Reviews

My wife and I retained Mr. Rawnsley for a very delicate family law matter. We had been falsely accused of child abuse by my ex wife and an unsuccessful defense of the accusations would have been catastrophic for our family. For reference, I have worked with many attorneys in the past 10 years dealing with my ex so I have an unfortunately large amount of experience in assessing the quality of legal counsel. Mr. Rawnsley was very professional, highly informed about the relevant statutes and had a good understanding and relationship with the judicial officer (something that is very, very important). All of my previous counsel lacked in some area or another. One may have been less competent, where another may have not had the quickness of wit and depth of understanding of the law to successfully represent my interests. I can say with total confidence that Mr. Rawnsley was the complete package. He was, by far, the best attorney I have ever hired for a family law matter and it isn't really close. I am grateful for his efforts and would recommend him to anyone else.

For context: the following stems from a separation/divorce and parenting plan fight that has been ongoing for almost three years. During the first year, I felt that the firm was doing a great job going to bat for me to help me avoid a "pro se" nightmare that I was facing. However, even after the entrance of the divorce decree and final orders almost a year ago, the opposing party still decided to interpret things her own way. A year ago, I warned my lawyer that the opposing party intended to take some actions related to federal taxes. The firm either ignored what I said or chose inaction on the matter, and to this day claim not to have any knowledge of the tax situation despite email chains to the contrary from early 2021. I have now lost out on 2 years worth of tax refunds totaling more than $10,000 because of that one single action taken by the opposing party, even though it is contradicted by what is written in the final court order. No action taken in this instance, but everyone knows if I, the father, had done the same thing to her, I would've been dragged through the coals by the court. Early November, 2021 - I write an email to confirm pickup dates and times for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. I am told I'm wrong on both and that I won't be getting to see my children until three days after the day Christmas break begins. I re-involve my attorney to help settle things. It goes to mediation, doesn't get resolved, the day of her lawyer finally confirms with my lawyer that I'll be getting them two days late and "take it or leave it" essentially. The parenting plan was violated when those two visitation days that should have been mine were withheld from me. Opposing party used various excuses and reasonings, but the bottom line is they broke the parenting order. I asked my counsel to hold her accountable, asked if there was a contempt motion we could make. It has been almost two months since those days were lost, and I have been attempting that entire time to get a contempt motion filed against the opposing party, but nothing happened. I tried asking every few days if something had been done; nothing had. It was always "Oh they didn't answer yet" or a message from opposing counsel that said "I just forwarded this to my client, let's see what she says" or "Oh sorry, I didn't see this until three days after you sent it, let me send it to my client". No motion was ever filed, and I have yet to find out if I'm ever going to get my two days back that I lost due to her choices. I pleaded with my counsel to do something. Take action. If it had been me as the father who had done what she did, she and the court would have already shredded me apart. I begged over and over for almost a month, and finally said if something wasn't going to happen soon that I would retain new counsel. That's when I received the professional equivalent of "fine I quit". Complete with self-congratulatory claims referring back to the previous work done from a year ago. To clarify with a mechanic analogy: "The car ran great the day I fixed it a year ago, I can't believe you're upset now that something else broke and I haven't fixed it yet!" If they had done what I had asked, I wouldn't have had to replace them. Two months of back and forth. Hours and hours billed for emails and phone calls, and not a single legal action filed despite several written "threats" to opposing counsel about the intent to file a contempt motion. It was as if the mere mention of the motion would've been sufficient to inspire the opposing party to mend their ways. But it wasn't. And it isn't. By the time I had hired a new lawyer, it felt as if the opposing party had two lawyers and I had none. Don't expect them to explain the reasons why behind the advice they give you. I learned more in 24 hours with the new counsel than I did over the last two years with this firm.

PWR law is the worst I would recommend finding better legal help. Patrick Rawnsley is a terrible money hungry attorney that doesn’t get good results for you if you’re not wealthy and willing to pay out your life savings. Starting he charge me a $5000 retainer fee then he burned through it in less than a month after only appearing in court for me one time. Supposed to help me with my parenting plan And charge me another $2000 retainer or he would drop my case, he burned through that and then came up with an additional $3000 of more unjustified charges. He was my attorney for less than 3 months and only appeared in court for me one time. He was supposed to help me get my youngest son into our parenting plan but was unsuccessful in all. He was a waist of $7000 and of course he falsely charged me an additional $3000 then sent me to collections with new charges with a total of over $6400. He would set up in person meetings with me his legal aid then charge me almost twice as much for each meeting. When I asked if we could just meet with the two of us he would still charge me on the backend to discuss the case with his legal aid which would be more expensive he said. 4 years later and I’m still trying to dispute what he’s done to my credit. He didn’t even care that I was broke and using student loans to pay him to help me be in my kids lives. All of this is true and I would highly recommend you use a better attorney that won’t screw you over when you are already suffering. Please tell me how an attorney can charge a poor client over $13400 but only show up to court one time and represent them for only a couple months and leaving their client in the same situation when they came to him.

