I went in for a consultation - which should have been a warning right off the bat, because she charges $200 (discounted rate) for 60 minutes. She first has you fill out a form that asks for personal information, including your Social Security Number. She gave me a second form 10 minutes later, and right when we were about to go into her office. The form was an agreement of the "consult fee", and she has you sign it before she'll sit down to discuss anything. We then sat down, and she immediately explained how she conducts her meetings. i was not allowed to ask questions, or even tell her why I was there. Again - this is signs a client needs to pay attention to. I was paying her for her time - yet, she wouldn't let me talk. She presceded to ask me questions about my childhood. Mind it I'm almost 60. I tried to question her why that matters since my case was to do about a vet's misdiagnois, and how should I handle addressing the situation. So asking me about my growing up - and in details.....how many siblings, what was the family situation like - did we have any animals. What training did they have; how long did they live; who were the primary caregivers of the pets? Everytime I'd jump in to get to the issue at hand - she would tell me to be quiet and "follow her". After at least 45 minutes later, she informed me that she was doing this as a way to find out if I was credible; and then told me I was. She would talk about her writing books, and situations she's encountered - as examples. Our conversation was going no where and when I finally got her to stop the nonscence - she told me that its been 1.5 hours (must have had the clock behind me on the wall), and that I owed her $350. She got up and presented me with the signed form stating I agreed to pay and as she headed for the doorway to block me from leaving - she asked for my credit card. I didn't feel I could get around her and reluctantly gave her my credit card but told her that an hour of the time was wasted on sizing me up. She got an attitude and asked me if I was critizing her. She was definitely a nut case; and I would warn anyone - everyone do not use this attorney. My gut feeling of her asking for my SS#, and a $200 fee for consultation should have had me say Hell NO, but I had wanted someone to talk to that dealt with animal rights and she is posted as such. No reviews out there to steer you away.........So - this is the steer away sign. Go the other way!

I met with Barbara Gislason on a family law matter. She was very helpful and knowledgeable about the issues and understood the situation and problems involved. She discussed the options in a way that helped me make the necessary decisions. She handled everything in a very professional way while also being supportive and making me feel comfortable at a difficult time. I truly appreciate having her assistance as my lawyer.

Robin

I hired Barbara about 10 years ago for a situation, and I had to hire an attorney for a somewhat similar situation of late, and it reminded me of just how bad of a job she did for me. She did not listen, and kept interrupting me as I tried to tell her my story, which she needed to know in order to represent me. Then, in court, without my prior approval, she stipulated to the matter that I had hired her to beat, even though the plaintiff had no evidence, and was not able to make their case. When I asked her why she did that, she said that it was a part of "a larger legal strategy." I had not been apprised of this earlier, nor did I approve of it. She then asked for more money for a retainer. I later realized that this was all that she was about: finding creative ways to bill me more money. One very annoying thing was she kept losing information that I had given her, or so she claimed, and she called me multiple times, leaving me voice mails telling me that she had misplaced information that I had given her, and she needed me to fax it to her again. I was billed for those phone calls, and for the receipt of my faxes. It was like she did not care for client information, losing it (or so she claimed), however, the client is going to be billed for her mistake. In the end, despite her "services" I managed to work things out with the other person. She actually resisted that. Then she sent me a large bill asking for more money beyond the retainer that I had paid her. I complained, and eventually she agreed to drop that, and seek no more money. I should have continued my complaint, and asked for a refund of what I had paid her, but perhaps I just wanted to be done with it. When I contrast her "services" with the exceptional service that I received recently, I decided that I needed to post this review. My experience is that Ms. Gislason is NOT a good listener, seems to almost be contemptuous of her clients, and is about finding ways to increase the size of your bill, NOT about trying to represent you zealously. I was sucked in by her claims of being named a "Super Lawyer," as well as some other claims like that, however, her representation of me created far more problems for me, cost me much more money than was reasonable - I ended up paying her around $4,000.00 for her "services" that made matters significantly more difficult for me - especially given how poor of a job she did for me, and left me believing that I would have been far better off representing myself than I was with hiring Barbara. My recommendation is that you stay far, far away from Ms. Gislason. That being said, I can give you the name of an amazing attorney in the Atlanta, GA area, and another great one in Ashland, WI.