Jacqueline T. Martin

I hired Ms Martin to represent me in my divorce proceedings. She charged a high retainer and continuously billed me for what I am not sure. When it came down to the actual divorce she gave away everything I had and left me with very little. I think she was swayed by my ex's story instead of what I wa...s telling her. I should not have to defend myself to my attorney. Mow I need her to defend the document she prepared, and she tells em to hire someone else. I guess she knows I cannot afford her now. She was highly recommended to me by a friend who is also a lawyer. He must get paid referral fees for his service because if she is the best, I would run. If I had done it myself I would have had a better outcome. If I could give her a negative rating I would after all she cost me over 40k for an uncontested divorce and left me with very little.

Throughout the process of closing on our recent home purchase all the details were handled "reasonably" well. The exceptions being that the title search wasn't performed quickly enough in so far as a simple call by Ms. Martin's office could have "lit a fire" under the title search companies' behin...d to move faster. I myself was irked enough to take it upon myself to do that. Then there were further delays I deemed unnecessary regarding public water supply and shared access/maintenance right of way to the home. These issues were discussed in detail prior to the delays clearly indicating to Ms. Martin that we as purchasers were more than willing to accept existing covenants about these matters. This round and round added the better part of two weeks to the closing process and our patience wearing thin. Final result was eventual closing date arrived and was handled at Ms. Martin's office. We saw her very briefly at the start of closing then her assistant Sandy stayed to its conclusion. All in all what many would consider the usual annoyances of home purchase under the guise of performing due diligence. We grudgingly accepted it as such. Ms. Martin was approached by me prior to this purchase closing with my asking her for a "two for one" deal. In addition to this closing I was also selling a home I still owned. She agreed to reduce the amount she usually charges/closing since it was now going to be more business for her office. A few short months later I received a purchase offer on that home which was then forwarded to Ms. Martin and her paralegal/assistant Sandy. The better part of two weeks expired with no follow up to this other than my making numerous unreturned calls asking to have the offer reviewed and changes I submitted put into contract form. In addition there were time constraints needing to be met to execute the contract in a timely fashion on the purchasers behalf. This would have taken any attorney or their staff all of an hour to accomplish. During numerous attempts to speak with Ms. Martin I was always told that "Ms. Martin was with clients,on the phone or in court" whenever I called her office. No amount of email or calls to her office were returned. That was the last straw and I engaged another attorney who within "24 hours" accomplished what was needed to put the deal back on track. My three star rating is based on Ms. Martin's "average" manner in handling our initial closing. Since the second closing didn't occur I am unable to rate her a zero stars as I feel warranted.