Kim Maree Johannessen

I contacted this firm on the advice of a friend who is involved in protracted litigation. A junior associate was assigned to help me with my matter. She gave me well-informed advice which was unfortunately peppered with descriptions of worst case scenarios not at all similar to the facts in my situat...ion. After the matter had been resolved to my satisfaction, I informed the junior associate that I did not need any more advice, and that she should close the matter and send me a bill. This junior associate responded via email with a long transcript of the information she had conveyed to me during our first conversation, basically telling me that I was making a mistake not pursuing the matter further, and that I was exposing myself to liability, etc., etc., all the advice she had given me over the phone, and that I had presumably already been billed for. I quickly responded to her that I had not asked her to perform any further services on my behalf, and that I wanted to end our correspondence and pay the bill. To my great surprise I received a hostile and angry email from Kim Johannessen herself. To my amusement she suggested that I should be worried if I should need the services of an environmental attorney in the future, as if she were the only one in Seattle. I responded to her briefly that I myself am an attorney, and if a client explicitly asked me to close my matter and bill me, I wouldn't continue to bill them for my time. I suspect that the junior associate was covering her rear by creating a written record of the advice she had given me over the phone. That's understandable, but don't charge me for it, and don't be an alarmist. Lawyers should solve problems, not conjure them up. Regardless of the merits of our disagreement, a professional would never lash out temperamentally and hastily.