Shaunette Lavette Stokes

I hired Shaunette Stokes July 2016 for a child custody case. After over a year not only do I not have my child but because she made subsequent filings and statements to judges and magistrate's such as lying and saying I refused to pay her (she was paid as agreed and later after abruptly filing to wit...hdraw from my case told a judge I refused to pay her and literally made up a bill and printed after she filed to withdraw to use as her excuse) it is going to take that much more time and money to get another attorney to unwind what she did. Very early in the case I raised concerns to this attorney about timeliness of filings and there being no progress in the case after I followed her advice for example saying she would file something one day and not actually doing it until several weeks later or when she didn't take certain actions that we discussed during our meetings she wouldn't have any legal explanation other than it would cost her to do the research or she simply wouldn't answer direct questions at all. She even lied and said a hearing occurred when it actually didn't. Unfortunately after fighting to get this matter of her withdrawal heard in front of a judge (I disagreed with it, because she was already paid and my case was stalling) the judge originally assigned to this case was not at the hearing. She blatantly lied to the substitute judge even using specific details I gave her AS A CLIENT about prior interactions I've had with court employees that I raised to her as concerns to portray me as aggressive. Hiring this person for my family law case has been catastrophic. I have lost several thousand dollars (10 and counting) since I hired her in unnecessary court payments and valuable time with my child that I will never get back. To my horror she insisted my case was about child support and given all proof of the contrary such as the actual case history the substitute judge allowed her to withdraw. It is worth mentioning that the hearing occurred with her and the judge before I'd arrived as I got there a few minutes late to the scheduled hearing from work and was told to wait to be called. It was upon her exiting the judges' chambers that I was allowed in and it was clear he was partial to whatever she said prior to my arrival. Sadly I believe what happened here was about an attorney that does not have adequate finances or resources to run her business (I am not including my reasons here as they will be used in investigations against her) and perhaps she was in over her head. Do not use this person for family law. She will portray herself as a nice person but that's no excuse for poor quality work that will significantly impact your family. I had to learn the hard way.