Kathryn B Abele

The entire process has been confusing for me. I am not a lawyer and have no experience with any of this so I could be mistaken in my review but this whole thing seemed off to me. It seemed like I had good representation but by the end I realized how little was actually done. First I was talked into a...sking for the bare minimum and anytime I asked her to help me go for more I would be dismissed, ignored and no attempt would be made to even try to get what I wanted. It turns out almost all of the evidence and responses I gave her after the custody hearing were not submitted to the court or to my stbex's attorney at all and there is a chance it will not be accepted now unless I can hopefully get a continuance due to how poorly she has handled things leaving me with no idea what needs to be done and how to proceed now that the money for her has ran out. Very little communication beyond telling me what she wouldn't do while telling me I should do everything my stbex wanted without opposition. At this point it seems like I would have been better off learning everything and representing myself. The time in court with her for the custody hearing left a lot to be desired as well. She ignored the physical and mental abuse I went through never bringing it up at all. In preparation for it I was told to simply submit a statement which I did. Later I find I should have submitted the evidence of abuse I have as well but was never told to. I have to warn any person thinking about hiring her that unless you know what should and can be done and have an air tight 100% guaranteed case then stay away. I say this because looking at what my stbex's lawyer has done and tried to do it makes me wonder why she did so little and refused to do so much.

I called the office at 425-316-8090 to try and confirm the office address because I had a 10am appt. I called in and was greeted with: “I’m on the phone I can’t talk.” I had to look at my phone to make sure I had called the right number. The person didn’t give their name, and I said “Wow that’s a... rude way to answer the phone to a potential client.” The lady, I believe it was Katherine responded with “well wouldn’t it be rude to not talk to the person I’m on the phone with?” I responded with “I said no, you should have just answered with - This is so and so, I am on the other line can I give you a call back when I’m done?” So her being extremely rude, wasted my and the other clients time. I was looking forward to working with the firm, but was told I’m not wanted as a client because I called back on a secondary number 425-316-8080. How am I supposed to know all lines lead to Katherine? I only know it was Katherine because the second time I called she actually said her name. And I only called a second time because I thought I was speaking to a receptionist who was being very rude.

We got off to a good start, once my retainer was paid in full everything started changing, at first she made it seem like we had the upper hand in the custody battle and property dissolution but as time went on I realized she didn't care about the outcome after I refused to lie about the past history... and behavior of my ex husband. I ended up hiring a different attorney and to this day have not received any of my retainer money back. The moment I hired a different attorney communication inproved with my ex husband and his attorney and we were able to settle and agree. Kathryn is very unprofessional and rude, does not let me finish a sentence and during our last conversation she hung up on me twice. She wasn't supportive of communicating with the opposing party and only cared that we went to trial.