Simply put, I cannot recommend Joanna enough if you are facing a divorce. You want to hire her, now. I was married 19 years and during the final 13 years had been a stay at home dad, working freelance [having the lesser of two incomes]. The divorce was difficult and contested. I was truthfully ...at the end of my rope when I first met with Joanna – I was only taking the consultation so I could learn for myself what I was entitled to by law, based on the facts of the marriage – my existing attorney had never explained that to me [as it turned out because she did not know; she never did any preparation or planning; her ‘plan’ was merely to react to whatever the opposing attorney demanded] – and mediation was rapidly approaching. I entered the consultation in an aggressive mood feeling it was myself against the State and no one was helping me. At that first meeting Joanna was able to – through her professionalism and thoroughness – shift me from ‘tell me what I am entitled to demand’ to talking through the entire situation and finding key points that she could use to turn things to my favor. I had already met with two other attorneys who took the stance of ‘you’re the man, you get the short end of the stick, accept it’. Joanna checked into several online databases during our meeting, discovered that the case had been completely mishandled by my previous attorney – papers had not been filed, were overdue [by weeks!], or had been filed with information I was unaware of. [the 2 other attorneys gladly took my $100 consultation fee but neither did these checks] She knew full well that this was going to be a major challenge - the case was in a shambles, the time frame was well short of her usual minimum time to prepare a case, she has other cases that demand her time, etc. And because of that my outcome looked bleak. I think it is important to note at this point that Joanna is a person first and an attorney second. By that I mean her evaluation of the case told her to not take the case, but that same evaluation - weighed against what I needed and what my child needed – made her realize that without her on my side the outcome would be very unfair, to the point of unjust – thanks to a sloppy attorney. It wasn’t her job to take my case, it was her moral decision. She agreed to take on the case. And for that I will be eternally grateful. Joanna was able to formulate a plan, given almost no time, and having to deal with all the errors and omissions of my prior attorney. For the first time since I had been attacked by my wife and unjustly forced out of my own home – and away from my child – which was the biggest nightmare of my life – I finally felt a sense of ease that there was still sanity in the world and that the truth may finally have a part in this scenario. If you are facing a divorce I will tell you this - I only wish I had hired her the moment this all began; this scarring and traumatizing span of my life would have been shortened by 50+ days. Throughout the process I never felt Joanna was being pushy or that her number one concern was her reputation or that of her firm – her top priority was getting the best outcome possible for me and my child. At the mediation, I was extremely encouraged to see that Joanna didn’t just have a plan A and B, she had plans A through F – which was a good thing when the other side initiated with an impossible demand; Joanna was shocked but not the least bit ruffled or unsettled, she simply moved on down her list and fought. In the end the final outcome was much better than anything I was going to be handed had I kept my first attorney. And it was all in all very favorable given that divorce in Florida is lopsided against the man.

Joanna Foard is highly competent, qualified, a strong litigator in the courtroom and genuinely cares about her clients and their needs and best interests. She worked diligently on my divorce and domestic violence cases. She is extremely well-prepared, very articulate in argument and works so hard fo...r what is fair and just. Thank you, Joanna!