Barbara A Burr

When my husband of 25 years and I began the process of divorce we thought that ours would be a simple case and that we could essentially "handle" most of it ourselves. Luckily for us (and for our children), we invested in the Collaborative Divorce process and even more so that I had the Barbara walk ...me through the many painful conversations required. From our first conversation I knew that she would take the time to listen to me while keeping the conversation focused on a just outcome for everyone. When I wanted to speed through painful or confusing aspects, she focused me on the process that she and her wonderful team knew would save time in the end, and when I wanted to cave in altogether she would not let me abandon my own interests. Barbara said at one point: "It's obvious that the two of have you have come to this point in part because your trust has been compromised. Our goal is to use a PROCESS that you can both trust so that we can move forward." It worked. While still a painful, our children were shielded from the worst of our impulsive and hurtful "solutions" and we were able to begin the work of co-parenting them from a much more civil and stable place. I will be forever grateful.

I was referred to Barb initially by a good friend after my friend's ex-husband was represented by Barb in their divorce. Even though Barb represented her ex-husband against her, my friend was impressed with Barb's professionalism, intelligence, negotiating skills, experience and reasonableness. Even ...though my friend, an attorney, was being represented by the top large family law firm in the city, she still referred me to Barb over her own attorney, who she liked. My case was difficult and complex because my ex-husband was an abusive husband and father with mental illness, but he was also ivy-league educated, active in the community and church, and on the surface a model, successful citizen and a persuasive liar. It took 4 years of intense high conflict divorce and custody litigation to unmask him and secure sole legal and physical custody and with my ex- only having limited supervised visitation with the children now. While he had 3 different top attorneys who bailed on him for various reasons, Barb was there through it all. The constant pleadings, hearings and trials, Child Protective Service, GAL issues, police calls, convincing scared and uncomfortable witnesses to testify for the good of the children, stress, disappointment in the family law process for failing my children and finally, justice! She is shrewd and savvy and full of hard fought experience. She was respected by all of the judges and I had 3 judges over the 4 years. She was very connected in the family law arena. She knew all of the opposing counsel we encountered, and referred me to various top notch support service providers, mediators, etc. She was compassionate and a great counselor but also firm and logical and didn't let me get caught up in emotion and off point. Most importantly, I learned a lot about the proper preparedness and organization required for litigation, the drafting of motions and responses, what are the main points that need to be addressed and what is extra or not needed. She explained everything she was doing to me so I understand why she was doing things or what shaped her position. Also, even though luckily I am not in need of her full time service, she always in responsive and makes herself available for my questions. Her staff paralegal and associates are great too and always treated me like family. I am constantly recommending Barb when anyone is in need of a family law attorney and my friends who never even met Barb but of course heard about her constantly also recommend her!

Barb represented me in my amicable divorce. I hired her on the recommendation of two friends, one of whom retained her for her divorce and was very satisfied. Barb is thoughtful and caring and her rates are reasonable. However during mediation I had a couple of negative surprises. Without going i...nto too much detail, I had a couple understandings about the scope of child support and alimony that I might receive (my ex makes much more money than I do) that turned out to be wrong, all with negative consequences for me. At the end of the day I believe our settlement was fair, but at the time it was a negative surprise, which is a problem. Again, on balance things came out fine. I put that I would not recommend her because I have been asked in the past and have not done so, however I have another issue coming up and will use her to resolve it so obviously I am not entirely displeased.