Karen Allison Howe

This lady (I refuse to call her a lawyer) should be immediately disbarred. Where do I start. 1) dishonest to a point of criminal behavior. I can’t prove that I was over billed on her legal documents but I can prove I was overbilled on phone calls. She’s so dumb that I counted the number of calls on m...y cell phone bill and there was less than 10 calls that she billed me for. IMPOSSIBLE!!! 2) Her legal documents were embarrassingly bad and appeared to be templates. I really think she goes on the Internet and takes legal documents off them and sells them as their own. She used the name “John Doe” Instead of my name in one of the documents in two places. 3) She was totally over matched in court. First off she was so underprepared it was embarrassing. She literally knew nothing about my case going into court and had to constantly look down at her notes. We lost every aspect of the case. I had to pay my legal fees, 100% of my ex-wife’s legal fees and had to pay even more than what they were asking for in child support. —- I am not one to complain but this was so ridiculous I had to make a formal complaint to the bar association. WHAT A JOKE!! Karen had answers for everything but never mentioned the phone call situation. The Bar Association didn’t even address the phone call situation. In their eyes it’s like it never happened. Unbelievable!!! Where do we turn to for help? It is like getting shot and robbed and having no police force to call. I literally caught her stealing!!! This lady cannot go on as a lawyer. She does irreparable harm. Do yourself a favor and make sure you get another lawyer. It is funny she has three 5 star reviews and the rest 1 star. Hmmmm.... I’ll make a bet those 5 star reviews are fake and are close friends.

Run while you can! Karen insisted on weekly $300 phone calls in which she ignored everything I told her and put words into my mouth. Later she negotiated with the opposing counsel on my behalf things that were benefiting my ex instead of me. She was not acting in my best interest at all! the only pr...oductive thing she did in my case was subpoena my ex’s 401k and even then she filed the paperwork with wrong name on it. She filed a motion without my consent after I repeatedly asked not to file anything on my behalf without prior discussing with me. Karen will charge you outrageous fees for everything including things you never asked her to do. She literally burned $3,000 on pointless phone calls and emails which she insisted on. I fired her after realizing that she will cause more harm than good to my case.

this so-called lawyer cost me thousands then dumped me as a client after I was told by her that I would sign a promissory note for final payment!,, she lied, it was her idea to come in to make the arrangements to pay, it was her idea to have me sign a promissory note, and it was her that forgot to in...form her assistant to draw up the agreement after i left- then call me to come in to sign it... that call never came!!!!!!,,, i did everything i was instructed to do! and yet i get a letter in the mail 5 days before my divorce trial that I no longer have legal counsel??! Really? after she had me come in to hammer out the agreement then dump me as a client within a few days of my trial? i also have lodged a complaint to the Florida Bar association. i even received a bill from her for the hour it took to discuss the promissory note that never materialized!!! wow! i would give negative stars here if i could.

When I first met Karen to get my initial consultation she seemed to pretty professional and knowledgeable. Then after informing her that I did not want to sell my house she started giving my the used car salesman act. Talking as if she did not hear what I said and passing me the card of a realtor of ...hers to short sale my home. I blew this off, and what a mistake that was for me. My case a pretty simple one took a year to complete, knowing what I know now Karen used every stalling technique she could to continue getting paid. She was not as knowlegeable as one would think she should be after reading her resume. As I was paying temporary support to my now ex-wife, I asked Karen to put the amount of my payment in the temporary agreement, simple right? No it took six months to get this accomplished. She lied and said that it was done, then when I asked for a copy she informed me that it wasn't done. During a visit to the office in Brandon, Karen had another lawyer Mary Greenwood sit in on the meeting (I did not ask for her assistance) Mary proceeds to start yelling at me about when did I want to make a settlement. The conversation got extremely heated then she left. The kicker is that when I looked at my bill, I was charged for the yelling session. I had to repeatedley call Karen and ask for return calls. Although she charged my $50 for leaving a voicemail. My ex-wife lawyer to her credit wiped the floor with Karen, she came extremely prepared during the depositions. Karen asked the requisite questions but nothing as to what I told her to ask her. It was typical where do you work etc. etc. All in all over $11,000 worth of attorney fees is what I got for below average service at best. I think the most insulting aspect is the faux slang vernacular that Karen used from time to time. Not sure if it is because of my ethnicity she thought that would be appropriate or build a bond but it did not. To leave you with one more thing, as I sat in the courthouse and listened to other lawyers I knew I made a bad choice but for financial reasons I was already too invested in the process.