Cynthia Lakeman

Ms. Lakeman is the owner of a firm which employs another lawyer (Jennifer Arena) who was appointed to represent me in a private petition for dependency. However, Ms. Lakeman virtually took over representation of the case herself. She didn't return phone calls, returned few e-mails, and during media...tion, pushed me to settle issues in my divorce for which I had hired a different attorney. She actually suggested that my 18 year old son serve as an overnight supervisor for my estranged husband so my 3 year old son could have overnight visits with him, and she proposed this knowing that there had been a no contact order between them for prospective sexual abuse. She berated me for believing that yes, this man might actually molest our young son at night as the court found that he did to his ex-girlfriend's daughter. She also pushed me to go back into the mediation room when I felt so ill and in so much pain I couldn't think straight; my divorce attorney was present and was asking me if I wanted him to call me an ambulance. I filed a pro se motion with the dependency court to have her replaced, and scheduled and noticed the motion for hearing. Ms. Lakeman was the only one who showed up, and said that she was prepared to go forward on the motion herself. The judge stated that this was unacceptable - that Ms. Arena was the lawyer that had been appointed to represent me. She was in another county, and Ms. Lakeman's explanation was that, in spite of receiving proper notice of the hearing, they ASSUMED that I had just randomly scheduled the hearing and that the notice was not valid. I argued that this was indicative of the problems that I'd had with her all along. She never asked me, she never called the clerk's office; she just assumed that a properly noticed hearing was not really happening. With very little argument from Ms. Lakeman or Ms. Arena, the judge appointed a new attorney who provided outstanding representation. It was very clear that this lawyer wanted to be OFF of my case, for which she was being compensated less than she would have been had she not been appointed. I also filed a complaint against her with the Florida Bar, but apparently they decided the evidence was insufficient to discipline this attorney, in spite of the fact that I sent emails, phone records, the motion I filed, and the name and phone number of my divorce attorney who witnessed some of these actions. Please do not rely on the fact that there is no disciplinary history; the Florida Bar apparently protects its own.