Lee E Berlik

Surprising to me, a person I did not know and who did not/does not know me --though she knew my boyfriend of three years -- anonymously pursued a four month online campaign to get me fired posting thousands of heinous libelous false statements about me professionally and personally. Professional col...leagues, my boss, and board members of the nonprofit where I worked all read the lies and character defamation. When my boss brought the posts to my attention, I researched and called 'experts' in cyber law including a Harvard Law professor I know who had successfully prosecuted a cyber case in front of the Supreme Court. They all said the same thing, 'The law is unclear in these cases, and web sites hide behind the freedom of information law to avoid accountability for taking down false, hateful posts'. I then came upon a lawyer who was the victim of a similar character attack posted on one of the same bottom-feeder, lowest-common-denominator websites, based in Fairfax, where some of the posts about me were. This bright young woman stood up and got the law changed in Virginia to help victims, mostly girls and women, from this type of online sociopatholgy. While she could not take me on as a client, she referred me to Lee Berlik, a very experienced, competent libel and cyber lawyer and litigator in Northern Virginia. Lee turned out to be amazing. I provided him with the evidence, and he immediately gave me excellent legal counsel, and we pursued a case. The disturbed perpetrator, an online bully, in what amounted to, in pejorative terms, a 'slut shaming' case, admitted to all counts of culpability including willingness to be named in the court order/injunction enabling us to effectively make the case to websites to remove the hate crime from the Internet. Each step of the way, Lee's competency, skills, compassion and responsiveness provided relief from and victory over being a victim of cyber crime. I unequivocally recommend him as a lawyer, particularly for those victimized by cyber libel. There is a solution, and Lee helps you get to it with your dignity in tact. While I won the case because of Lee's counsel, the story does not have a happy ending. A month after the cease and desist letter was filed, I was let go from my organization, the reasoning given 'half the board does not want to work with you' -- even though I didn't work with the board and they were not relevant to my job performance, which, by the way, I was told by the VP of HR had been stellar. There was, however, internet records that at least half the board had, in fact, seen these heinous, false online statements about me. On one level, the perpetrator, who admitted an intent to attack me professionally and personally, won. Thank god, I was in the hands of an extraordinary lawyer, and I won on legal grounds and the perpetrator, this criminal, who turned out to be a previously convicted Felon to boot, was required to remove the defamation. The Internet provides wonderful access to opportunity, but unfortunately, it also provides the tools necessary for a sociopath to damage lives often without impunity. Lee was a Godsend during this difficult, painful chapter in my life which, as was intended by the perp, caused me serious emotional and financial damage. I give him an A+++++ and am so grateful to him for his expertise and help. When no one else would, Lee took my case on and won the case, securing both a legal victory and some financial relief for the legal and court costs. Signed Sharon, a grateful former client of Lee Berlik

I had the privilege of being represented by Lee over the last 16 months in a drawn out contract dispute/lawsuit with a large supplier for our company. He was incredibly responsive and knowledgeable, and most importantly, obtained the best possible outcome in the case. I couldn't be happier with his s...ervices and would highly recommend him to others.