I had the great pleasure of working with Arlene and her staff, for an issue I had from my divorce, my ex refused to pay a court ordered (good sized) equalization- payment to me, for over six years in arrears. The ex is a millionaire, and I am not even close.... the sum he was ordered to pay me was a mere drop in the bucket for him. No other Law firm I contacted would talk about handling my case, except for I need to give them a special credit card that they could use on tap, at huge rates for their whole legal team, never really told me what they could do for me, nor did they care. They wanted to know about me issuing a credit card first and foremost. These were all men. I gave up after to speaking to the men of three law firms just like that. Five years later, I decided to look again for attorneys... I came across Arlene by scrolling on the net for lawyers once again...in San Ramon Immediately I like the way Arlene looked, for starter she's a woman, I was tired of the emotionless men, only in it for the $$...Arlene strong, female, fit and I love that , that means serious and disciplined, and the years of legal experience she had, impressed me. True sharp professional I sent Arlene an email of my problem of my over- six year non payment of a court order from my ex. Arlene told me my ex was in contempt of court, not he isn't paying me, and smiling about it, he is telling the court to F-off. It's the court who ordered that Payment it had a begin date and an end date to pay... and he blew it off, he's in contempt of court and over six years he's going to have some sanctions to pay. Arlene assured me she worked cases like this in her practice, who've done the same thing to wives like me. These men all end having to pay sanctions, end up paying their ex-wives, so much more than the original sum, the court ordered. I knew right there I wanted Arlene to represent me, she didn't talk about how much money she would need from me, or I have to give her a credit card to use at her & her team's leisure.. she talked about me, winning, what I could expect and my ex ( is playing a losing game) We discussed fee shortly after .. It was Saturday.. that following Monday I I gave her a retainer utilized my savings account to pay for this case, she said I'll make it all back and my attorney fees are usually paid by the x-husband who put x-wives in the position to open a case. Needless to say Arlene won my case, my Ex had to pay over double his original sum the court originally ordered in 2019 It was all due in one large lump sum, within seven days. If he was late he was warned more sanctions would incur, that's exactly what Arlene said would happen. My ex paid in one check early before due date ended... and he never spoke to me again, because he planned to screw me over by withholding this from me, so I could never have a down payment to buy a house. This ex also thought he was smarter than Arlene. Arlene I know saved the day for me. m so glad I listened to her and all her advise. Everything Arlene said was true she went up to bat like a pro and did everything she said she would. Arlene is worth every penny, and she takes care of a lot of people and their cases, so if it takes time to resolve your case, so be it. Do you want to win and get justice or you want hasty instant gratification Where mistake can happen? I have read some of these negative comments about Arlene, ie. "how long it takes her to finish a case" and how expensive she is.... it took a few months for my case, and worth it, "expensive" All attorney's are expensive. you get what you pay for. Some lawyers are not as strong, thorough, tremendously intelligent, savvy, cares about your case and you, her experience rules. with Arlene you win and you feel it right away. ... read more

For the past 15 years, I have relied on Arlene Kock for exceptional guidance in marriage and family law matters, and I cannot recommend her highly enough. Her advice is consistently clear, strategic, and easy to understand, and her billing is always fair and transparent. The teamwork within her office is truly impressive -- organized, responsive, and professional at every level -- which makes even high-conflict and complex cases feel steady and well handled. I have confidently referred people to Arlene over the years because I know they will receive thoughtful counsel, strong advocacy, and real experience behind every decision. With more than 40 years in the field, her depth of knowledge is extraordinary, and her hourly rate represents tremendous value for the level of expertise she delivers. If you want seasoned, steady, and highly skilled representation, Arlene Kock is outstanding. Simply the best! read more

I worked with Arlene a few years ago when my custody case first began. At the beginning, I felt very confident hiring her. I believed there was significant evidence supporting my position, and based on our initial conversations, I expected aggressive and effective representation. Unfortunately, my experience was very different. I drained my savings and accumulated credit card debt paying legal fees, but I was extremely disappointed with the representation I received. I understand now, after years of dealing with custody court, that obtaining anything other than 50/50 custody can be extremely difficult. My issue is not simply that I didn't receive the outcome I wanted. My issue is that the representation I experienced did not match the expectations I felt had been set when I hired her. I was particularly disappointed by her professionalism and preparation during the Zoom court appearance I attended with her. After spending a significant amount of money, I was ultimately told that I should essentially accept the 50/50 arrangement. I ended the attorney-client relationship after only one court date, having accumulated debt that took me years to recover from. That experience made me extremely hesitant to hire another family-law attorney. I eventually did so for a more recent custody matter, and the difference has been night and day. My current attorney is equally, if not more, expensive, but I feel informed, represented, and that meaningful work is being done on my case. That comparison is ultimately what prompted me to come back and write this review. Family-law cases are already emotionally and financially exhausting. Based solely on my own experience, I would not hire Arlene again. What was most upsetting was that I believed I understood the strategy and what she intended to fight for when I retained her. It was only after our court appearance went badly that her position seemed to completely change, and I was suddenly being told I should simply accept 50/50. Had that been the advice and expectation communicated to me from the beginning, I would not have spent the amount of money I did pursuing the case with her. read more

