Danielle Lynn Rickard

I hired Danielle almost a year ago for my custody case. My spouse has a significant business estate & Danielle & Jim Velasco were only interested in draining all the money in the estate. I was repeatedly misled by this lawyer. Her assessments changed so often. She was risk adverse in asking the court... for anything. We prepared, discussed, communicated regarding several different custody motions, only for her & her partner to say they could not/ would not file the motions. Several months later, nothing had been done in the custody case, except that their firm racked up charges. There was supposed to be a hearing for parenting time that they were clearly not interested in or competent enough to follow through with. However, they misled me into preparing for testimony, and documents, only to ambush me to change my mind about the hearing. I wanted to settle the finances, but they refused to back me up on it. They went to the extent of videotaping me though I insisted I did not want to be recorded. Mr Velasco was hostile, and combative over my decision to settle finances. It is clear that once they realized they will not make money on discovery they racked up charges. I was really surprised at Danielle's overall performance because in the beginning she often referenced how "ethical" their firm was. I was impressed by that approach since several lawyers whom I have met with made no mention of ethics. Be very careful who you hire to handle your custody matter. A custody dispute is the most painful, and emotionally, physically, financially draining experience. The last thing you need is to battle your own attorney. There is opposing counsel for that. Meet with several lawyers, and go with your instincts. Or go pro- se in the beginning, and save your money to hire an attorney several months later, when you will need it for experts, evaluations, and depositions. Nothing happens in custody cases the first 6 months, but most people run out of money having accomplished nothing. In court you need an experienced attorney who knows people in the legal system: the judges, other attorneys, evaluators, guardian ad litems. It's better to pay a higher fee for a more experienced lawyer because they will spend less time & do a better job.