Portia Lynn Douglas

My husband and I chose Ms. Douglas based in her online reviews as we had little else to help us choose an attorney. Perhaps we are alone in our experience, but things did NOT go smoothly from the start. The bankruptcy process and options are very confusing. We sought out an attorney to help clari...fy the process and whether or not it was our best option. After 3 appointments with Ms. Douglas (and $680 later) we are now even more confused. We spent hours upon hours gathering the requested paperwork...being told we needed to bring it to the next meeting, only to find out that they didn't even ask for it. At our last meeting Ms. Douglas was clearly not at 100% getting simple facts and figures wrong, at which point she apologized multiple times stating that she "had a very busy day." While I do sympathize, if I were the last appointment at my doctor's office does he have the right to provide a lower quality of service because he is tired? Other reviews praise Ms. Douglas for her kind demeanor and hard work to make it an easy and painless process. Unfortunately our experience was vastly different. We were made to feel like a burden for as asking questions ( Ms. Douglas's assistant complained to my husband that she had spent 20 minutes on the phone with me explaining things...this was because she had emailed me a budget packet that we had already filled out a few days earlier rather than the checklist she was supposed to mail); and things that could have been covered at the start if they had been addressed drug on into multiple appointments. I learned more from online searches and blogs and those were free. I don't at all advise going into bankruptcy without a lawyer, but I would beg you to go beyond online reviews when you make your selection. Had we done more research we wouldn't be out $680 (which is a lot to lose when you are considering bankruptcy) and have to start all over. Ms. Douglas and her assistant lack professionalism and the integrity to admit when they make a mistake. I gave 2 stars rather than just one because I don't believe that the issues that we experienced were intentional however there was nothing done or even attempted on Ms. Douglas's part to make things right. She sent my husband an email trying to point out were we had "misunderstood" but never took any blame or offered any type of apology.

After debating whether or not to file personal bankruptcy, and interviewing several attorneys and firms, I chose Portia Douglas and it was without a doubt the best decision I could have made. Portia and her paralegal worked around my schedule and met with me at my convenience. They were always ver...y accommodating, while at the same time providing me constant feedback on the process and what the next steps needed to be. Portia, took the time to explore multiple options with me and what the advantages/disadvantages were to each. She very clearly set my expectations and exactly what the legal fees would be for each step. Portia made it perfectly clear that I would need to be upfront and honest with her, as well as provide all required documentation so she could present the best option for my circumstance. Throughout the process, Portia was always direct and made sure I completely understood my options and what she believed would provide me the best possible outcome. What I believed would be a very painful process, Portia and her staff made very tolerable. Additionally, Portia was by far the most cost-effective attorney that I interviewed. I would use Portia and her firm again and would highly recommend her to anyone who is in need. She and her staff are caring people who want the best for her clients.

I had a horrible experience with this lady. There are some upsides to her which I will get to in a second. I was thinking about filing bankruptcy. I am a Veteran. I have Veteran disability. I was filing Chapter 7. I know VA disability is protected due to I called and confirmed the VA. She was chargin...g me for chapter 7 bankruptcy and when I mentioned the words VA disability, it all changed. She told me she had to do more work with that which I didn't understand why due to it was protected and that she had to research that...and gave me a new price for service even though we agreed on the Chapter 7 price. Just do to VA disability she tried charging me over double of what I was paying. It was more than a Chapter 13 with people who have houses ect. I was in trouble with the law a few years back and looked at her and go "Wow, my defense attorney wasn't even this high." She started going into how she had to do "extra" work for this and that was the charge. She then looked at me and saw that I was not having it and mad and reading through her BS and she backed tracked and started stating it was the laws and regulations that were the reason why the price went double which I couldn't understand. I looked back and said you just told me it was because you had to do extra work and now your saying it is the Law and Regulations that I am being charged over 2,000 dollars for a Chapter 7? She backed track again and said it was the Law and Regulations and I told her which one is it you just said it was the extra work and I think you just caught yourself there and now saying it was the Law? I knew she was lying. While I was looking through everything and the paperwork...I was asking questions and kept getting excuse me I gotta go outside so that she can smoke. She would come back in and I would try to ask questions again and she excused herself again instead of answering me saying her husband called and she needs to call him to see what he wanted. This bothered me. Here I am trying to decide on something that will affect my life and you make it seem like I am not worth your time or a client but a person to get money from and it was my appointment and I should be the focus to make this decision. When she went out the third time, in my hour appointment. I had it. I got up. Grabbed my $300 dollars that I put down and didn't want to get into it with her and left her a note saying I wasn't going through her. I called a couple other lawyers and explained what she said and they offered to file for me the most was $1,000 dollars. So I say please do your research before you meet with her...she's smooth and she is a vulture who will take your money and charge you extra for no reason. The good thing about her is I didn't file. She did pull up my credit report and I didn't realize how great my credit was. She also did a chart showing that yes I owed money but it wasn't nearly as much as what people come in here owing...so I decided to be broke but get things in order to not ruin my credit. But please be careful of her. I have heard others that I have talked to that she tried this on them also and succeeded. So please do research on what you are wanting and asking before going to her so she can't trick you. Also, ask around for other lawyers and she what their price is before you commit to her. I had a problem with there are people in need and crisis and she takes full advantage when it comes to money to pay her. What she was charging me was another reason why I didn't file...I sat there and said hell what she is charging me I can use to start paying off my debts...I would never go back to her at all to be honest.