My experience with Patrick Bailey’s representation was deeply disappointing, extremely expensive, and below what I believe a client should expect from a family-law attorney. I hired Patrick during a divorce and custody dispute involving my relationship with my child. I needed candid communication, a coherent strategy, and urgency around repeated parenting-time disruptions. Instead, I repeatedly felt I had to manage my own case, identify issues, push for action, and explain why the deterioration of my relationship with my child could not simply be allowed to continue. There were multiple occasions when important information was withheld from me or not communicated in a timely manner. I should not have had to discover significant developments after the fact or wonder whether I had all the necessary information. I expected transparency but did not consistently receive it. Separately, when I brought Patrick a serious concern involving my child reporting that she had been touched, his response was essentially, “I’m not sure what you expect me to do.” I did not expect guarantees. I expected him to explain my options, identify appropriate next steps, and recognize how alarming the situation was. Instead, I felt flatly dismissed. I was also initially told my student-loan debt would be divided as part of the marital estate. That position soon changed, leaving me with a substantially different understanding of my financial exposure. Legal analysis can evolve, but a major reversal requires a clear explanation. I never felt I received one. By the end of the case, I had paid approximately $25,000 in legal fees, enough to purchase a car, yet emerged with roughly one-third of the parenting time. I understand that no attorney can guarantee a custody result or control the court or opposing party. My criticism is of the representation I received: the lack of transparency, shifting advice, dismissive response to a serious concern, absence of urgency, and what I experienced as a persistently passive approach to protecting my parental relationship. What disturbed me most was the impression that completing the divorce and avoiding conflict mattered more than preserving my relationship with my child. I often felt the loss of parenting time was treated as a procedural inconvenience rather than a family crisis with potentially permanent consequences. His responses conveyed little appreciation for the devastation of watching that relationship deteriorate while court-ordered parenting time was repeatedly denied or left unenforced. I believe I will spend years repairing that relationship, rebuilding trust, pursuing equality in parenting, and recovering financially. I cannot say whether Patrick’s lack of personal experience as a parent influenced his approach, but I rarely felt he understood the emotional stakes or treated the potential loss of my relationship with my child with the seriousness it deserved. The final indignity involved the Judgment of Divorce, the judge’s signed true copy and culmination of the proceeding. Patrick’s office received it, but it never reached me. Patrick said it was mailed several weeks earlier, yet I never received it, with no apparent tracking or reliable delivery record. After paying approximately $25,000, I do not think it is unreasonable to expect the final judgment to be sent with tracking and confirmation of receipt. Instead, I had to obtain my own copy directly from the court because the copy sent by my attorney’s office was apparently lost in the mail. That felt like a fitting symbol for my entire experience. The most important document in the case was sent out and lost without accountability or meaningful follow-up. That is how I often felt my case, my concerns, and my relationship with my child were treated: lost in the shuffle. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend Patrick Bailey to anyone facing a contentious custody dispute. I regret entrusting his practice with something this consequential.
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