Ashlea Lindyn Palladino

When I needed a lawyer I asked around and found two lawyers that people were very happy with. One was Ashlea and as I did some more digging I eventually realized that the other was Ashlea's boss. I went with Ashlea because her hourly rate was considerably less. I expected that I wouldn't lose too muc...h in experience though. From what I've gathered, larger law firms work like a hive; each lawyer benefiting from the other. This was absolutely the case. I found that Ashlea, who only had her license for 4 years, was able to benefit from decades of Buffalo law experience. Benefitting from the contacts her senior lawyers made and dealing with my case, both in and out of court, not only with knowledge of the law, but knowledge of exactly how each and every individual involved in my case acts and reacts to various topics. Things that piss certain judges off and things that others want to see…because it’s not all black and white. What I didn’t foresee, was that Ashlea was still fresh and clean. She’s not jaded and tired like most of the lawyers you’ll find in…well…everywhere. Finding a lawyer with experience and the desire to put that experience to work was a problem I didn’t foresee. I definitely scored on this front. She is ready to go to work and get it done, creepily ready. I noticed in the waiting room that most of the lawyers would chat it up. They all know each other and talk about their day and kids and normal gossip. Ashlea does a bit of that, but there’s always an angle. She’s always working. She’s always looking for that kink in the armor. To finish up the trifecta, Ashlea legitimately cares. You’re not going to get this side unless your position is solid. Not saying she’s going to turn you away; lawyers due as lawyer due. I know from a friend’s direct experience that Hogan Willig will win it for you even when you don’t deserve it. That’s their job. But if you’re that parent that goes in and wants to do what’s best for your child, Ashlea will cut her wrists to see that happen. For me, that’s the key. I believe that with intelligence and determination you can get anything done. That’s the reason why I run *everything* by Ashlea. Anything that has to do with needing a lawyer crosses her desk and she either deals with it or she refers me to the appropriate person. If they’re expensive, she’ll do the work to keep the cost down. “She’ll do the work” – is the one problem that I have with Ashlea. I really hate to point out a fault, but no one is perfect and I feel a review is dishonest without both sides. As you read the review after mine…keep that in mind. If a review is 100% positive or 100% negative, its gibberish. I guarantee it. So as I was saying, Ashlea will do the work, and that is her one issue. I’ve texted her at 8PM to notarize something, and showed up to her office at 11PM to get it done. I’ve never felt that she was neglecting my case in the two years that I’ve been working with her. But, she is definitely very busy. I never expect to call her cell and have her pickup. I know it’ll be a couple of hours. The fact of the matter is that good lawyer are busy, bad lawyers aren’t. I’d love for her to be my personal on-call lawyer, but she’s not. That’s what a law firm is for I guess, to have a pair of people that aren’t necessarily your lawyer whose job it is to pickup the phone. All in all I am very happy with Ashlea’s performance. I have given her a wealth of information about the opposing party and she has constantly and consistently used that information as leverage to swivel us into better positions. She’s remembered facts I’ve long forgotten. There has not been a single time that her advice (and plan) has broken down and put us into a worse position. We’ve kept in constant communication about where the case is, where we want it to go and how we’re going to get there. The entire time she would inform me of possible expenses, how to conserve spending and in the end billing me reasonably.

Simply, we were put in a much worse position because we retained Ashlea. She represented us in a family law matter. She failed to ask us pertinent details about our case and when she showed up to the hearing she literally did not combat any of the outright fabrications by the other attorney. She stoo...d idly by as a standing order of the court was modified without a proper hearing - completely contrary to the rules of civil procedure, as confirmed by other competent attorneys - and did not even object once. The transcript of the hearing would be laughable, if not for the fact that her dismal performance led to our having a greater burden until the hopeful overturning of the new order, and our rights abrogated without a proper hearing. An attorney at a smaller practice would probably look honestly at their failure in such a case and waive a significant amount of the fees. What HoganWillig appeared to do, by contrast, was take the retainer we gave, run up a dubious number of billable hours, and then refund us an amount that they probably shouldn't have gotten in the first place. We could not be more displeased with Ashlea or HoganWillig, whose collections person actually threatened us with a lawsuit on the phone when we complained about the high bill for representation that left us worse off. Highly recommend against this attorney or her firm.

Ms. Palladino was very patient, listened to me and fully explained all the details for all my options. She guided me through an arduous process with an extremely difficult defendant. She was able to get my ex-husband to settle out of court, while awarding me everything I was requesting. Thank you!!!...!