Bait and Switch I asked to meet with an attorney for divorce. They charged me $400 and at the end told me that they would refer me but wouldn't take my case themself. I specifically wanted to meet an attorney I could hire. They did not give me any useful information. They are money grubbers. They only care about the dollar, not about the client. read more

If I could give zero stars I would. I hired Tarl Johnson to represent my son in his divorce case early October 2024. Tarl Johnson of Brown Family Law is by far one of the worse attorney's I have ever worked with. Mr. Johnson was hired based off of his statement that he was a shark in the courtroom, he was a good communicator, does not waste clients' money, communicates every Friday with his client and has his paralegal text on Wednesday (for free). He has also stated that he has made respondents and judges cry with his questioning, and he would get everything that was rightfully due my son. Mr. Johnson started out strong but then proceeded to lack luster. He made statements on things that he was going to get handled without follow through. Stated things would be handled in court (community debt and fraudulent house purchase) and then did nothing to bring them up. Was the first to say he would draft the Rule 69 when the judge asked (this was so he could charge us over $3500 to write the order). He gave my son bad advice when it came to him continuing to pay his ex-wife's car insurance and cell phone. He advised him to sell the phone (can't do that while it is being financed) and to just take her off his car insurance (which most insurance companies won't do until proof of insurance for the vehicle has been shown). What attorney gives bad advice to a client? I have spoken to Mr. Johnson with assurances of filing for conferences, extension of dismissal (never done which led my son's case to be dismissed) and filing motion for trial. None of that was ever done. I had notified Mr. Johnson that my credit card had expired and to have his office please call me so I can give an updated one which they never did. My son would text the paralegal with questions with no responses to his questions. My son's case was not difficult, 50/50 parenting time, no child support (mind you she would be responsible paying my son child support as she makes more money), community debt, house division and attorney fees. This is pretty straight forward. I communicated with Mr. Johnson on February 19, 2025, to make the decision of continuing with him or retaining new counsel. I reminded him that the case was on the dismissal calendar for February 28, 2025, and he assured me things would be handled (he would file extension, request status conference and motion for trial) and nothing was done. The next thing that was done was mid-March AFTER I told Mr. Johnson I was no longer financing divorce. Second week of March I contacted Mr. Johnson that I would no longer be financing the divorce. $10,000 for temporary parenting time is what we received, and Mr. Johnson seemed very proud of that. This is all that was done in nine months. The opposing counsel was very unresponsive which did not help matters, but instead of filing motions to get this under control, Mr. Johnson did nothing. Allowed the dismissal to go without filing an extension. (which I told him I thought was opposing counsels plan all along). We have since hired new counsel and hopeful to get the dismissed case reversed and move forward to getting my son divorced and joint custody of his son. Steer clear of Mr. Johnson and Brown Family Attorney in Mesa. read more

I'd like to leave a review and comment on the work that Brown does, but I can't. They didn't do anything. I paid them $400 for an initial consultation. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I cancelled the appointment about 20 hours before the meeting was scheduled. They sent a confirmation email accepting the cancellation. At a later date, I contacted them and asked to reschedule the initial appointment and asked for the $400 already paid to be applied. They informed me that "office policy" precludes them from applying the funds towards a new appointment. They said "we'd be happy to reschedule an appointment" but you will need to give us another $400. Remember when earning money meant actually doing something to earn it? Office policy isn't "law". It's literally meaningless. And that is how Brown will treat you - meaningless. read more

Predatory, non refundable consultation fee that's all you need to know really. Once you pay it they hit yit with the oh it's $6k or $7k just to retain then every month they charge you what they pulled from the trust to "top-up" preying on people at their lowest. With a listening ear and honey covered words. Do not, i repeat, do not, use this firm. I fell for it and i am out $600 on a consult fee for absolutely nothing to show for it. They suck you in when you are vulnerable so money doesn't seem like an issue until you start running the numbers and see they are after your marital assets i can not believe they are allowed to be a business when they scam this many people!! Stay far away!! read more

