Linda Haspel

I used Ms Haspel for a divorce case. Before I selected her and gave her a retainer, she was very optimistic about the potential outcome of a financial settlement, but once she had my retainer, she became very pessimistic and rejected any ideas I had about getting more than the worst case scenario she... painted about what a judge would award me. They r a cookie cutter firm. U could do it yourself better. My exhusband’s attorney was FAR better than she was; she was outplayed at every point. When ever my ex asked for something, my question was ‘why should I do that?’ and her response was always why not? It was almost as if she worked for my ex and not me. When I told her the replacement cost for something my ex wanted, she refused to believe me. My ex and his attorney sent many ‘flame’ emails and she would just forward them to me. If she responded at all to the other attorney, it was in a very weak way. When I challenged her on this, she said their emails meant nothing as you ‘can’t litigate by email’ and she thought they were just trying )and succeeding) I in tormenting me. I had info about my ex that she said was useless as a judge wouldn’t consider it his decision. However, I thought she could use the info in any negotiation as my ex didn’t want this info to b known to our children or his family and friends. She did nothing. She kept trying to scare me with horror stories about women who ended up screwed by judges. She wanted to just wrap things up quickly (even though I was in no hurry) and agree to whatever they wanted and I should b happy just to get rid of him. I ended up using a mediator and advocating for myself and getting way more than she said I should get. Unless u want a quick divorce and r willing to give u everything to get it, find another attorney.

I hired this firm for my divorce/custody case. I was given terrible advice (I was told I could only get full custody of my 2 children in the fall if I asked for 40% in the summer. This turned out to be awful advice and I'm now having to start from scratch with another lawyer. I was double charged ...for a second attorney who never said a word in court. 15K was blown through in 3 months. Mine and my children's lives are in complete chaos because of this firm. I highly discourage anyone in a family law matter from retaining anyone from this firm.

I asked to hire her for my divorce case because of her decades of experience, but she said that she worked as a "team" with an inexperienced, junior lawyer (yet who charged almost as much as her - $300/hr vs. $375/hr), claiming that I would be getting 2 lawyers without being "double-charged". Subsequ...ently, however, I seldom heard from her again, and she generally ignored my e-mailed questions unless I asked the other lawyer to talk to her about them. Only the junior lawyer handled my case. At one point, when I arranged a meeting with her and asked her point-blank if she would at least be present for court appearances, she wouldn't even commit to that. To add grievous insult to injury,the junior lawyer wasn't at all responsive to me, so I asked Linda to represent me solely, but she refused, and instead angrily rejected my legitimate criticism of her associate.