Leslie Smith Haswell

Working with this lawyer helped me through a very difficult time. She truly cared about my situation. In the beginning she explained the process thoroughly and honestly. Throughout the court proceedings she was knowledgeable and there for me, always having my back. Communication was open and direct a...lways calling me back right away and defending me against the lies and slander that were thrown at me from the opposing party. This attorney has been a life saver, even after the divorce some things came up and she was quick to let me know about it and help me through it. Read less

I did not have a lot of assests to divide a mobile home with 5 acres and one shared child 8 year old girl. I was leaving my ex husband a narcissist who transgressed against my eldest daughter (16 yrs) in a perverted manner. He did not have a lawyer and we had the upper and could’ve easily out maneuve...red him in court (he often lost his temper in front of judge and showed no concern for children’s well being), all she was concerned with was getting majority time sharing. I was awarded majority time sharing, but no child support, no final answer on my home, lost everything else because she did not work hard (or at all) to establish anything else in my favor. He was actually awarded more time then he should’ve gotten because she was unfamiliar with Third Circuit Court time sharing procedure in Lake City, yet she took on the case and charged me a lot of travel expensive for it. She was even late due to traffic!! I was charged $1700 to file a contempt notice, the ex was fined $1000 and it was never recovered, I’ll let you do the math. I was at her office and heard her reassuring words and competent gameplan when she was speaking to other clients, but she always seemed lazy when it came to my case. I felt unsatisfied and kinda brushed aside. I was green and I feel like she taught me a hard lesson. Only the lawyers win and they don’t really care about your family.

After my divorce was filed, Ms. Haswell was recommended. My first consultation was very informative. Ms. Haswell let me know in my first visit what I may be facing in my divorce. She was very realistic and reassuring. Her legal assistant keeps in the loop regarding my case frequently. I feel very con...fident in her and her legal assistant's ability to offer sound legal advice and to be trustworthy. Thank you, Ms. Haswell and Ms. Cannon, you've been a great help and have a heart of service.

I don't believe she steered me in an unethical way regarding my divorce. However, numerous mistakes and errors were made by both her and her paralegal. This included filing the wrong motions, making mistakes regarding details of documents that were formed, and billing errors. When those mistakes w...ere confronted, I was billed for time for her to fix them. Getting any credit for errors, which wound up happening every cycle, was a battle for reimbursement. If you want more stress in a probably already stressful time, hire her. If not, do yourself a favor and hire someone else. I think her intentions are in the right place, but her office needs serious work.

I would particularly caution victims of domestic violence to make sure you choose an attorney who will be safe for you. My experience was the opposite of her website's description. She filed a document on my behalf without even telling me beforehand that it would be filed (the paralegal, Leigh An...n, later said the deadline came and they didn't have time to reach out to me - they didn't have 5 minutes to email me?). She sent me copies of the same document multiple times. I had to beg the few times I wanted to consult with Leslie before filing important parts of my case. She communicated with my husband's attorney (the opposing counsel) while leaving me in the dark. When I pointed out that she was treating me disrespectfully she quit, which saved me having to fire her. Although she still didn't file all of the withdrawal paperwork for weeks (my new attorney had to prod her). It then took 6 weeks to get my retainer back, which was like pulling teeth (while she and her paralegal gave me the runaround). Her paralegal regularly pointed out how busy Ms. Haswell was with other clients. She was often "in depositions all day tomorrow" and therefore unavailable. I had to advocate for myself with the person I had hired to advocate for me - all while going through the trauma of divorce. Particular points from her website where my experience was the opposite: "We will do the things we say we will do. This means we are honest about the timing of events and following through on our actions." "We will inform you at all times. The process can be confusing. We’ll let you know what is going on at all times, and what steps need to be taken and when."