Lisa Anne D'Agostino

Lisa you replied to my review and again your not forthcoming with the truth. On January last year I asked for my divorce to be withdrawn from any court proceedings. You are still pursuing this matter one year later. You didn’t have to pursue asking the court for you to be removed as my attorney when... you were asked to withdraw the case in its entirety.Your only trying to gain additional fees and I’m not the only client who has been Bamboozled by you. It’s your pattern! Any potential clients need to read all of your reviews before considering your representation. However, I confided in Legal shield who I pay for their services every month to refer an upstanding divorce attorney. However they referred you. You never reached out to me to try to resolve this matter. You actually were very disrespectful when I informed you of my reconciliation with my husband and referred to me by my Maiden name. Your firm was not supportive or knowledgeable of my case and wasted a lot of time. When I asked to be present in court through zoom I was purposely not informed. Documents needed to be amended because of your firms incompetence at my expense. In a pandemic without any court appearances and without any participation from my husband your firm is trying to charge me 10,000 dollars! I have the emails regarding all of my concerns and issues since the beginning when Your firm was hired. I also have the request for a breakdown on my bills because the very first bill was inflated and you agreed to credit it and the revised bill was never sent.Your unprofessional and I have all the other people who have lost thousands to your firm. Run and properly do your homework before you hire Lisa as your divorce attorney!

I am speaking from my personal experience with her of over one year. The bottom line is that she is both "sure of herself " and incompetent at the same time. This is a very bad combination of an arrogant personality trait and insufficient attorney knowledge. She would rather guess or make something... up, regarding a legal phrase for example, than search for the correct answer or ask an associate. She was not capable enough of simple addition. She dragged out my case, going back and forth, accomplishing nothing, while making serious mistakes as an example, not even having all the parties names correct in a legal correspondence and completely misunderstanding a legal clause that was integral to the case. On the actual day that I needed her (petitioned to court) she said she was not available and made no attempt to get a replacement. I had to stand before a judge on my own and to be honest, being my own representative was far better than having her involved to do something really dumb.

Seven years ago, Child Protective Services took me to Family Court with some very nasty charges against me. To be perfectly fair to her, she was acting under the orders of her boss who is no longer with the firm. Having said that, this woman totally, utterly, and miserably failed to impeach the credi...bility of the witness against me, something a tenth grader could have done. There was a full order of protection on behalf of my son against me, and Ms. D represented me in the hearing to modify the OOP. The State Central Registry report was called in anonymously and was entered into evidence contrary to the law. ms. D did not object. The caseworker testified as to various things my son had allegedly done in school as a result of things I exposed him to;Ms. D failed to cross examine as to who, what, where, when, and how. The witness made a statement totally contrary to what was on the court papers; Ms. D failed to attempt to impeach the credibility of this witness. I left Family Court at 9 that night; wallet lighter and no closer to my goal. I am not an angry litigant who lost his case and is looking for revenge by posting a bad review. The local District Attorney did not press criminal charges against me, the Child Advocacy Center found no evidence of physical abuse or physical contact, and the psychologist charged with validating abuse concluded none occurred. I was given an Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal, that period passed with relative ease, and the nightmare is long over. Thanks to the lawyer I subsequently retained and not Ms. D. I gave her two stars because she told me not to react to what was said in court and obtained a short adjournment. My advice is not to use her.

In all fairness to her, she had been admitted to the bar the year prior and at the time was an associate of the firm, likely acting under orders of her (in my opinion) crooked boss who has since left the firm. BUT..... Child Protective Services took me to court on nasty, hyper inflated abuse charg...es and took out an Order of Protection against me so I couldn't see my son. Ms. D represented me for the one hearing I had, to modify the Order of Protection against me. The OOP modification hearing was recommended by her boss to, in my opinion, increase billable hours. Her boss' legal strategy of me not testifying reduced my chances of prevailing by 75%, and her weak cross examination by another 20%. Just before the hearing started, Ms. D and the opposition's lawyer went into the conference room together. Ms. D treated the hearing as if it was Saturday afternoon brunch. I'll leave it to the reader to draw his/her inference. The agency entered into evidence the State Central Registry report called in on me. Anonymously. This is illegal to enter this into evidence. Ms. D did not object. The witness against me testified. Leaving out any details as to when I allegedly did what I did, how often, the frequency, etc. The witness failed to provide date, time, etc. as to when my son allegedly did ht he did because of me. Ms. D failed to request a conference with me so I could give her suggestions as to how to cross examine the witness. She failed to ask the witness when, where, frequency, etc. Her cross examination consisted of two questions, and when the witness rebutted that my son was attempting to grab the breasts of grown staffers at my son's school, Ms. D could have pointed out that the original court papers said my son was putting his head on chests of girls at school. I left court that night no closer to my goal, and I'm absolutely convinced a decent lawyer could have torn the witness to ribbons. I'm not an angry litigant who lost and is looking for revenge. The Child Advocacy Center determined I did not abuse or even touch my son, the local District Attorney found no reason to file criminal charges against me, and in front of my lawyer, the psychologist concluded no abuse occurred. I was given a six month Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal, I got through it with minimal disruption to my life, and my record with the State Central Registry amended to unfounded and sealed. But I truly believe she could have blown the case against me out of the water that night. The American Bar Association's ethical canon of zealously and aggressively representing your client should mean something. I gave her fair for knowledgeable because she accomplished three things: told me not to react no matter what was said, punched enough holes in the case so my son's lawyer supported his desire to be reunited with me for good, and got a short adjournment. Circumstances for her are different now, and maybe she is. But I simply could not recommend her under the circumstances.