The Brown Family law firm is the equivalent of injury lawyers chasing after an ambulance in family law. They cannot wait to profit off of whatever drama your ex is putting you through. If you're like me and think maybe they charge more than average because of their experience and that they will be efficient, you'd be wrong. Instead, they will figure out creative ways to nickel and dime you. I dreaded having to deal with them and stuck with them throughout the ridiculously long process. Along the way, they rarely sought my feedback and when it was given, it was ignored. I never felt they really understood the dynamics of my case. They filed one document late and I was penalized for this in court. In the end, my final document was written in a way that cannot be enforced by ORS and is therefore useless. This has resulted in me having to seek other representation to be able to collect money due. I attempted to use their complaint resolution process by filing a complaint over a month ago, sent a follow-up email and still haven't heard anything back. read more

If I could leave no stars, that would be more appropriate. This law firm comes off professional and experienced, and then shows up with little integrity, almost no hustle, and their billing department feels like it is run by "professionals" who have no business handling money. Communication is minimal at best, no consistency. One of their AZ attorneys was let go after being caught billing hours he had not actually worked. Instead of this firm addressing this massively unprofessional scheme head-on with transparency, I have yet to speak with anyone who knows what they are talking about. I do not care what business you are in; if you have an employee taking advantage of people, it is your responsibility to make it right in a prompt manner, especially when clients are coming to you already vulnerable and in a compromised situation. The only saving grace of this AZ branch is Fredian. I hope she runs far away from this place before they knock the wind out of her. Shame on your BFL for not making things right with your clients, who not only lost their cases but also suffered financial losses due to Tarl Johnson's inept performance of basic job functions under your watchful eye. I plan to take this a step further! read more

WOW. Biggest mistake I've ever made hiring these guys. I did a very expensive consultation with a man who seemed competent. At the end of the meeting, he informed me I would be pushed off to another attorney because his case load is full. I got an attorney who is not fully licensed. She has a supervisor that everything has to be approved by. It's taken her weeks to come up with my divorce petition. I was told my attorney is "good friends" with the GAL, so during court, when my attorney couldn't make it, the supervisor showed up and did the opposite of represent me. She refused to object to anything the GAL said. These guys are awful. Huge waste of money. Almost $5000 later, and I still don't even have a divorce petition in my hand. Unbelievable. They ignored my emails and ignored my requests to file petitions. I never thought I'd be fighting my lawyer more than my opponent. My attorney's supervisor violated attorney-client privilege by yelling information about my case down the hallway to defend her "good friend", the GAL. read more

If you want a law firm that makes good TikTok videos, this is your firm. If you want to spend tens of thousands of dollars only for your lawyer to forget simple and basic things, this is also your firm. If you want a capable attorney, do not go here. I spent nearly $20k before the first hearing, only for my attorny not have everything ready, and him forgetting to tell me that I needed to attend the divorce classes before the hearing (not just before the end of the divorce trial), resulting in the comissioner not even hearing our side of things. When I asked for a refund on some of the costs I paid, I was told by Nathaniel Garrabrandt that Marko was out on Vacation and he would get back to me. When I hadn't heard anything after a month, I was told Mark was out on vacation again. After that I got no response. The second hearing, my attorney forgot to file things again, which resulted in another embarassment and even more money wasted. I don't know the law, that's what I hired them for, and when they are forgetting to tell me to do the most basic of things, I wouldn't trust them to do anything more advanced. To add to it all, my attorney told me it wasn't illegal for one parent to move the child to another state without permission from the other parent. Which if you look up "30-2-10 Homestead rights -- Custody of children" it says that this is not allowed. This firm tries to appear professional, but you quickly realize that this firm is nothing of the like. If you read through the other reviews, you will see that there are mostly either one star or five star reviews. Which should tell you that you either get all or nothing, which isn't something I would want to gamble my money and divorce on. read more

Brown Family Law is the absolute best ! Andrew Christensen was our lawyer supervised by R. Clayton Randall they were amazing. We were especially impressed with the knowledge, empathy, and professionalism provided to us by Mr. Christensen . He handled our complicated case with ease and grace. We are extremely grateful to him and the team at Brown Family Law they are truly worth every penny. I would hands down recommend them to anyone in need of a family law attorney! read more

Maybe the worst service I think I've ever PAID for.. As if divorce couldn't be more stressful, feeling like you're being guided through the fog by a car salesman will just compound all your fears & feelings of hopelessness... At least if I had been hoodwinked by a car salesman I'd end up with some kind of lemon afterwards. Not only could they not help in getting my ex to sign anything at all, but they can't even be bothered to send me my case file or an official breakup letter after they've had their pound of flesh. And I think my ex feels more empowered than before, to boot!? My professional opinion as the owner of an HVAC Company: "Maybe the most expensive hot air that money could buy". And my legal advice: DO NOT HIRE THIS FIRM Thanks for nothing! read more