Arlene is an experienced attorney that I've turned to for assistance and advice over many years. She referred me so a malpractice/tort lawyer a few months ago. She has represented me in a deposition on a work related matter. I call her even if it not her main area of expertise because she can tell me the options and turn me in the right direction. read more

I've had the pleasure of working with Arlene on legal Matters over the last 20 years. Her and her team are top flight on handling the most difficult and complex issues I've brought to them when I've sought their help. I can't tell you how much of a relief it's been to work with Arlene and her team when I've gone through some extremely stressful legal matters. They always have the right way of handling it and always have done so in a respectable and cost-effective fashion. I will always turn to her and her staff when the need arises to address my legal issues. read more

The amount of anxiety & stress I was in during that specific period in time where I was divorcing with my ex-husband was truly a difficult time. Atty. Arlene & her team guided me al throughout the process. They were responsive right away to any questions I have especially because it wasn't a straight cut divorce for me & ex-husband- we owned properties & I earned more than him. Atty. Arlene made sure I was protected & that helped me move on & progress even more in life. Atty. Arlene had been a divorce lawyer for decades and is truly knowledgeable. I will forever be thankful and for sure will recommend her to any family or friends of mine who needs top tier service. Thank you Atty. Arlene & team! read more

Do NOT walk you should RUN!!!! Do NOT waste your time (which they charge by the minute!) This was a horrid experience with her and the firm. I depleted all my savings and the dates kept getting continued. I feel this office even charges you when you blink wrong. So disheartening when someone literally is taking advantage of you financially while going through a horrible divorce. I ended up partnering with my x's lawyers and drafting my own MSA and submitting the info. This is prior to me telling her I could no longer afford her services and kept asking for release paperwork. She then sends an email adding in all the errors she believed were on the MSA and charges me after I advised I did not need her services. Please do your research about lawyers. This office I feel kicks the can down the road and charges you while doing so while there will be no movement in your case and her office blames Covid for the slowness of the courts. Not true! 3 ppl I knew got a divorce after the filed after me. A waste!!! read more

I am upset I hired her to represent me. Before making a decision read the other negative reviews. Their experiences with her are the same I had. Basically little work will be done and they will find any way possible to eat through your retainer and bill you. Expect people double checking and triple checking emails, bills for voicemails, billing for jobs that do not need to be done, etc. She couldn't even remember the gender of my children or any specifics of my case. read more

Arlene and her team did a fantastic job of helping me finalize my divorce. I had worked with other attorneys who created a mess, but Arlene's team was able to straighten it out and move everything forward. read more

Arlene kock is the worst lawyer She has my devorce case since January 2022.She wasted my time and my money, about $30,000.00 without doing anything to help me or give any advice . She wasn't even interested to see me in person. Our communication was over the phone or over email only. After she's been charging me for over two year without any resolutions she told me just couple weeks ago that I need to hier a forensic person to help her with my case . After all the money she took for me she's asking me to pay her and the forensic person more money. I asked her why takes her more then 2 year to tell me she can't solve my case without the forensic person. She didn't have an answer I paid her another $5000 to continue with my case but she refused. She said that I have to pay for the forensic person $3000 on top of all the money she took from me . I told her that I don't have that much money anymore and she threw me under the bus .Now I'm still not divorced she took all my money and she run away from my case. She's is so greedy.I felt like I was financially abused.by her. She always talks about money, nothing else matters to her but to take my money. Don't hire this greedy, unprofessional lawyer .She's here only to take your money read more

Attorney Arlene D. Kock is very kind and knowledgeable. Her staff is remarkable. I am grateful for her knowledge of Family Law. Silvester Henderson read more

Arlene and her team are fantastic! Direct, open, honest and trustworthy are their superpowers. Family law is filled with twists, turns and emotional upheaval. Arlene and her team make it feel simple and calm. read more

