Michael David Brandt

I finally read the review on Michael Brandt, I wished I have seen this before I hired him. I had dealt with a few different lawyers before, mostly in estate and intellectual property. Most of them are very competent, straightforward, not Michael. He came recommended to me by a friend and I was tol...d he is an expert in dealing with HOA and condo issues. I explained everything to his secretary before I can get my first call with him. He read the notes which has a lot of mistakes, and took notes himself. 4 months down the road, all he did was forwarding email from the management company which was engaged by the HOA. Every time the management company asked if I am willing to accept the payout, he will come back and asked me do I want to? But he never offered any professional opinion and have never acknowledged my legal right as the management company demolished the whole kitchen of my rental without informing my property manager nor myself. He truly does not represent his client, he only builds up his billable hour. Each email exchange where I could have easily handled and answered a yes or no to the management company cost me $100-$200. I originally asked him do I have a case, and he said, "why don't we write a letter to the management company and usually that will be enough pressure because you have legal representation". His letter did not even state what was the problem and what I was looking for. Was there anything wrong to be straight forward? He dragged on and at one point told me "you are on my todo list". And two weeks later, he finally sent a meaningless email to the management company, of course that cost me another $300. Simply if you want to hire him, it will be easier to just toss your money into the garbage or fireplace. He is the best representation of gouging and I am surprised he actually has lasted this long before any review is written on his professionalism.

My business partner and I hired Michael Brandt about 4 months ago, when we explained a situation we were having with a former commercial lease. After a very lengthy and detailed explanation, we believed he understood our case, because he agreed to take it. The first red flag was when we were payi...ng our retainer. Mr. Brandt quoted a certain amount, and then changed the dollar amount after we agreed. The second red flag was when he emailed us asking to explain the case, AGAIN just days later. The third red flag was when my business partner and I kept telling Mr. Brandt that we would be happy to meet with him to reexplain everything in depth, but physically showing him which pieces of photo evidence we had because, after almost a month, he still did not seem to know our case. Fourth red flag, was when we asked to meet with Mr. Brandt and he open said, "I still haven't read your entire case." By this time, I was irate and already looking for a new attorney. I have NEVER had to educate any attorney on how to do their job, but Michael Brandt is by far the worst attorney I have ever met. I will be reporting him to the state board and seeking our retainer fees back. I doubt he is a stranger to malpractice lawsuits against himself. Avoid him if you can. He will take your money and not do any work. We have since found a brilliant attorney on a contract dispute, who has done EVERYTHING Michael Brandt claimed couldn't be done without $10,000's. We asked him to find a business appraiser to help us figure out how much money we lost in a legal dispute. He claimed to have found the ONLY one from Eastern Washington. Our new attorney found one that charged a huge fraction of the price in Bellevue. Also, our new attorney has found MULTIPLE mistakes in discovery responses Michael Brandt submitted on our behalf. Wasn't this guy hired to be on OUR side? We will be winning our case shortly and it is gratifying to know that we weren't "impossible" like Michael Brandt claimed we were. IF he had done his job, or gotten into law for the right reasons, instead of trying to get rich quick, he would have had a winning case on his hands. But he obviously doesn't like what he does, care about his clients, or about his reputation.