When I got the opportunity to write a review for The Law Office of David A. Martin & Associates, I was quite happy to share my experience. Like most people, I never planned on needing a divorce attorney. Lost and seeking help and guidance, I found David Martin.
As a father, my biggest concern about the divorce was my two children and having the ability and means to care for them. Ultimately, my divorce was a complicated one; the opposing side made matters extremely challenging and drug every detail out as long as possible.
David and his team were unbelievably knowledgeable and diligent in guiding me through the divorce process. They took care of every need and all paperwork to make sure I was protected.
After the divorce was complete and the paperwork was all signed, there were a couple more issues that needed to be taken care of between my ex and I. David and his team even followed up with me to make sure everything went smoothly.
I never wish for anyone to go through the struggle of a divorce. Unfortunately, if you are reading this review, you might be considering it.
I give The Law Office of David A. Martin & Associates 5 stars only because Yelp doesn't allow me to give them 6.
I have the utmost respect for David A. Martin and his team! I have been a client with his firm for over 10 years and would never go to anyone else. David knows what he is doing and practices with professionalism and attention to detail. He is very realistic with his expectations and is very upfront and honest with his answers. He does not "sugar-coat" anything therefore I always knew what to expect when going to court. My ex and his family were/are very difficult to deal with and David always remained calm and professional. His office staff was always quick to get paperwork filed and any issues resolved quickly. I will continue to use the Law Offices of David A. Martin to represent me in any future needs!!
Family Law protects Family Rights, including child custody, child and spousal support, division of assets and debts and termination of marriage. May include valuation of small business, retirement benefits, other assets. Settlement is by negotiation or litigagtion and may require court hearings or trial
CONSCIENTIOUS, AGGRESSIVE AND DILIGENT LAWYERS DEDICATED TO SOLVING THE LEGAL NEEDS OF OUR CLIENTS.EFFECTIVELY HELPING OUR CLIENTS PROTECT THE MOST MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP THEY WILL EVER HAVE.THERE'S A LOT LAW OUT THERE CONCERNING CHILD SUPPORT AND WE KNOW ABOUT ALL OF THEM. LET US HELP.WE ARE SKILLED, KNOWLEDGEABLE AND EFFECTIVE ATTORNEYS FOCUSED ON PROTECTING YOUR INTERESTS.VICTIM OR ACCUSED? OUR JOB IS TO PROVE THE TRUTH THAT LEADS TO YOUR PROTECTION. LET US HELP.
More than 20 years ago I dedicated my professional career to helping others successfully navigate through the most difficult time of their life - that time when their family and their financial resources were vulnerable and under attack. In the years that followed my practice has grown and I am now equally privileged to have some of the finest professionals working along side of me as we continue to deliver on our founding principle: Conscientious, Aggressive and Diligent Legal Representation.
We have been privileged to represent thousands of individual persons, all of whom were facing what seemed at the time to be insurmountable obstacles or unfair resistance. Using compassonate but aggressive negotiation efforts, and effective litigagtion tactics and strategies, we have consistently delivered high quality legal representation.
Our office serves the greater Sacramento and surrounding areas, including El Dorado, Placer, Yolo, and Solano Counties.
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Highly professional and efficient!
When I got the opportunity to write a review for The Law Office of David A. Martin & Associates, I was quite happy to share my experience. Like most people, I never planned on needing a divorce attorney. Lost and seeking help and guidance, I found David Martin.
As a father, my biggest concern about the divorce was my two children and having the ability and means to care for them. Ultimately, my divorce was a complicated one; the opposing side made matters extremely challenging and drug every detail out as long as possible.
David and his team were unbelievably knowledgeable and diligent in guiding me through the divorce process. They took care of every need and all paperwork to make sure I was protected.
After the divorce was complete and the paperwork was all signed, there were a couple more issues that needed to be taken care of between my ex and I. David and his team even followed up with me to make sure everything went smoothly.
I never wish for anyone to go through the struggle of a divorce. Unfortunately, if you are reading this review, you might be considering it.
I give The Law Office of David A. Martin & Associates 5 stars only because Yelp doesn't allow me to give them 6.
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Posted by Valerie | November 29, 2016
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Unbelievably Happy Client!!!
I have the utmost respect for David A. Martin and his team! I have been a client with his firm for over 10 years and would never go to anyone else. David knows what he is doing and practices with professionalism and attention to detail. He is very realistic with his expectations and is very upfront and honest with his answers. He does not "sugar-coat" anything therefore I always knew what to expect when going to court. My ex and his family were/are very difficult to deal with and David always remained calm and professional. His office staff was always quick to get paperwork filed and any issues resolved quickly. I will continue to use the Law Offices of David A. Martin to represent me in any future needs!!
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Posted by GL | November 29, 2016
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Great Attorney and staff
This is not a paid review! This is solely based on my experience with David and his staff. Going through a divorce is tough enough, then add in all the ins and outs of negotiating accounts,children,property ect... it can become overwhelming. David and his staff were and are always supportive and looking out for your best interest. David is always straight forward and honest offering you a professional and educated answer to questions or circumstances. His over all goal is to make sure your protected and represented to the best of his ability. He is always professional and tries to work with the opposing attorney to resolve the divorce ASAP.
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Posted by Kara | November 29, 2016
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Could not ask for more
The Law Offices of David A. Martin represented me in my very complex case. I don't have words enough to say how great David and his team are. I was with two attorneys prior with minimal results. When I signed on with David the positive results were immediate. I made many panicked calls and had so many questions. No one ever made me feel like they didn't have time for me. I felt important and valued. They knew my name and details of my case each time I called. The judges and other counsel all seemed to respect him. We got everything we wanted/ needed and more with the help of his team. They feel like family which is so important when you are dealing with such sensitive matters. There is no better protection when it comes to your family than someone who will fight hard, especially if it comes to children.