I should have done my research and suggest if you are considering hiring Arlene that you do the same. I was over billed many times and 8 months in and close to $20,000 spent and my divorce is yet to be finalized. I now am forced to represent myself. During our hearing she had no knowledge of my case even though we have been working together since July (6-7 months) I had to defend myself as she gave no type of professional legal representation. I am very disappointed to say the least. I assumed by hiring a woman attorney that I would have someone on my side who understood my challenges. Yet she had no sense of compassion, she dragged the case on much longer than needed, kept trying to take my case in a different direction which ultimately cost me half of my daughters college savings. Please do your research. Due to her incompetency as my attorney I have lost an extra day with my son and my child support was lowered. My hearing was on January 28. Arlene had agreed to create the Findings Order After hearing and serve it to opposing counsel and the court. This should have taken a day or two max. Here we are in March and I barely received it only after I sent an email requesting to move forward representing myself. After my hearing I expressed my dissatisfaction with her services and expressed yet again that I just wanted my divorce finalized. On February 2 at 1:30pm I spent almost 45 minutes on the phone expressing the extreme dissatisfaction and discussing how we would proceed. Arlene promised to get everything done and settled in a timely matter. Said she would ask her paralegal to get the FOAH typed up and sent over to opposing counsel. She asked that I send her paralegal Julia my settlement offer and she would get it sent over to opposing counsel. I sent it over about an hour later. On February 9th I still have not heard back from anyone from her office so I sent an email asking what was going on. Did not hear anything back. I called the office and spoke to Jennifer who informed me Julia was no longer working at that office and Arlene had assigned her to work on my case. Arlene did not give any information to Jennifer as to what was needed on my case. She did not fill Jennifer in on my hearing or inform her that an FOAH was supposed to me submitted by now. My ex husband contacted me and his lawyer as he tried to make a child support payment and could not because child support never received the FOAH that my lawyers office was supposed to submit back in January. Her paralegal had no idea what she was supposed to do in terms of my settlement and I was charged close to $1800 in more fees because Arlene did not give her direction and then wanted to disregard the work Jennifer had done but still billed me for it. When I sent her an email questioning it later . Her response was "you approved the invoice to be paid and now you want an additional credit of $1153.50. First I the credits were never of good will they were because I had been overcharged this entire time. Secondly I should not be paying fees for documents that you disregarded because of your lack of communication with your staff. My settlement letter and FOAH were supposed to go out to opposing counsel the first week of February. However they were not sent out until February 17 which included inaccurate findings in which I had explained to Arlene were inaccurate but she insisted on sending anyway. Then I was billed for all of my emails asking what is going on, asking why these things have not been sent out, for calls from opposing counsel asking the same. I can honestly say that choosing Arlene for my legal representation was the worst mistake I could have made. I could have gotten my divorce finalized months ago on my own and would have saved myself almost $20,000. She has made the process of going through such a difficult situation in itself far worse. I would highly suggest doing your research little did I know this is very common in how she deals with her clients. read more

When I first met Arlene I felt respected, and she seemed to listen to me intently. Although she could not guarantee an outcome for my child custody case, she made me feel as though she would do everything she could to help me (which is more than I can say for at least 2 attorneys I have met with and/or worked with). However, after the initial consult my interactions with Arlene seemed to change. Every phone conversation I had with her was rushed, and she often didn't remember my case and/or confused my case with others. To make matters worse, the day of court Arlene didn't even review any of the materials I had brought to support my case, and she didn't bring up any of the items I had hired her to support me in ( i.e. getting my son therapy). After continuous interactions where I was re-explaining my case, and not being heard, I decided to research Arlene. What I found was that she has previously had her licences to practice law suspended, and after having it reinstated she was put on probation. She has a history of not returning retainer fees and jeopardizing cases by not filing paperwork in a timely fashion. This was shocking to me as I hired her, in part, due to the numerous plaques which decorate her wall which supposedly have been awarded to her due to her ethics. Because family law cases can be so emotional, I wanted an attorney who was going to remain ethical and who would fight for what is right and fair, as my personal feelings could end up negatively impacting my child if I let them. I later found these plaques can be purchased off of the internet for $100. Once I fired Arlene she charged me over $1,000 for services she provided after I terminated my relationship with her. To make matters worse, I didn't receive a single bill from Arlene until weeks after terminating services with her, and this is when I found out she had over charged me, while representing me, to the tune of another $800. Although I was able to get back the fees she charged me after I fired her, I had to eat the other money as I discovered the discrepancies too late. Do not waste your time and money on Arlene. read more

