Steven A. Paquette

Steve worked diligently on my behalf through the divorce proceedings from start to finish. Our family was plagued with some very sensitive and difficult to delineate matters. We wanted to maintain as much confidentiality and dignity as we could, for us and our children. My opinion is, that in a di...vorce the only benchmark for win or loss is that both the adults and the children from both parties are able to live with the results and move forward with their “new” life and not feel victimized by the process. Steve more than exceeded that benchmark. He fought to get me what was fair and necessary to protect my future, and stuck to the most important issues. Sticking to the facts and the law kept a personal matter from being “so personal”.

I retained Steve after a bad experience with another attorney. Several things impressed me about the way Steve handled me and my case. First, he patiently listened, even to some of my anger and frustration with my ex-wife and the way I had been treated. I had a lot of questions about the process, ...about child support, custody, etc. He helped me to understand the New York laws and what I could reasonably expect to accomplish. I had an emotional reaction to a lot of these, but he was able to have me understand what was possible and what wasn’t. I think most importantly, he always took my calls when he was in or got right back to me if he wasn’t. The process is frustrating and his communicating was really good. I always felt that he kept the process moving. In one case, my step-father, who attended the meetings with me, got so angry with my ex-wife that he wanted to fight it out in court. Although I’m sure Steve would have earned more fees had we done so, he patiently calmed my step-father down by explaining what was likely to happen and that it really wasn’t worth it. Looking back I think I got the best result I could have gotten.

I hired Mr. Paquette based on our initial interview where he said he was aggressive and experienced in negotiating a settlement. During the 4 months he was my lawyer he did not have any worthwhile suggestions as to how to get the best deal for me. He gave into virtually everything my ex-wife's lawyer... wanted. It was almost as if he felt he had to please her. I ended up being the main negotiator in my case. Mr. Paquette did almost nothing in the actual negotiating sessions. I ended up with the worst deal possible and am now stuck with it for the next 8 years! To top it all off he had no problem charging me the maximum $ for his time!