Thomas S. Olmstead

My wife contacted the Law Office of Olmstead and Somers asking if they had free consultations in which they replied they did. She set an appointment and sat down with him for no more than 30 minutes. She did not sign any paperwork or didn't discuss any price for the supposed "free" consultation . We ...decided to go to with another attorney. A few months later she received an invoice for a bill of $750.00! The bill was for "Timekeeper TO worked for 2.50 hours at $300.00 per hour" for "Conf. w/ client; Prepare temp order". Keep in mind the consultation was no where near 30 minutes and she had never agreed to move forward with this attorney, also the Temp Order was prepared by my wife and I prior to this visit. I called him as soon as we received the bill and immediately contacted the Law Office. He answered and kept repeating the phrase " why would I sit down with your wife for 2 and half hours for free." I asked him if she had signed or agreed to anything and he kept repeating the same phrase. I had also asked him about the preparation of the temp order and he immediately became silent.

I feel cheated. Tom was welcoming enough. Our initial meeting made me feel like I was finally going to have someone representing me in my divorce. Immediately after that, I found Tom to consistently be unavailable or too busy to take any questions or make any recommendations (he doesn't have a cel...l phone, either). The rare occurrences when he was available, he seemed fairly helpful. He gave lots of assurances, but never recommendations or next steps. I was happy until I realized that after over 6 months of waiting and trying to motivate my ex, her lawyer, and my lawyer to make progress that there was no active interest in my case or my well being. He wasn't even familiar with the case or my name. My questions were left to Mindy, his assistant, who gave the most minimal answers possible to get me to go away. I never received any amplifying information or help that I didn't directly think to ask for. I was always treated as an inconvenience to her. She was like a less helpful version of google, but most of the answers I needed weren't readily available online. Basically, I was on my own to navigate a difficult divorce, which I had never done before. I never received any advice on what to include or not include in my settlement offer even though I clearly needed help. I would have changed lawyers, but by the time I realized just how unhelpful they were I was approaching the end of the divorce and just used them to write out the paperwork and assist me in court. Then, when Mindy wrote out the final copy of the settlement, she misspelled my name (Bradley to Bradlie...never heard of it being spelled that way and it was only incorrect on the header). It was no big deal to me, until I was charged $50 to have it fixed. Are you f^@%# kidding me? I have no doubt that it was an intentional error made so that she could charge for another "30 minutes" of work. Also, when paying for Tom to drive to the courthouse for the hearing, I was charged for 4 hours ($1200) of driving and being at the courthouse. Port Orchard is 30 minutes away - maybe an hour if there's heavy traffic. The time in front of the judge only took about 10 minutes. I do not know what I was being charged so much for. Long story short, if you want to be treated like a person, or even not get robbed, run far and fast. I don't know if other lawyers act in a similar fashion, but I will never approach this office again. I recommend you don't either.

I hired Mr Olmstead to represent me in a medical malpractice suit. I did all the work; got all the info, x-rays, etc that he needed. It took him eight months to write one letter to my former surgeon. In our contract we mutually agreed that he would take 40% of any winnings awarded by the judge. H...is ONE phone call to me he told me to "start saving my pennies" to hire a hand specialist. In our contract, Mr Olmstead wrote that there would be no expenses out of pocket by me until after the judgement. In three days I retrieved all my documents and fired him. Run, do not walk away from this man. He needs to retire.

I hired Thomas Olmstead, and his lack of attention to detail, and knowledge to our case showed when we went to Arbitration. He recommended a key expert, who had never testified before. The "expert" was a painter not a general contractor. Our lawsuit involved the siding of our house. Now I am in l...itigation over the contractor he suggested. I haven't hired a lawyer, I am doing it Pro Se or acting as my own lawyer. I felt like I was so poorly represented, and could have done a better job myself. And then the article came out about him in the local newspaper 11/2010. I would never, ever hire him. My suggestion is run for the hills. I have worked with lawyers for wills, and advice but never in litigation.