Watkins Firm, APC

Uses AI generated writing for the sake of convenience and fails to deliver professionalism to the table at the high charge they got. Not recommended.

*edit, I want to add that I personally feel this firm was so dishonest on services received/billed for that I filed a complaint with the bar. That is how bad my experience with them was.

*2nd edit..want to give a special shout-out to Nathan Low, another attorney from this firm who reviewed Kayla's lease review of my lease memo and thought her boilerplate answer to a direct question was perfectly adequate and on par for the service

*****AI SLOP***** DO NOT HIRE

I hired Kayla Sealy from Watkins law firm to review a commercial lease and advise me on a minor billing dispute with my landlord (a $15 administrative fee on a third party bill). From the start, I made it clear that this wasn’t about the amount, but about standing up for what was right under the terms of my lease. They said they could help.

What I received in return for roughly six hours of billed time (around $2,400) was a memorandum that read exactly like what people call “AI slop” generic, repetitive, and almost entirely restating what I had already written in my own intake summary email. There was no meaningful legal analysis or application of the lease provisions, and several of my questions were completely ignored or misunderstood. It was exactly as if I just copied and pasted the email I sent to them and generated a “lease review”.

I went and tried it myself and got almost EXACTLY the same “lease review”. It really missed the human element. An entire paragraph was dedicated to how if it wasn’t a third party bill then they are correct in charging me this. This paragraph was the most obvious giveaway as I made it clear by uploading the bill and stating it on the phone this is a third party bill. This didn’t make it to the AI slop “lease review” they generated because in my email text it wasn't specified, and typical of AI responses, they touch all the bases.

When I followed up to clarify, the responses continued to miss the point. It felt like a mix of human element with AI assistance even with my communications with Kayla, so it caused a few email back and forths. I raised concern that the memo appeared to have been prepared using AI or some automated drafting tool, since it lacked the depth and reasoning expected of an attorney. That question was never addressed.

To make matters worse, after taking me as a client, fully aware of the limited monetary value of the dispute, I was told only after the bill was run up that the issue was too small for the firm to pursue — and that I should handle it myself in small claims court.
This experience felt unprofessional, ethically questionable, and entirely inconsistent with the transparency expected under the California Rules of Professional Conduct. I do not recommend this firm for anyone expecting a genuine attorney review or personalized legal work.

Furthermore I stand by my claim that what I received was AI slop, and am happy to share with anyone what I received so they can see it for themselves.

As far as I’m concerned I paid $2400 for AI slop and a few back and forth emails to clarify AI slop.

Kayla Sealey if you're going to use something like Casetext CoCounsel , understand how to use it more effectively and let your clients know beforehand. Your use was obvious and sloppy. Having AI do the lease review and charging for human hours just seems so unethical. 🙄

Attached is my email that she dodged responding to.

Got the job done professionally and expeditiously…was great have the Watkins firm to help me navigate