Robert Bruening "represented" me in my divorce case. Tens of thousands were owed unnecessarily due to a failure to properly explain a key point regarding the support liability. There was very little communication, and at times I wasn't even sure whose side he was really on. I never felt like he was fighting for my best interests. Choosing Robert Bruening was one of the worst decisions of my life.
Review Left On 03/02/2017
Olga B
I chose Lawrence Viola because of his extensive family law knowledge and his litigation experience. More than splitting assets after a divorce, my case was more complicated. Lawrence counseled me well throughout the process and prepared for every contingency and opportunity. The entire team at Viola Law -- especially Kayleigh Walsh who wrote many court documents -- was professional and on point. We won the case very much to my satisfaction.
Review Left On 03/02/2017
Michael Loughran
Lawrence Viola is an effective, ethical, hard working attorney who has been an absolute pleasure to work with in my divorce settlement case. I recommend him very highly!
Robert Bruening practices serial malpractice as, at the moment, he has at least three such lawsuits pending against him of which I'm aware, including one from myself. I had a hard time finding a malpractice attorney for my case because of conflicts of interest with other former Bruening clients.
He went AWOL preceding my divorce hearings only to emerge one month later suddenly detached from his law firm, espousing the “opportunities” of practicing law as a one-man shop (with 45 cases he claimed were in motion) without the assistance of a paralegal or even a secretary. His unexplained absence caused my divorce to be postponed for two months.
Before the divorce proceedings, Bruening failed to deliver discovery to opposing counsel until the night before the trial and, subsequently, most of my evidence was excluded— during a two day trial separated by two weeks, he failed to introduce any exhibits vs. dozens from my ex-wife. Bruening’s opening arguments to the court consisted of an apology for botching the discovery. Things only went downhill from there. I lost large sums of money because I was hardly able to prove anything in the trial and it became starkly evident that little preparation had been done on my behalf—it was readily apparent he just winged it.
Throughout the course of his representation, Bruening failed on numerous occasions to follow-up on items that were reserved by the court for later consideration. And he filed many pre- and post-trial documents late--sometimes a week after opposing counsel had already filed to strike his responses.
Following the trial, he forgot to show up for a hearing with the judge and opposing counsel—and never told me about it—and I was subsequently served (twice!) for contempt without understanding why until I eventually sued him. It has been a real eye-opener to now read the exchange of emails between Bruening and opposing counsel, that I received in discovery on my malpractice case, where they are openly mocking him for his performance
Then, he missed the date to file an appeal and tried to cover up his bungling by representing that opposing counsel agreed to use a later date for the appeal—as if! I unwittingly proceeded with spending months and tens of thousands of dollars filing an appeal only to have it thrown out for untimeliness immediately afterward.
He spent nearly two additional years ineffectively trying to clean up outstanding issues from my divorce settlement; including filing motions for two long course hearings where he forgot to serve opposing counsel! I had to fire him and hire a new attorney for tens of thousands more to clean up the mess he created.
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He went AWOL preceding my divorce hearings only to emerge one month later suddenly detached from his law firm, espousing the “opportunities” of practicing law as a one-man shop (with 45 cases he claimed were in motion) without the assistance of a paralegal or even a secretary. His unexplained absence caused my divorce to be postponed for two months.
Before the divorce proceedings, Bruening failed to deliver discovery to opposing counsel until the night before the trial and, subsequently, most of my evidence was excluded— during a two day trial separated by two weeks, he failed to introduce any exhibits vs. dozens from my ex-wife. Bruening’s opening arguments to the court consisted of an apology for botching the discovery. Things only went downhill from there. I lost large sums of money because I was hardly able to prove anything in the trial and it became starkly evident that little preparation had been done on my behalf—it was readily apparent he just winged it.
Throughout the course of his representation, Bruening failed on numerous occasions to follow-up on items that were reserved by the court for later consideration. And he filed many pre- and post-trial documents late--sometimes a week after opposing counsel had already filed to strike his responses.
Following the trial, he forgot to show up for a hearing with the judge and opposing counsel—and never told me about it—and I was subsequently served (twice!) for contempt without understanding why until I eventually sued him. It has been a real eye-opener to now read the exchange of emails between Bruening and opposing counsel, that I received in discovery on my malpractice case, where they are openly mocking him for his performance
Then, he missed the date to file an appeal and tried to cover up his bungling by representing that opposing counsel agreed to use a later date for the appeal—as if! I unwittingly proceeded with spending months and tens of thousands of dollars filing an appeal only to have it thrown out for untimeliness immediately afterward.
He spent nearly two additional years ineffectively trying to clean up outstanding issues from my divorce settlement; including filing motions for two long course hearings where he forgot to serve opposing counsel! I had to fire him and hire a new attorney for tens of thousands more to clean up the mess he created.