Arlene and her team are excellent! My case started with an emergency motion for child custody and ending up settling custody and divorce. Everything was done timely, accurately, the staff was very responsive, and ensured I understood the divorce process. ( Jennifer went above and beyond making sure I understood and was happy with the outcome) Highly recommend! read more

If you ever need an excellent, tough and compassionate attorney to represent you on divorce or custody matters, I can enthusiastically recommend Arlene. She is the best! Since posting these brief comments, I have made several referrals to Arlene's offices. Each and every one has come back to thank me and many after using other attorneys and having problems. Very few attorneys are as experienced as is Arlene, know all the ropes and really care about the best outcome for each and every client. Additionally, she keeps her costs as reasonable as possible. You will not find a better advocate at a more reasonable cost or at any cost. I recommend her really enthusiastically and would use her again any time I needed advice or representation. read more

I have worked with many attorneys over the years. I know good and I know mediocre. I have had the great good fortune to work with her on some matters and am impressed with how knowledgeable, efficient and effective she is. She is a 10 out of 10 in my view. I have referred clients to her and the feedback has always been top rate. I have been thanked for making a referral to her after the client met with her. You are in great hands here! Elizabeth Johnson read more

Life including dissolution sometimes happens. We find ourselves in need of legal counsel in order to move forward in matters of family law and common sense, equitable solutions. Dissolutions are filled with angst, uncertainty, uncomfortable situations with changes that always have a direct, lasting impact on families. Researching family attorneys is typically not an enjoyable process. We speak with friends, perform online comparisons, read comments and hopefully identify an attorney that fits our needs. My introduction to Arlene Kock was through a friend who had worked with Arlene on his own dissolution and was completely satisfied with Arlene's family law legal practice, her knowledge, integrity and honesty. A consultation with Arlene followed, she was friendly, open and articulate while determining if our client attorney collaboration would be an effective match. My needs while few were complicated. Those needs were based on my core tenets of integrity, fairness and honesty in splitting marital assets, common retirements and equity while doing the least amount of dissolution damage possible. Arlene matched my needs perfectly. She described the dissolution process, California family law, communication paths, the role of her legal staff and realistic likely timelines. Arlene's legal staff weaves all of the multiple details, clients needs and various schedules into a seamless practical tapestry of exceptional legal skills and personable, caring thoughtfulness tuned to each client. Maria was my primary contact. To me her demonstrated skills, knowledge and abilities are at the Superstar level. Her efforts and kind, patient words helped enormously. Arlene Kock will always be in my heart. I appreciate and respect all that she is and has been. She made a terribly difficult process understandable and survivable. I would readily work with her again. Loè Muir Spencer read more

So relieved to have Arlene Kock guiding me legally. Her experience and knowledge of very complex family law matters has been the saving grace of a terrible situation. Her almost encyclopedic grasp of the finer points of custody and visitation is amazing and such an advantage in negotiations. Arlene's professional demeanor makes opposing counsel look like thugs, yet she's tenacious and tough and obviously well respected in the courts. You'll be grateful she's on your side; I know I am. Thanks Arlene- you are my rock! read more

I consulted Arlene about a very difficult move-away case with important implications. Her advice was thorough and succinct and paid enormous dividend. I very highly recommend her professional services to anyone facing family law issues. read more

Arlene Kock is highly professional and an expert in the field of family law and dealing with complex challenges. More importantly she cares about her clients and the children involved. She is an expert problem solver and does not beat around the bush to get things done. She gets things-tasks completed but always shows a human element and attention to detail. She is also a good listener and will work with her clients. Her staff is experienced and understands when you call it is important and treats you as important as all the clients that Ms. Kock represents. I have known Ms. Kock for close to seven years and she is excellent! I consider her to be more than my attorney! read more

I contacted Arlene with the details of my Case via her site late at night and she responded in person by phone 7:30am the following day. I was in a meeting (as I'm in a different time zone) and said I could not talk and she requested to leave a message. In a 90 second message she gave me hope that my case was fightable. I can tell she would be a great person to have on my side. I agree with other reviewers that she strikes the right balance between tough and approachable. I have spoken to probably 20 different attorneys in different countries on my case in the past 4 years and I've seen different approaches. Arlene's is one I would happily gravitate towards. As it stands I am unable to afford counsel in my case at present, but knowing this Arlene still offered her time and all of her considerable skill and knowledge to guide me in a short meeting the next day. (Sadly many other California attorneys will not talk to you untill their asistent gets your credit card details). I'm so grateful because it will surely give me a fighting chance. I have become proactive again instead of giving in to the crushing wall of opposition from the Court, the DA, and opposing counsel. As the last reviewer said Arlene you are my rock, and thanks to you I am David. read more