Colleen M. Haddow

I hired Colleen the day after what was probably the worst day of my life--a mediation with a retired Fairfax County judge who, to my shock, quickly took my wife's side without even bothering to hear all of my side of the story and proposed settlement terms that were even worse than what my soon-to-be...-fired lawyer had told me would be the worst-case outcome. The next day I fired that lawyer and hired Colleen. It was like going from flying coach on Aeroflot to flying first class on Lufthansa (but for coach prices!). From the day Colleen took over my case, things only got better for me. One year later, everything was finished (no trial) and the settlement I got was superb. Colleen is a fantastic divorce lawyer for many reasons. Her legal skills are outstanding. Moreover, she understands that people in the midst of a divorce are going through an extremely difficult experience emotionally, and so she knows that a big part of her job is not just writing pleadings and arguing motions but preventing clients from panicking or growing despondent. Her "bedside manner" is pitch-perfect. Another key asset of Colleen's is that she is very familiar with all the Fairfax County judges--she knows what they like, and they know that she is a trustworthy practitioner. My ex-wife's lawyer was based in DC and didn't know a lot of the Fairfax County judges; during the one contested hearing that took place, my ex-wife's lawyer annoyed the judge by behaving in a way that Colleen, who had been before this judge many times, knew not to act. Needless to say, Colleen was the victor that day. I strongly recommend Colleen to anyone who needs a divorce lawyer.

I retained Colleen in 2012 for what I hoped would be a relatively fast, amicable divorce. Oh, how wrong I was.... Two years, 1 4Hr pendente lite hearing, 4 trial dates, 1 bankruptcy (not mine), 4 lawyer changes on my ex-wifes part, 3 days of depositions, 2 days of actual trial, 1 appeal/cross-appea...l, and a published finding from the Virginia Court of Appeals later, I was finally divorced. The final result? I retained 100% of assets, owed no spousal support, paid my ex's COBRA for 18 months, and she owes me $15k. To provide some context, there was a lot of complexity in my divorce. For example, my company defers part of my annual bonus and a portion of that deferral is held in stock, is that treated as income or an asset during the divorce? In each year (past and future) my income changed structurally, e.g., what is deferred, how it is held, when it vests, how much discretion I have over it, etc. To the untrained eye (or judge) it could appear that all this complexity was engineered to hide either the truth or assets. The challenge was twofold, how to explain my assets and income to the court, and how to craft a proposed settlement that would stand the test of time as my income fluctuated and evolved. Colleen was able to do both, and do so in an environment that could probably be classified as a hostile workplace. When we finally walked into court, we walked in completely prepared for any eventuality. Our exhibit binder was 4 inches thick and had over a hundred separate documents. She presented the case clearly, and professionally and got all of our key points across without getting lost in the detail. While the trial was spread over two days, our case in chief was presented in about 90 minutes, using only 30 or so of those many exhibits. Everything she and the team at CCWV did, was done right the first time, and checked twice anyway. I always felt like my case had the right level of attention both at the strategy level and in details (and divorce is won or lost in the details). The length of my case, and its numerous filings, were driven almost completely by our opponent seeking delay, or attempting to win in the drafting stage, what they had not won in court. Colleen responded to each developments in the case, but she didn't use it as an excuse to run up the billable hours, or divert us from our core goals. If I needed further validation of my decision to hire Colleen, it came earlier this year in the form of the published opinion of 3 judges from the Virginia Court of Appeals. My ex challenged every aspect of our case (8 appeals). Every appeal was denied. On my cross appeal, I won. The key issue (that Colleen had pointed out during the trail) hinged on my wife's response to my original petition, way back in 2012. A small thing that she paid attention to before anyone thought it was important, that my wife's (also highly regarded) council missed. Excellence is just doing the whole job, every day. She did that, and I am thankful for it every day.