Robert J Penfield

On 8/22/2012 myself and my husband hired Mr. Penfield to represent us on our appeal case. His consultation was a FREE consultation. We sat across from him in his conference room in Bellevue, WA as he entered and rentered the room as he also was handling some sort of arbitration issues with other clie...nts over the phone. This is the reason why we were there for two hours. He went over the pertinent documents to determine if he wanted to take our case. He stated he did and then he asked us for $10K up front. I said NO. Cannot do that. He sthen said $5K + referrals and had Michelle, his secretary make up the contract. I did refer one person to him within a week. He took my money and said he thought we had a great case. The brief was due in Pierce County COAII in approx. 35-40 days from the time we met with Mr. Penfield. I spent a lot of money getting all the necessary documents to COAII so the only thing left to do was file the brief. As the deadline for the brief due date neared, I became concerned, as Mr. Penfield never filed a Notice of Appearance. He took my case and my money but never filed a notice of appearance? This means Mr. Penfield never really intended on representing me, but made me believe otherwise and waited until the 11th hour to notify me so I was faced with a serious time crunch. After I left several messages and emails Mr. Penfield finally responded and stated that he did not think we had a good case and he is not going to represent us in the appeal. He then said we should just move to mediation. This was not possible because we did not have a valid Notice of Default. Mr. Penfield who is supposedly up on foreclosure statutes certainly would know that one needs a valid NOD to go to mediation under the department of commerce in our state. This to me is a conflict. Mr. Penfield's contract was a flat fee contract to write the appeal, which he never did. He then issued me a new contract for mediation. He said all of the money was spent and really his hourly fee is $375 per hour, which was not specified anywhere on his contract and if that was his fee to begin with we would have never hired him.

Read all of these reviews. Also, find the website, penfieldsvictims.com. Everyone, including myself reports the same behaviors from this guy. Offers his expertise, takes your money, then goes completely dark. If you do manage to get a hold of him, he has a half-a$$ story about how things are goin...g and then excuses about how is world is overly difficult and makes it impossible for him to conduct his business. He is a fraud. DO NOT GO NEAR THIS GUY or you will not only lose your money, you will lose whatever you hired him to help you protect.

Took my retainer - Then did nothing else. Have notified him by mail/phone that he's fired, yet he will not return my retainer or my calls. He moved out of his office, and has left no forward. Filing "e-Grievance" w/The Washington State Bar Association, BBB, Attorney Generals office, etc... ... I somehow doubt I will ever see a dime of my money back. Don't give him your trust or your hard earned money.

He is probably one of the most unprofessional lawyers I've ever dealt with. He leaves his staff and clients on hold while he has one crisis after another. I've never met anyone with so many excuses. He also like to change your contracts when you demand your money back and/ or an accounting and answer...s of what he has done for you. Like the previous review he likes to blame staff and other people for his lack of due dilligence, follow through and professional integrity. The last I heard he has gone through 4 rounds of staff since October 2012 as he has not paid them and they walked out. Everytime I was present he was exceptionally rude not only to his staff but other clients as well as myself. He gets your money with a fake personality then never treats you properly again. This guy is a smuck all the way around. I cant believe the BAR has not done something about this. Dont give him one penny!