Coates & Frey Attorneys At Law LLLC

The attorney was ok to work with.
The low rating results from the firm charging for things I did not ask for, such as:
1) They keep sending me the same email, and for each email i was charged 0.1 hour paralegal wage (about $ 20). The emails were not updates of the case, but rather a «reminder» of the progress which I did not ask for.
2) They were supposed to send a document to the other party. The document was created but the assistant forgot to send it out. I was charged for the document that never reached the other party (shouldn’t the assistant be responsible for this charge?).
3) The firm called me and left a message asking me to call them back. I did, but ended up calling 3 times before i was able to speak to the assistant (assistant was never available). I was charged 3 times although I only talked with her once.
4) After my brief discussion with the assistant from (3), the attorney decided to call me and inform me the same exact story I received from the assistant, and yes I was charged for this unnecessary call as well.
So please be aware of this firm unless you have disposable income to spare.

Very poor results for a TON, a TON of your hard earned money.
Even my ex, after all was completed, admitted that using Ann Isobe, was a disaster. She seems to have early dementia, or some kind of cognitive disability. We had to repeat, and reconfirm SO many things throughout our case.
Now I know why the opposing counsel wanted to file contempt, so many times throughout our proceedings. She seems to just make things up, when she doesn’t know, or understand the law, that she is supposed to know. Malpractice big time.
How did I not come to Unilocal and read about her before using them. OMG.

I had the pleasure to work with Evans Smith with my divorce. I’m in the military and he really worked quickly to get my motions to court and also had great legal advice concerning my divorce and custody. I was on a tremendous time crunch and he made it happen. I would recommend Evans Smith to anyone especially the military community. His paralegals and secretaries were very fast with getting the paperwork done and keeping me informed of the whole process. I don’t know if I could’ve done this without Evans and his crew!

Paul Soenksen was upfront, organized and on top of everything that came our way and what we requested. He’s a genuine man who cares about his client as a person and wanted nothing but the best for myself and my children. He was fair and upfront about everything that would come my way and how we would proceed. He kept his poise at all times which helped me remain calm and positive. I never once lost confidence in him because I knew he had it all under control. I have nothing but praise for the man and his staff because they got me through this tough time in my life by keeping me positive and informed about everything that was going on. I could shoot an email out with any sort of question or idea and I would receive immediate feedback within a day or so. Jennifer was a gem to work with and always kept me posted on what needed to be collected, submitted and/​or signed. Nothing but positive vibes from her as well. So all in all, I would highly recommend Paul Soenksen if you’re looking for a divorce attorney with integrity, respect, creativity and perseverance. I have nothing but praise for him, Jennifer his legal assistant and the rest of the firm and staff!

I hired Dean Soma for a child custody case and in one month billed us over $ 3900.00. This didn’t even include the court filing or the child support filing, we did all that prior. He billed us for emails he received multiple times because it came back to me undelivered so I resent it and called to make sure he got it, his secretary replied; not yet so I resent it and can you believe he billed me 4−5x’s for that emails bc he got it and didn’t tell me. When I questioned him about all the double billing for emails and asked him if he got it more than once why didn’t he email me that he got it, his response was bc I would have to bill you for me sending a reply, «hello», it would’ve been cheaper than billing me 4−5x. He also billed me per email which wasn’t explained in his contract, so if I sent him 3 emails all within seconds a part, he billed me 3×0.10 which is 6 minutes per email regardless that it took him 30 seconds to read. He asked for all kinds of stuffs so he could charge us for it, he never called to follow up, we made all the calls and only 3 days before trial told us he needs a statement and at the hearing, not even the main trial didn’t use any of it but did bill me for an exhibit that he entered in as evidence, now the other party knows what we’re doing at the main trial. He did absolutely nothing. I had a contract put together prior to hiring him and all he did is agree to it with the other party’s legal aid attorney which was free.
See the other post, it’s true: THEY’RE MONEY HUNGRY!!!
Got another attorney and he’s great, he looked at my billing from Dean and was blown away. I emailed Dean about the billing and he; «gave me a discount», what a laugh, I still have to pay them on top of the retaining fees another $ 695.49. Thanks for the discount Dean. LOL.
They act like they’ll fight for you but once you sign that contract and you give them the retainer fee, you should just kiss your case and money down the drain!

DON’T WAIST YOUR MONEY OR TIME This is the worst divorce law firm in Hawaii.
All they want is your money. There delay tactics only benefited them financially after a number of months in court making absolutely no headway only writing memos between them and my X’s attorneys then sent me a FAT bill of over 10K and we hadn’t even decided anything or came to any agreements. Had I not FIRED them and moved on my total divorce would have cost me over 100K. Granted my divorce was a nasty one but I got no support from Coates and Frey whatsoever. Then I went to Darren Wu and we were all tied up and done in a matter of months. Best decision of my life and saved me a ton of additional money. Hope this helps someone because they sure didn’t help me… Ton’s of negative reviews for a reason. Good luck !!

The other day I needed some quick advice on obtaining an Emergency Guardianship. I e-​mailed the Firms main e-​mail address (this was quite early in the morning). About 8:15 a.m. I received a call from Bradley Coates. He was very informative and helpful. He indicated when I was ready he’d be able to assist me through the process.
I was impressed that I received such a quick empathetic response from the main Partner.
I simply wanted others know of my experience with this Law Firm…
Ray

Will not recommend this firm to anyone. Thousands of dollars spent, and the results as if we were not represented. The attorney assigned to us was lackadaisical, no communication, nickel-​n-​dimed us to death, left us with the impression that he was only in it for the money, it was only a job to him. We got smoked in court, our Coates and Frey attorney part of the problem. The attorney for the other side and the judge used our Coates and Frey attorney like toilet paper. Money down the drain. Looking for another attorney now.

Coates & Frey are well known but I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone. I asked for a first informational meeting, and it was with two lawyers, one junior and one of the partners. It was all sales, I was asked to pay and sign a contract even before leaving. One of the partners also repeatedly made unprofessional remarks about how quickly I was likely to remarry once divorced since I’m asian and have a high income. I’m glad I listened to my instincts and asked for other recommendations for lawyers. I went with Stephanie Rezents, one of the most highly respected, stellar reputation divorce lawyers here, and feel very lucky to have gotten her. She was honest, fair, professional, and effective.

I retained Jessi Hall and she worked on my case for about 6 months. My ex was playing dirty in court and she insisted on rolling over and being a door mat. This whole «divorce with dignity» only works if the other side does the same. She used a very cookie cutter approach to my case and I was getting sucked dry. After spending about $ 7,000 just on a child custody/​support agreement and not getting anywhere, I fired her and paid Lynne McGivern, who was the BEST. It is so unfortunate that I gave so much money to Coates and Frey, and so little to her firm, Wriston. McGivern really listened, was much more aggressive, rationale and now I have full custody of my child. I «only» paid Lynne another $ 3000 and she finished the case within 4 months.
She really listening to my case and petitioned for documents that Hall refused to request. I chose Coates and Frey because they were top rated in Honolulu magazine.
I now realize that is only because they are (one of) the biggest firms that specialize in family law cases.

You need remember only one name when it comes to this law firm: Ann Isobe. She is a fantastic attorney and a wonderful woman. You will hear what you need to hear from her, not what necessarily makes you feel better at the moment. The service, care, and dedication is without equal.
I have referred all of my friends to her and will continue to do so until she retires or there is no more divorce.

I have to admit… I truly believe they carry the highest ethical practice and show great compassion.