Barbra Ilene Black

Barbra is truly an amazing person first, and also a great lawyer. I came to her during this pandemic and all our interactions were by phone and email but I never felt like my case wasn't important or that she didn't understand the situation. All replies were timely and showed great consideration for ...the stress of having legal issues during this time. Barbra has a great team behind her as well and since my case was originally in NH and I live in MA now , the amount of people on her team able to practice to in both states was great. I would recommend this team to anyone and everyone should they need legal representation in family court. I am only sorry I did not get to meet these amazing people in person and shake their hands. I cannot emphasize enough how much it means to have a strong and understanding lawyer through stressful situations! Priceless.

I hired Barbra to help with a visitation modification. My case was not an easy one and my ex was not willing to negotiate at all. Barbra never left me in the dark about what was going on and always advised me on the most cost effective means to achieve the desired results. Barbra and her entire legal... team worked very hard to get me a better than expected settlement. I will forever be thankful to Barbra and her team for getting me a fair settlement which allows me to be in my son's life again.

Emphatically yes! Thank God for Barbra Black. She's what you want as an attorney: smart as an Ivy-leaguer, tough as alligator hide and fearless as Indiana Jones. I work with attorneys both professionally and, unfortunately, sometimes personally. She is the best of the lot. I had a divorce tha...t, to describe as miserable, would like be describing a full diaper as a bit smelly. I sued my first set of attorney's for malpractice (and won) and brought a similar suit against the guardian ad litem (and won). That should tell you how well it went before I met Barbra. I met Barbra when she was at Burns & Levinson. They (she) helped clean up the mess the first attorneys created and got me a reasonable settlement. When my ex-wife violated the agreement, I again retained Barbra (who had started her own practice by then) to enforce the agreement. She was unyielding and vociferous in the action, taking no guff, but also being practical, ethical and straightforward. She kept me posted as to fees and was reasonable. She even told me what work I could do myself so I could save some money. If I had retained her in the first place, I wouldn't have had the mess the first set of attorneys left me with. If you are getting divorced and not getting what you need from your existing attorney or considering divorce and expect a fight, retain Barbra. Other attorney's know her reputation and generally want to settle up quickly instead of facing her in court. She also knows the MA court system and its procedures, enjoying a solid reputation with Judges because of her knowledge of the law. Just be honest with her and she'll fight for you like Mike Tyson in the ring. Keep in mind Family Court is a court of equity, not justice. Make sure you have Barbra in your corner to make sure it is kept equitable. Again, I recommend her totally.

I was on the fence about whether it was worth it to write anything but the last few interactions have pushed me to the point where I feel as though it is important for anyone considering hiring Attorney Black to have an additional perspective. A big issue with Family court is that there is inher...ently no accountability on the part of the attorneys. Either they were given a bad set of circumstances or their hands are tied by the court. This is a simple fact of the matter, and is what Attorney Black bases her platform on. She will not tell you anything that she does not believe to be the case based on her experience, and she will be very clear in order to temper your expectations. However, there should be a minimum of accountability and responsibility on the part of someone to whom you are entrusting some very important decisions to. One thing about Barbra and her staff is that they are excellent at communicating. All of my emails and calls were handled almost immediately, the majority within 24 hours. Furthermore, this communication extended to all of the paperwork and other requirements of the court, the team there is very knowledgable of all procedures. However, beyond the clerical responsibilities (hence the 2 stars) is where I was disappointed. Based on my experience I am characterizing Attorney Black as someone who will represent you not to lose, as opposed to really fighting for you to win. In the case of someone who has a lot to lose this may be what you are looking for if you are not a risk taker. In this regard Barbra was very effective, but if you are looking for someone that will fight for everything that you want because you feel that you are in the right and deserve more I do not know that Barbra is the right attorney for you. In the instances where I attempted to outline strategies and give direction she told me I was being "ridiculous" and even went so far as to call me "stupid". I did not expect to have my hand held but I felt that this manner was inappropriate. I was able to move on past these issues (which were minor in the grand scheme) and Barbra was actually able to settle my case with the help of an outside mediator. I felt like I left a lot on the table with the settlement but was happy to move on as I admittedly was not prepared to go to trial (which was also Barbra's recommendation). The last and largest issue was when a key part of the final settlement turned out to be non-enforceable, even when Barbra had WRITTEN THE LANGUAGE HERSELF and stated in writing that "the language of the decree was very clear" and "could of course be enforced". After the deadline she did a complete 180 and said that there was a 0% chance of upholding the language. In this regard she was not clear, she was actually misleading to me and when I attempted to hold her accountable for this she feigned ignorance and said she didn't know what I was talking about in addition to disregarding 2 emails from me, which is very unlike her and how I know that she was in the wrong. They did waive all of the fees associated directly with this matter, which is appreciated but an indication that they knew they were wrong again. At no time did she ever admit responsibility, which would have likely avoided this negative review, instead she took great pains to cover herself from any accountability which again is prompting me to write these words as I am now. If she had let me know ahead of time that something she wrote and put a deadline on had 0% chance of being enforced I would have asked for stronger language to protect myself and approached the situation differently. The way it played out it had a very negative effect on my case and how I was able to move forward, and while Attorney Black bears no legal responsibility for the outcome there should again be a minimum of accountability. In closing, Attorney Barbra Black will handle your case effectively for you, for the most part.