Elena M. Perez

For the rest of my life, I will regret having hired Elena M. Perez as my divorce attorney. From the very beginning, I usually had to deal with her assistant, because Miss Perez was 'not available'. The few times I was able to speak to her, she never seemed to remember what we had discussed the las...t time we spoke. After almost 2 1/2 YEARS as her client, she decided to drop me. This could have been a simple divorce. I paid her a few thousand dollars for (what I consider) to be nothing, because I had to hire another attorney (who got everything resolved in about 2 1/2 MONTHS). In the beginning, I was 'okay' speaking to her paralegal (Maggie), but after a while, I discovered they were practically one and the same. The only difference was that Maggie was much more 'accessible' and had a much better memory. When I complained to Maggie about Ms. Perez' memory, she admitted to me that it wasn't a very good one. Their receptionist could not speak English. It was not long after I became their client, that the receptionist left. After I received a call from Ms. Perez that she had decided to drop me as a client, I received a call from her paralegal who offered to come to court with me on the last court date and she would help 'walk me through it' and also said that I should not tell Ms. Perez that she was going to do that for me. She told me she would not charge me so much as Ms. Perez since she was just a paralegal. I found out later from another attorney's office that the judge would not have allowed that. Yet Maggie had asked me for some upfront money. I have text messages and emails on my phone which can testify to most of what I have to say about this 'divorce attorney' and her co-workers. Some things, however, were discussed by phone so I have no way to prove those things. The last conversation I remember having with Ms. Perez (after she dropped me), was to request my records. At that point, she said: "but I thought you were going to allow Maggie to go to the Courthouse with you on the final date." Sounded to me like they were in on this from the moment Maggie said she would 'help' me - without Ms. Perez' knowledge. Very unprofessional 'team'. I would not let Miss Perez represent me if she would offer to do it for free.