As a single mom to a 4 year old with only one job, I will absolutely tell you right now that THESE PEOPLE WILL ONLY TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOU AND TAKE YOUR MONEY!!!!!!!! I work hard for my money and all I wanted was some help with my case to release some of the stress I was going through and they realized that I clearly didn't know anything about court stuff and they robbed me from 4,600 that I do not just casually have laying around!! Those are my life savings and that money caused me to struggle with my daughter and not be able to buy groceries!!!!! I am beyond disappointed they promised to help me and be by my side and literally did NOTHING for me. $4,600 in less that 30 days, no communication of when my retainer was half way up, I didnt even go to my court date with them I had to go alone. Mediation was a week away from my retainer being up as if I was going to have another 4,600 laying around. All they did was type up a piece of paper for my daughter's dad attorney. That was it. That was the 4,600 that I paid out of my pocket. No court date, no advice, no nothing. They'll get you with the " let me tell you what we do " " we only keep 30 customers so we can focus on them " " we do weekly phone calls on every Friday " they charge you $400 for those phone calls even if you don't answer. Trust me STAY AWAY from these people. I needed help in my lowest time and they just took advantage and took my money. Didn't even give it back, just kept it and acted like nothing happened. read more

Having worked in the legal field for many years, I was nervous when my son was faced with the unfortunate position of having to hire a divorce attorney. I was so impressed with the job that Amy did. She was professional, well-prepared and worked hard to preserve the best interest of his daughter which was his ultimate goal. I highly recommend Amy to anyone who finds themself in need of a family law attorney. We are truly grateful we found her. read more

Attorney Ray Hingson did a great job for my daughter's custody evaluation case. Ray is bright and professional and we felt well taken care of. His staff was excellent too. We would refer him and the law firm to all our friends. read more

I highly recommend Leilani Whitmer at Brown Law for any of your legal needs. She is smart, thorough, and articulate. Leilani is the person who goes above and beyond for her clients and truly cares about them as individuals. read more

This place is criminal. When quoted $350 an hour I expected a quality attorney. Instead I got Jason Crawford. An inexperienced unprofessional hack of an attorney. The case was already set up. I had filed everything and it was won before he showed up in court unprepared and lost everything. I was numb in how he could open his mouth on a slam dunk case and change the judges ruling by siting false case law and misrepresenting the case. Nathaniel "Napoleon complex king" lied to me about their services and pricing. Then they more than doubled their hours on the invoice charging me well over $5k for $1,500 of work. Now of course, Marco, Nathanial, and Jason won't respond to any of my inquiries to resolve this. Stay far far away. There is a potential law suit forming among people robbed by this firm for us to go after these clowns. read more

I'm a fellow family law attorney and I have practiced with Marco and his firm for years. We have battled it out, and I know them well. I know that this firm is reasonable and smart and does a great job for their clients. Practicing family law takes a dynamic and agile acumine and this firm has that. They are tough and smart but reasonable as well. They don't drag their clients through needless litigation just to make a buck. They give sound legal advice based in the statutes and cases, not just their gut. I highly recommend them and refer cases their way all the time. read more

They will lie to you, overcharge you, and then completely ignore you. They ruined my case with completely poor attorney work. Their Jason Crawford should be fired...no disbarred. Along with Nathanial Garrabrandt. Jason charged me over $5,000 for about 8 hours of work, and now they have ignored my efforts to discuss the overcharges. read more

Stay away from this law firm. They seem nice and like they're going to help you a lot. Yeah they will suck you dry and leave you in a worse spot than when you were in a toxic marriage. These people are dishonest and will steal your money. read more

My brother-in-law works in criminal law and his go-to guy for family law questions is Clay Randle. So he was the obvious choice to help me navigate the rough experience of divorce. He and his staff were great at communicating with me and negotiating with my ex's attorney. They definitely had my best interest at heart including knowing where to draw the line so it would cost me less in attorney fees. Call Clay if you need a good attorney with the experience to help you with your legal needs! read more

Marco is a great lawyer and he really cares about his clients. I have referred many clients to him and they are always well taken care of. When I have divorce and custody questions, I call Marco and he almost always has the answer. read more

