Leslie Craig Henderzahs

Leslie has impeccable credentials at a highly reputable firm, which was what drew me to hire her for my divorce. Those credentials do come with a hefty price tag, but I was willing to pay her high hourly rate for brilliant counsel and excellent service. However, I was terribly disappointed, pretty mu...ch from the jump. Communication was lacking and slow. I only heard from her when I reached out first. And often it was many days before I received a response. The case itself moved even slower. We spun our wheels with no forward momentum for months. I was clear about my goals from the beginning, and one of them was a quick resolution. I felt that she was looking to dig deeper into a case that didn't have any deep secrets to find. And that would prove to be time and money wasted. Opposing counsel eventually got tired of the slow pace and pushed the case to mediation, which frankly neither party wanted. This did escalate things. But she sent a rough draft copy of the settlement proposal (with red line marks) to opposing counsel instead of the final copy. Everyone makes mistakes, but this was sloppy and embarrassing. When I asked her about it, she did not respond to my e-mail and later verbally denied it, even though indisputably that was what was sent. The final and biggest disappointment however, was that resolution only came after parties independently discussed and agreed upon a settlement proposal, which we then asked the attorneys move forward with. After all those months and thousands and thousands of dollars, in the end Leslie did not provide any brilliant counsel nor any excellent service. We essentially did it all on our own. We could have done that at the beginning and been done with it. The whole process was frustrating and stressful. I did not feel supported as a client. My case was not a priority and my specific request for a quick resolution was not honored. I considered changing counsel multiple times, however I did not because she would make forward progress enough that I kept hanging on. We were never on the same page, and I should have gotten new counsel at the first red flag. My case cost over $15,000, most of which was wasted time and money. My advice would be to be to establish clear expectations for your case and to have firm boundaries about how it should be accomplished. Balance her counsel with your wishes, and don't let one over-ride the other. If there is repeated lack of communication or a sense of not abiding by your desires, know that it will continue to be a struggle until the end. And decide for yourself whether you want to keep battling with your own attorney for the outcome you want.