Terry Fawell

From our initial consultation through the final court Terry provided clear legal advice and made me feel very comfortable. Her court room experience and in depth knowledge of even the most recent law changes definitely was advantageous when we were working through the details of the divorce. One of ...the things I felt really sets Terry apart from other attorneys was her way of taking the time to explain even the most complex legal issues in a way that I could understand. I would recommend her in a heart beat.

I found Ms. Fawell’s services severely lacking in: 1. Quality – never explained the overall divorce process after I repeatedly asked her to; didn’t seem to know the answers to some direct & easy questions that she should know; was never prepared or up to speed on my case during our 1:1 conversations...; repeatedly made ridiculously false statements (i.e. “a car’s mileage doesn’t significantly affect a its value”), demonstrated the worst negotiating skills I have ever witnessed during a 4-way meeting with my ex-wife and her competent attorney, and again during negotiations prior to Prove Up, etc.) 2. Timeliness – asked for documents by a certain date but was repeatedly told no she couldn’t do it by then; made promises to have things completed by a certain date that she failed to keep; unwilling to communicate with me outside of 9-5 weekdays; cancelled appointments as I was already in route to her office; based on conversations with her admin appeared to work significantly less than 40 hours per week; simple wording changes in documents took a week since she doesn’t type or use a computer; etc. 3. Accuracy – granted, I am a CPA and have high expectations, but failing to understand the financial info I gave her is one thing; failing to ask the right questions to gain that understanding and then messing up documents being shared with the opposition is another thing altogether; I had to essentially write and revise my own MSA myself under tight timelines created by her procrastination, creating and tying out all numbers myself, then 2 days before Prove Up I found an $8K typo in my ex-wife’s favor in a number I had calculated and given to her – this is incompetence, plain and simple 4. Integrity – a day after my case was signed, stamped, and closed by the Court, I fired her in an email, telling her “don’t do another thing on my behalf”; she charged me $22.50 to peck out a bitter response to that email, then filed a Motion to Withdraw from a case that was already closed and charged me another $234.38 for documents and court time; I asked for an accounting of my retainer since I had not seen a statement in a few months, 2 days after sending me a statement in the mail, she filed 31 page Petition for Attorney Fees against her former client, and charged me another $225 for that “service”. I am considering submitting a request for investigation to Illinois’ Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for these actions which I consider unethical. Do yourself a favor and steer clear of Ms. Fawell.

I would not recommend Terry Fawell at all. She NEVER gets back to you at all and to top it off she sided with my exwife on issues and told me just to settle! Her secretary is also no help and very unprofessional. If you want someone to fight for you don't go here. If you want someone to keep ...you informed, don't go here either! This would be the worst mistake of your life to hire her as your lawyer. She does not give you any sound legal advice but she is more than willing to give you her opinion and lie to your face saying she will support you and believes in your case, but then does nothing to prove that. STAY AWAY!

Total waste of my time, when things get tough, she quits! Her commitment to clients issues mean nothing. She never came prepared for court, hearings or depositions, scribbling notes just minutes before to try to mount some form of an effort. Her body language in front of the judge says: I know nothin...g about the issues and I am not prepared to fight the issues. She seems like a nice person, if you want that she is your lawyer.

I used her for a child custody case. To start off with, she gave me To incorrect information which was relevant to the case. Things started to get complicated and she handled the case poorly. Was totally unprepared for court. She will not fight for you and does pretty much what the oppoosing attorney... dictates. In my opinion she does not even deserve one star.