RUNN & HOLD UR WALLET TIGHT Mr Marco Brown terminated his services stating that he don't want to represent me because I deceived him and was hiding facts from him. He realized this when I got tired of paying arm and leg for my divorce case and start to ask questions about over billing, and question the items added to my account. I entered in contract with him and was lured by his fancy presence on internet. I was never informed that Marco Brown will not be involved in my case and it will be handled by a intern lawyer with minimum experience. he assigned that lawyer to me with his own discretion and I did contact him regarding that but he will never answer calls or emails. Since I already paid "FLAT FEE" and had no choice but to proceed. He never got involved in my case as my intention was to hire a experienced lawyer. he states that I was hiding material facts from him about my case. He know and he can not prove that I had any knowledge about my case. He stated that I have Multiple investigations, a support child protective services case, and a protective order. There is no proof or in reality I ever had knowledge of these accusations against me. These things were filed against me while I was out of country and never received any summon/signed or it was sent on my address. If he can prove by any mean that I had knowledge about these accusations or I signed any legal document that stated these are accusations against me. He will have a reason to terminate his services as he fabricated this reason. Marco states, Second, in reviewing your case file, we discovered you deleted at least one paragraph in your retainer agreement. The retainer agreement we sent you contained 32 paragraph before the signature line on page 6. The retainer you emailed back stopped at paragraph 31. This means you manipulated our retainer agreement and did not tell us (i.e., you deceived us). This is a serious violation of trust. We cannot represent clients who deceive us and whom we cannot trust. I never deleted any paragraph. Now since only way out of this situation is that he accuse me of forgery. Seems like I hired him to play a scam instead of get a divorce from my spouse. If he don't have a signed copy of agreement that is his fault. No one hire a lawyer to manipulate their agreements. Fee paid to him so far is as below. 11-7-2016 FLAT FEE to file divorce. $1500.00 12-27-2016 Some kind of Fee...........$318.00 ( No clue what it was) 2-13-2016 FLAT FEE to file Alternate Services.....1000.00 ( He never filed any documents in court for alternate services. Since I couldn't find my spouse through PI. His trainee lawyer suggested she will file a Alternate services motion. The day they charged my account very next day they informed me that defendantslawyer contacted court. and swallowed that 1K. Never replied any phone calls regarding that payment. When I realized this flat fee concept is costing me a fortune. His accountant suggested i turn to hourly rate. He kept a retainer of $1950.00 on 3-13-2017. Than replenished it on 3-7-2017 for $ 374.00, and again replenished it on 4-10-2017 for $1097.00. I was not fully given information about what happened in court or what defendants lawyer is saying. Only time Marco browns firm contacted me was when they wanted to cash "chaching" on my debit card. My bank statement shows all these charges. In his email that is attached below ( Termination of Service) he claims i paid him $5040.00. I paid him total of $6239.00 ( legal fee is included in this amount). I really want a 100% refund and an apology for accusing me of forgery and hiding facts. Also, he dropped me like a hot potato when he realized that now I ask questions about billing and he messed up my case so much that I will never be able to fix it. Flat fee retainer is 2nd attachment and it is sent as it is with this complaint. It has para 31 extended all the way to end ( till signature place)and don't have para 32 that he mentioned in his email. ( VERY INTRESTING FACT). If this email is required in court i can provide and there will be a precise way to prove that I did not altered this PDF file. Also he is mentioning in his email some para 23 in agreement. I didn't find any document or email that has para 23 stating about contract. He need to provide that. Mr Brown is using clients as ATM machines and this email that is attached shows his professional behavior. It was like that from his staff since beginning. He accused me for multiple things that have no basis. Please help me to stop Mr Brown from destroying integrity of Lawyers profession and preying on innocent people. Also I will ask for a full refund and penalty for malpractice and dropping my case because I ask explanation about charges and refused to be Mr Browns ATM. Regards, read more

I hired this firm for a simple Divorce Modification. The lawyer I was assigned by Mr. Brown, was inexperienced and unprofessional. She showed up unprepared to court, dressed sloppy, and spoke so softly it was almost a mumble. I was charged for being ignored for months at a time. Nothing got accomplished due to their excessive filings, errors, and inability to report important documents to the court. It's pretty bad when opposing counsel pulls you aside and recommends you get new counsel because he feels sorry for you because the way your case is being handled. I had no choice but to hire another lawyer. Once he fixed their errors, my case was settled without a trial and in less then 30 days. read more