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Posted by Kellie | September 7, 2022
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
BEWARE
BEWARE - We had a 30 minute consultation with Keri Firth for $50.00. A couple days later, I called with the intentions of retaining limited services to review court docs that I had completed. Keri said we can hire her for limited scope, I don't recall the fee for that, but then she said for full representation it would be $3,500 and then after 45 days we'd be charged $500 per month.
ME: Oh, that's for you guys to do everything?
KERI: Yes, it will only cost more if the case gets drawn out.
So I agreed to the full representation. Maybe I was naive, I thought that included EVERYTHING for 45 days.
Only 1 week after hiring them they requested $425 for filing fees. Then a couple days later they requested $500 for court investigator fees. I paid both. Two weeks after hiring them we appear at the first hearing. Keri did a horrible job representing our case. I'm waiting for the court transcripts before I comment further on that. The next morning I emailed Keri to inform her to STOP all work on our case and send me my final bill and since it had only been 2 weeks I fully expected to have a portion of our $3,500 retainer returned. Instead I received a bill of over $6,000. So balance due of over $1,600.
I'd like to add that after just one week, we were already over $3,500 but never did they inform us. It wasn't till I fired them and got my final bill did I find out. Who knows how much would have been racked up over the next couple of weeks before they send out their monthly bill.
So my questions that I emailed and havent received a response:
1. Does Keri deny stating it would only cost more than $3,500.00 if the case got drawn out?
2. Was it just lack of experience on Keri's part to not request a larger retainer fee?
3. Or were we intentionally mislead about the cost?
We were only 2 weeks in and the cost is over $6,000.00. We were NEVER given any indication that we were anywhere close to using up the $3,500.00.
I have emailed David Martin about waiving the $1,600 balance. He agreed to waive half. That is not acceptable to me. I do not want to pay them another dime. They already took me for nearly $4,500 for.
Besides posting my story everywhere possible, my next step is complaint to the State Bar.
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Response from David MartinSeptember 21, 2022
It is always our concern when a client is dissatisfied with our services, no matter the reason or reasonableness of that discontent. In this instance, the Client signed a Fee Agreement which very clearly described our retainer policy, including underlined text that reads: "4.b. Not an Estimate of Total Fees".
The work actually performed included TWO Petitions to the Court, one of which was a time consuming emergency hearing done at the request of the Client and the other of which has not yet been heard by the Court. The attorney and our staff performed almost 20 hours of work at the request of the client. The work performed on behalf of this Client indicates an extraordinary commitment of time and energy toward a difficult and complex situation, and under extreme time pressures.
This office engaged in a good faith attempt to resolve this issue with a very fair offer of compromise. In return, this Client has announced an unfair and inelegant campaign to tarnish our reputation.
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Posted by anonymous | January 4, 2014
Very unhappy with services and looking out for future clients.
I wish that Avvo had reviews for David before I had hired him - this is a much needed service! I was both shocked and (sadly) validated when I read that I was not the first client he has insulted (so unprofessional).
I started the divorce process in mediation and unfortunately had to hire an attorney due to dealing with a very volatile spouse after we didn't agree upon our divorce proceedings. I hired David to protect me and be my advocate and due to David's negligence, was eventually left with an even more angry and threatening spouse, less spousal support and was being pushed by David to go to trial (which would mean more money for David). While he did get my initial spousal support ruling (in our case, was super easy to prove), he massively aggravated the situation.
He was incredibly bad at following up with me, both his staff and his attention to detail left me with many errors to correct in his paperwork and filings (they billed me for the editing of these errors - like the misspelling of real estate) and much like the other reviewer, David also directly insulted me multiple times. In our last hearing together, he failed to review my file (even after a few unreturned follow up calls by me to ask if we could prep for the hearing so that I knew what his strategy was) and he didn't realize that his office failed to file the proper paperwork that I had submitted and been told would be filed. He even said to the judge, "I'm not sure what goes on in my office, but this should have been filed."
His negligence in this last hearing resulted in my loss of a great amount of money and an empowered crazy spouse. He "forgot" but later claimed that it was a strategic move to not file the paperwork (one made without my permission) and I'm sure this was only stated in order to cover himself for claim of malpractice. Even though he offered to resolve his negligence (proof that he took some responsibility), he then still billed me for time I was told he would not be billing. I contested these billings and quickly found myself another attorney.
After months of being told that I could not "project manage," that my expectations on proper business conduct and communication were unrealistic and that I was "difficult to work with" I have found an attorney to work with who truly understands true legal professionalism. Even after hiring my new attorney, I was given the run around by David and his staff on making my final payment - being rudely turned away and was dismissively told by Nicole that they do not "have time for this." I cannot believe they are still in business!
Do not settle for someone like David A. Martin. There are people out there who actually care about your case instead of turning it into a money-making opportunity like David did. I would happily refer people to this new attorney and will be highly reviewing him which will result in much, much more of a moneymaking opportunity - a referral-based service business relies on this and David clearly does not understand this. I too run a service-oriented business and would never treat a client the way that David A. Martin and his staff have treated me.
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Family Attorney | May 16
Relationship: Opposing Counsel on matter
"I have known David as a valued colleague for some 15 years, since facing him as an opposing attorney on a case in which he was a forceful advocate and negotiator, who helped our clients reach an equitable compromise that benefited both parties and their children."
"I called David on a personal matter and he gave me excellent advice. He took the time to speak to me in detail about my situation and steered me in the right direction. I endorse David both as a potential client and as a fellow attorney!"