Dixie Spitzer Malek

Dixie was a lifesaver for me. She put my daughter an me ahead of her income every time. She is by far the most honest and ethical divorce lawyer I have ever encountered. She didn't always tell me what I wanted to hear, but it was correct. That is why I think there are some bad reviews. Dixie wil...l do what is right for you even if you don't know it. Many times when I wanted to fight, Dixie would explain why it is not worth it and it would cost me more time and/or money in the long run. I cannot thank Dixie enough for everything she has done to help us move forward and I would recommend her 100% to anyone with a difficult divorce in Lake County. To counter another review - I can also guarantee that Dixie is one of the most highly respected divorce lawyers in Lake County by her peers. I know many lawyers and Dixie is held in the highest regard. Thank you Dixie!

If I could enter negative 5 stars, I would. During the brief amount of time that Dixie represented me during my divorce proceedings she fumbled my case in these ways: during a bench discussion she said absolutely nothing to defend me: it was as if she didn't know my case at all. She was unable to co...mmunicate a rebuttal when opposing counsel spoke, the only thing she did was turn to me with an incredulously surprised look even though I had over communicated my husband's personality and nature of my divorce, she did not retain the information, it was as if she was hearing everything for the first time while fumbling around with her paperwork. I felt completely helpless during the proceeding, and had no trust for her after this court date. She emailed a settlement offer to opposing counsel which contained one misspelled line of an offer, then I had to hound her to find out if a response to this had been received. I don't think she is very well respected among her peers. She is very unprofessional. She referred to me by 2 different names that weren't even my own in the courtroom and via cell phone calls. She almost sent me down a path of incredibly expensive, time consuming, and non-impactful litigation. Consequently, the competent attorney that I hired did not take that litigation path that she had recommended. She refused to work with me on billing stating that she had her own bills to pay and couldn't wait for me to pay her, even though I was requesting a short period of time to pay. After switching attorneys, my stress level improved greatly because I actually has someone listening to me and representing me in a thorough professional manner!

I stumbled across this site when I had to look up Dixie's address. I was stunned to see the previous review, in that my experience was exactly the opposite. Dixie represented me a year and a half ago, and I felt that she was an extremely good advocate for me. She pushed for things that I didn't th...ink of, and seemed very experienced and well connected. My particular case involved me having to get an emergency order of protection, and she knew how to get that taken care of very quickly. Throughout everything, which was very traumatic to me at time, she was consistently supportive. I feel so lucky to have had her on my side during the whole divorce. In the end, we struck an equitable settlement, that I was happy with, and throughout, I felt that Dixie was respectful of the legal fees. I should also say that before I hired Dixie, I interviewed a few other attorneys in the area and one even told me that Dixie was the most knowledgeable. I could not recommend Dixie more highly.

I was very disappointed with Malek in regards to her knowledge of the law and work ethic. She seemed to be very eager to give in to the other attorney demands and ended up costing me a lot of money and mental anguish in the long run. The divorce has been over for years but I am still going to cour...t over many of the issues that were not spelled out in the divorce decree. The divorce decree was so favored towards my ex's side that other attorney's who I showed it to thought she was working for my ex and not me.