Laurie S Raphaelson

After desperately needing a go-between for my son’s mother and myself due to the nature of our volatile relationship, and wanting the best for my son. At my expense we hired Attn R. things started off relatively well. Soon after it was crystal clear that LR was completely biased towards my son's moth...er. At the time I have supervised visits from one of her friends who is a DCF worker. Laurie thought it was important that she supervise a couple of the visits. Her report of the visits were acceptable, however the price tag of $2000 for a five hour visit at my house is just the beginning of her greed. While she sat out on my deck reading a book! And I had my visit with my son. It was entirely too much negativity to post here. What I will tell you is that, in most cases parenting coordinators are hired to keep cost down such as attorney fees and court costs. Over the course of two years ( deliberately dragged out by Laurie as to increase her compensation in this situation) I have paid out... $5000 retainer, $19,000 over the course of the next year, at that point it was crystal clear of that she was not helping the situation, but only making things worse. We are so much further away from getting along then I could possibly have imagined. She has caused irreversible damage! In the worst part is my nine-year-old son is the one who suffers the most! It’s truly heartbreaking to hear him telling me that he wants to spend more time and that he doesn't want to go home yet, Only to have Laurie lie and manipulate the situation to the mothers benefit. My current bill is about $11,000 for the last eight months. I been ordered to pay that and any outstanding bills since September of this year. She is allowed to this behavior because of the corrupt judge in the situation as well..... They’re not fooling anyone! I would complain about my sons mothers attorney, Who is nothing but a liar, But that's another review I guess! Clearly I'm not happy with this woman's horrible involvement, When I so desperately needed someone's help. I love my son more than anything in this world. And it's utterly disgusting that these so-called professionals get away with taking advantage of my financial situation. Which I am fact would have no problem with if in fact they were helping things, She’s done nothing of the sort!!! Please, please steer clear of this woman. PS, I also met a woman online just outside the Worcester area who knew of Laurie,, Because her Family member had dealt with Laurie and had the same results and told me to steer clear of her. She’s nothing but a business woman and cares nothing about my son. I also met and attorney online, She was from the Wooster probate court and confirmed the same..... What are the chances that I could meet these people? My financial situation allows me to pay these people and move on, it's just very sad that we are, Like I said so many steps behind where we started before I hired her. Steer clear, you’ve been warned!

I hired Laurie after trying to negotiate my own divorce. As a business owner I was hesitant to trust anyone else to negotiate on my behalf. I couldn't have picked a better advocate. The thing about Laurie is that she doesn't beat around the bush. She knows her stuff and gets to to the point. I'm... not the easiest person to represent because I think I know everything, however, because she is so professional, she set me straight and handled everything so I no longer had to. She managed to make sense of years of financial documents in piles of paper that seemed completely overwhelming to me. Laurie is the ONLY attorney that I have ever liked. She is responsive, and most importantly a true professional. She knows what she is doing. She also was extremely adept at time management. My ex's lawyer wanted to reconvene another day and she said, "I don't think so, we can get them divorced today if you just follow me a few blocks to my office." She knows the importance of making a deal and how timing is crucial. I know that divorce can be a stressful time, but if you listen to her, and do what she says, you will be just fine. She is amazing and I love her.

From my experience, Attorney Laurie Raphaelson was not the advocate I had expected and I felt that Ms. Raphaelson did not even try to advocate my best interests. Her phone coversations consisted mostly of talking about her personal life and details of other cases she was working on or had been invol...ved in, and then charged for such calls even though majority of the call was not even addressing the case at hand. She was also two hours late for our court date because she claimed her printer wasn't working, but yet made no attempt to contact either her client or opposing counsel. I feel like she was not worth the money she charged, considering the other attorneys available. Again, just my own experience, perhaps she would be more invested in another case, but knowing the law, I felt she was not a great attorney.

Ms Raphaelson is well respected within the Worcester legal community as both a highly competent and ethical practitioner. She demonstrates a devotion to the families involved that is unprecedented in my experience. On a personal level, while Laurie remains particularly sympathetic to the plight o...f children involved in divorce, she is less so the adult participants. Probate court can be very unpleasant and as such if you are seeking 1st a sympathetic ear, look elsewhere. Alternatively, if interested in honest accurate appraisal followed up by strong, able and most importantly, credible advocacy for you and possibly your children, you can not expect to do much better. I would suggest that the previous post got exactly what he should have desired, an amicable out of court settlement worked out principally between the parties. How could Ms Raphaelson have done her job any better?