With his years of experience in Thurston County, his depth of knowledge of state and local family law, and his obvious skill at both navigating the family court system and interacting with the opposing party, I felt only incredibly lucky to have Pat's representation and counsel. It was clear to me from day one that Pat's priority is the safety and wellbeing of the children involved in any given case. This made me trust him immediately. I also deeply appreciated that he was straightforward and honest with me about what I could expect as an outcome in my case, even when that reality was also painful. He never gave me false hope, yet he fought his heart out, going above and beyond to ensure the best outcome for me and my daughter. After watching him in court during the past year-and-a-half of litigation while trying to get a parenting plan that would ensure my daughter's health and wellbeing, I can say without hesitation, he was absolutely the best possible attorney for my case. The only thing I regret about retaining Pat's services is that I didn't call him sooner.

I hired Pat to represent me in my divorce case that just finished up. I had not been through a divorce before and there were several items that needed to be navigated by someone with experience. He was professional, responsive and most of all capable. He listened and advised based on what I could live with and worked a strategy around that. While I wouldn't wish a divorce on anyone, if you find yourself going through one I would recommend Pat to represent you. Thanks Pat and staff.

DOES NOT DO WHAT HE SAYS HE'LL DO!! I am a single mother who has a domestic violence case. Patrick took my money and ran, his personal hunting priorities were more important than my case. A whole months worth of time! He lied through his teeth giving me a false feeling of hope that he was able to make things right but instead did nothing and took advantage of me and my situation. He spent more court time laughing and talking with my ex's lawyer than doing his job. Absolutely nothing changed in my case except being almost $10,000 in debt!! DO NOT BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF!!!!!

Results matter in custody cases. Patrick did a great job with mine. Story? One night stand went bad. Mother called me every name in the book. Sworn statements to the court and police that I raped her. Sexual harassment claims. Claimed I tried to poison her. Mother fought every step of the way. Walked away with full custody and a child support order in my favor. Your results may vary, but I'm very happy with mine.

Patrick Rawnsley came into my nasty nightmare of a divorce situation and stuck it out with me for nearly two and a half years. In that time he was able to undo a lot of the damage my now ex-wife inflicted on me and attempted to inflict on my reputation. Patrick was always very succinct and upfront with me. There was no games-playing or minced words. He also did not downplay or "dumb down" anything he told me about but explained only as necessary. He and his staff were always available for questions and helped to get me to a place where I can continue to maintain a healthy relationship with my daughter. I would recommend Mr. Rawnsley and his staff to anyone needing an experienced Family Law Attorney because of his realistic and objective approach. Five stars isn't enough for the man and his office that got me equal rights to my daughter and finished my divorce despite dealing with three different opposing counsels throughout.

Pat assisted me with my divorce. He was very knowledgeable about the Judges and Commissioners and legal trends in family law. He was passionate about my case and argued for me in court. The outcome was successful thanks to Pat's methods and the result was not just best for me, but for my family as a whole. I was kept very well informed throughout the case by Pat and his paralegal.

Patrick has been helping me with on going Real Estate issues. Pat is great to work with, very professional and knowledgeable. His team is excellent, very responsive and I am always kept in the loop. His office is very professional and private, a nice place to meet. I would definitely refer Pat to anyone, I am glad he is on my side!

Patrick Rawnsley is professional, knowledgeable, detail-oriented, compassionate and absolutely wonderful to work with. He is very sharp and is formidable in court. He and his staff diligently work to protect clients' interests. Throughout the process, communication was great and all questions were answered promptly. Every aspect of the case was explained and discussed and his advice was always excellent. I highly recommend him.

Patrick was referred to me by a good friend. When I met with him and his team they were very detailed on what I could expect. When I retained him they went to work immediately and were awesome. No one ever wants to go through divorce but if you have to, he's the man for your side. I could not have asked for a better attorney or a better outcome. I am so grateful for him. I always felt like he was my friend helping me through it. Thanks again Patrick!