I asked Marco to write a short letter. About three weeks passed and I got a draft letter that was nothing like what I asked for. It was written by someone I never spoke to, who later turned out to be another attorney in the office. Marco never told me he was handing it off. After a couple of back and forth emails (each charged 0.2 or 0.4 h at $180) the different attorney sent a final version. The word "court" that was correctly spelled before, was misspelled to "curt". I was charged 0.2h at $180/hr make "changes requested by client" to correct their typo, and another 0.2h at $180/hr for "Correspondence with client" to send the corrected document back to me. They increased their revenue by 15% by introducing an error (intentional?). He separately billed for each tiny change, then put a separate, minimum 0.2h line item charge for sending the change by email. In the end, I was charged almost $400 for a letter I largely had to type up myself. Marco claimed there was other time I wasn't charged for but wasn't specific about what exactly was done, and implied I should be happy about that. and asserted his billing practices were standard. He never addressed my specific concerns. I wish I had a career where I got paid more if I made mistakes. This is how this office operates, and It will probably happen to you. read more

I have used the services of founder Marco Brown and his associate McKenzie Armstrong. I have found both of them extremely knowledgeable in the realm of family law and the have both been very efficient with my time and money. The turnaround (answered emails, motions filed, etc.) is timely and satisfying. The hourly rate is totally manageable and much less than some attorneys in the area. Marco was awarded Utah Family Law Attorney of the Year recently; the recipient is chosen by an association of Utah family lawyers that includes prominent and experienced attorneys. I highly recommend this office. The front desk and courtesy agents are polite and helpful (Jodi, Daniel). read more

Where do I begin? I guess with the bottom line upfront. If you want to spend lots and lots of money for very poor service, use this greedy firm (from my experience, it's what they specialize in). My experience with this firm: I am a recent retired Army Officer. I went through a divorce recently. I had paid a different law firm $1,500 and they got the ball rolling, filed out all the divorce paperwork, court fees and even submitted our signed divorce agreement. Our agreement originally said alimony for life. The judge approved everything else, but said he couldn't approve the alimony for life, because Utah law only allows for alimony not to exceed the life of the marriage. I hired this Brown Law after Googling law firms with military experience. I'll keep this part short but let's just say I had to give them the laws and regulations that covered military pay and spouses. I was not in the slightest impressed with their so called "military knowledge". That should have been my clue to get a different firm and fast. But I kept giving them the benefit of doubt. Over the next 7 or so months I ended up paying this firm between $5k-$6k and they didn't even finish the job. When I contracted this firm there was two different payment options. They gave me the choice of $1k retainer and sign a credit card authorization allowing them to charge every month or a $3K retainer and they would bill me monthly. I went with the $3k, thinking I would get some money refunded to me at the end. After all, this case had one issue of alimony, (no kids) boy was I wrong. Bills included $300 for travel to the courthouse, (not sure if they took a helicopter but that's a lot of money to travel to a courthouse). $40 per email ($80 if they sent a response). Once our court date was approaching they informed me they couldn't reach a deal and we would need to go to court, I already paid this firm over $5K at this point (not to include the $1,500 to my previous firm who did most of the work already). I personally had to reach a deal in order to avoid going to court which would have cost me thousands and thousands more, (you think that Brown Law wanted that, or the job security of going to court?....major conflict of interest for them). Anyway, Marco Brown's response to me was he had to "light a fire under me" to get me reach a deal with the other party. This was beyond hysterical and almost from a different planet to say the least. He said his firm saved me hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long term. Well, Since I personally reached the deal, avoiding a court trail, how did he save me money? Once the final agreement was submitted to the court Marco said he would send me one final bill. The final bill I received was for $479. I said I would agree to pay this final amount if the divorce was actually complete. 2 months later the divorce was still not complete. Remember I opted out of automatic credit card charges by paying the $3k retainer. Well apparently Marco decided to charge me without my authorization (I filed a dispute with the bank, so I'll get that money back). I talked with Marco about this and he said there would be more charges, I asked how much would it cost and his answer is "it costs what is costs". I had enough and I fired his firm and hired a new lawyer that completed everything at a super low cost. Wish I would have found the final lawyer first. I hope everyone knows of my experience with this firm so they don't have to experience the things I went though. read more