Nicholas Andrew Balland

Divorce is a difficult experience. Unlike Olympic Diving, one does not get extra points for an added degree of difficulty. As such, I am very disappointed by the treatment I received from Nick Ballad. Although he is a smart man, he treated me like a number, frequently got my name wrong, and rarely ...kept me informed on the status of my divorce. Whenever I tried to call him, he either wasn't available or would get off the phone with me in less than 30 seconds. I saw him do the same thing to other clients when they called him. At one point, after he had supposedly filed my paperwork, he forgot who I was. In Virginia, it should take 6 months to get a divorce (assuming there are no kids involved). My divorce has taken over nine months, and is still not finalized. He also charged me additional money on top of his flat fee without actually doing additional work. This is no way to treat clients.

I walked through a difficult divorce and found his experience, knowledge, and ability to follow through on simple tasks lacking. For example, something as simple as filing a petition to garnish wages for the spousal support granted was agreed upon, but never completed. A bench warrant was issued by t...he judge, and then never filed. I found him to be often difficult to speak with, impatient, and unwilling to listen.

I have known Mr. Balland for years. As the other commenters stated, he is hard to get in touch with, is abrupt, and sometimes rude. While he is very knowledgeable and knows his way around the judicial system (judges, other lawyers, etc.) he should be more courteous to his clients and take a little ...more time with them and not treat them like "a number" in the system. You are made to feel that you are one of many spokes in a wheel, which makes you of very little importance. He needs to realize that while it is just a "job" for him, it is our lives and the reasons why we go to him is because what is happening (in my case the divorce) has a huge impact on our lives, and not just financially.