Gillian Fierer O'Nan

Classic case of overwhelm.. money hungry to the point that she has taken on so many clients she’s simply run out of bandwidth- can’t seem to communicate with her paralegals or office manager. Working with this firm is akin to a doctor treating patients like numbers, reading your chart as he-she walks... through the door to the treatment room. Undeniably questionable business practices from start to finish. Sadly, a combination of poor time management, zero self accountability and a machine like disconnect from the human element. I couldn’t even begin to list the countless failures in what was one of the most ludicrous and blatant examples of mismanagement from one of the most costly divorce attys in the Atlanta area. The combination of arrogance, junior level (at best) communication skills and a lackluster end result puts this firm at the bottom of the barrel. Look elsewhere.. do yourself a favor. I have new counsel now - as a comparison, I couldn’t recommend this firm to anyone! Pathetic .

I did hire her as my attorney but at the end she only completed general paperwork while being charged at ~$400/hr and accumulated in fees over +$10K. She also did NOT address the TPO issue that I had with the divorce. She had an another attorney work on that which was surprising. There are many n...egative experiences I can share but I think the one (1) star should explain. The main reason for my decision to no longer use her service was that she did NOT do her work on my case. This was evident to me when she could not tell me where I stood with my divorce proceedings. Her background and credentials made me think she would do her job well, but it did not reflect the kind of result/completion she had for me.

Retained Gillian for ongoing child custody issues. The below issues will not cover the legal outcomes, but overall poor client/customer care covering issues of transparency, professionalism, respect, dedication, and competency. -Transparency: The firm's website facilitates a consultation. However..., the website does not mention a fee during the scheduling process or call. After the consultation, I retained Gillian and noticed on my first billing statement a charge for the consultation. -Professionalism: Clients pay for what they get. Paying Gillian at $425/hour, I would have expected Gillian to not be scrolling Facebook repeatedly through a hearing. -Respect: On a couple of occasions, I had a scheduled call with Gillian, but she happened to be in her car. Again, when paying $425/hour, I would expect to have better service rather than struggling to hear her on speaker phone. -Dedication/Empathy: I repeatedly had to petition Gillian to be more proactive with scheduling, moving the case along, and simply to show some concern. -Competency: Nobody will care about your problems more than oneself. However, even with ensuring that I communicated clearly and often to Gillian and her team, numerous errors were made with their proceduraly filing with incorrect dates that resulted in refilings and releasing documents to the court/opposing counsel without prior consent. Maximizing billable hours seems to be the heightened priority. At the conclusion of legal matters, I received a generic "thank you for your business" email, which was also a billable transaction on the final statement.

Throughout my case, there were times when Gillian did not know the details about my grievances against my ex and the outcomes I wanted to work towards. I expected her to know these details as I provided and maintained a document for both of us throughout the entire case as it was important to me to s...tay aligned with the person representing me. The night before my mediation I called to speak with Gillian about a few details. When I expressed my concerns about her lack of understanding during the phone call, Gillian became angry to the point where the firm's partner had to get on the phone. I did not want to continue with Gillian at this point, but with mediation starting in 12 hours, I didn't feel like I had a better option and the partner assured me that Gillian could still represent me. Not surprisingly, Gillian and I did not see eye to eye during the mediation. The offers that she wanted to make on my behalf did not seem fair to me and was giving too much to my ex. While I am still paying for some of the poor choices I made in mediation BASED on Gillian's legal counsel, I am reminded that I did avoid other poor choices on that day. For example, while in caucus with Gillian and the mediator, I declined an offer from my ex that Gillian said I should accept. After trying to consult with Gillian and explain why I wanted to counteroffer based on objective reasons, I realized I found myself battling more with Gillian than my ex. I went ahead and told the mediator to proceed with my counteroffer who came back later and said it was accepted, which saved me a few thousand dollars as it was about my ex's legal fees. Overall, I never felt that Gillian and I had a partnership on my case and often felt invalidated by her comments. My recommendation for anyone considering Gillian is to make a firm list of issues and asks/desired outcomes to review in detail with her. If you feel invalidated or not understood by her responses then kindly move on with another attorney. You will thank yourself later for it.

I hired Gillian for what I already expected to be a difficult and complicated divorce, and which ended up taking unforeseen twists and turns I could not have ever imagined. I can't say enough about her knowledge, insight, and professionalism. She is a master multi-tasker, and most critically, was ...available and immediately responsive when my case became a series of one true crisis situation after the next. Even when my crisis cut into her personal time, she was there for me. There was no hand wringing or floor pacing wondering when or if she would respond ... it was always almost immediately and if she was tied up, she let me know right away when she would be able respond. She is a no-nonsense lawyer, extremely efficient, and caring. All of her gut assumptions about what I should do turned out to be accurate. She doesn't tell you what you want to hear, but rather what you need to hear. She freed me from the need to feel as if I had to micromanage my case, eased my fears, and when my case extended far beyond a routine divorce situation, she connected me with other professionals who were likewise immediately responsive and highly skilled. I don't have enough good things to say about Gillian. No matter how complicated or bizarre your situation may be, she is capably able to handle it. If you are looking for the creme de la creme of family divorce attorneys, don't waste your time looking any further. Gillian is the best there is.