Blackwood Family Lawyers Pty Ltd

They made some very basic fundamental strategic mistakes dealing with my separation as they naively believed the other party would just do the "right" thing. Instead the other party did the very legal things that saved them the most amount of money. As a result I received tens of thousands of dollars less than I would have. I changed lawyers part way through proceedings as a result but the damage was already done. More concerning is when I advised them of the deficiencies in their advice and their approach they denied any responsibility for their advice. I chose them because of all the good google reviews and I am massively worse off. Choose another firm.

Was this review helpful? Yes

BEWARE! I would recommend to STAY AWAY from Blackwood Family Lawyers and especially Penelope Charlesworth. I am not sure if all lawyers in this firm are the same or only one bad apple. I had the worst experience with this firm. They only care about their billing hours and throw customers under the bus when it comes to time usage. They are a bit expensive but not worth your hard earned money. Penelope would convince you that we would choose the most cost effective route but in reality she does things in the most expensive way for you.

Penelope oversubscribed the cases and does not act on time when you need them the most. You will get tired from multiple follow ups to ask them status, to ask her to take action and they will charge you for taking their follow ups also! Penelope acts as a judge sometimes and does not understand that she is an attorney and working on behalf of clients and should serve the client with their needs how they ask you to do. By working with this firm, you would feel like they are not with you but against you.

They are very sloppy and NOT AT ALL quick in communication. They take weeks in drafting a simple letter and charge heavy for small things. They will ask you all repetitive information/documents over and over. For court application and affidavits, I found a long list of mistakes Penelope did and she charged me a lot for fixing them! Thanks! Well, instead she should have apologized, not charge me anything for the time consumed in correcting those mistakes and pay me for finding her mistakes! In short, Penelope and this firm will ask YOU to do most of the work and pay them a high amount for it. During this process, they will also irritate you by sending advanced payment notices constantly as if you are going to run away. In the end, you would realize that, all they cared about was their money and did not genuinely care about you, your pain or your case.

Penelope sent me an email a few times asking for good reviews at google platform and charged me for those emails in my invoice! This firm is literally ruthless and worst in their working style, practices, tactics to fetch money as much as possible from dumb clients.

I had to post this to make new customers aware. I could not provide this feedback to Penelope or Blackwood Family on their face when things were being mishandled because my case was being worked on by them at that time and I did not want to spoil my case furthermore while it was in the last phase. Moreover, I did not have the mental and financial capacity to start afresh at another place hence I concluded my matter with this firm even though I was not happy and was going through a bitter experience. That’s the kind of situation they will put you once they realize that you have nowhere to go!

Blackwood Family Lawyers firm should understand that customers are finishing up their cases happily on your face does not mean they had a good experience in reality with you. It is just that clients could not provide 360 degree feedback to you because they are worried about themselves.

Now, you will see Blackwood Family Lawyers would come defensive under my review saying - "oh! we do not know you, we have not worked on your case, blah blah!" Instead of taking reactive action now because a bad review might impact your business, you should have thought about it before hiring and keeping Penelope Charlesworth there. You should have defended your client who was in pain strongly when time came and not now!

My intention is to help new customers to not get into the trap of this firm by posting it here. Anyways, this feedback is real, honest, genuine and legitimate. If you still doubt as a customer, sure go ahead and experience the ride with this firm, and you will have the worst time of your life!

I would rather recommend going with any small firm who has less cases on hand, who gives you their highest attention/dedication for your case, provides fixed cost packages and prompt communication. Good Luck!

Was this review helpful? Yes