to cheer for the newly enlightened woman who has now started a new chapter.

I interviewed a number of different lawyers and while all were knowledgable. Rachel distinguished herself with her friendly but very practical demeanor. She was efficient, empathetic yet realistic, extremely easy to talk to, and honest. Compared to the other lawyers that I met with, I found her eas...y to relate to and felt she understood my situation and challenges very quickly. We ended up using a mediator but Rachel provided excellent counsel when I needed it, especially towards the end of our process. Importantly, however, she prepared me well to enter into mediation. I feel the mediation process was more efficient because I got great advice from Rachel in the one hour consult we had prior. Prior to our meeting, I had sent her a lengthy e-mail outlining the issues and my priorities. She took the time to read through this and had questions for me when we met. I felt this was respectful of my time and resulted in a much more productive, focused discussion with clear action items for me as a result. At the end of the day, divorce is a business transaction with a lot of emotion attached. Rachel made it a more pleasant experience throughout. And while I did not need her as much as I anticipated (thankfully), I have heard others give her extremely high marks for getting the job done. In fact a friend of mine had a few lawyers before connecting with Rachel and once connected, her divorce was expedited. Our mediator, who is very well known in our county, spoke highly of Rachel too which gave me a lot of comfort.

Rachel Castrejon helped me through a very difficult and complicated divorce by giving me expert advice all along the way. She has amazing knowledge of the court system and its' inner workings as well as how to succeed without having to go to court. I found her to be very responsive when needed and sh...e was excellent at working with many different attorneys to ensure a professional rapport was always maintained between the opposing parties as well as with our mediator. Her rates are reasonable and she does everything in her power to get you through the process as cost efficiently as possible while always keeping her eye on the big picture of what is best for you in the long run. I highly recommend her as an outstanding divorce attorney you can trust.