Elise Lillian Harmening

DO NOT GO TO HER!!!!MASTER MANIPULATOR AND CON ARTIST!!!! I hired her for a short period of three months and paid her over 3,000 dollars. She neglected to tell me she was pregnant until after receiving the money and stated she personally wouldn’t be in the office during the most important time perio...d of my case, not only did she not follow what I asked her to do, nor did she fight for me and insulted me during a moment of confusion and unclarity on her part. When I addressed her about her ethical problem and unprofessionalism and asked for refund for theft of services that she refused to give me. DO NOT TRUST HER!!!! I don’t know if it had to do with race or what because her other reviews were good but weren’t colored skinned people. Do not trust.

Worst decision I ever made. I thought the monthly payment arrangement would help with my budget but you really get what you pay for! She filed orders I never agreed to, she wouldn't tell me when upcoming events were taking place so I missed court dates and agreed to things without my consent. I had t...o call the county myself and get copies of what she filed, turns out she never filed anything, then when she did, it was vague and no details were included at all. Complete waste of time and money. She was horrible with responding, delayed my case significantly, and I lost so much valuable time without my son that I could never get back. I paid 10x more than what I had budgeted to hire a great lawyer to fix the mess she created! Stay away, seriously. If you care about your kids, this lawyer is not for you.

As an attorney for more than 30 years, I have seldom seen attorneys who have the depth of knowledge and commitment to her clients as Elise Harmening. I have referred numerous clients to her because she is a conscientious, extremely intelligent, committed person who has a very pleasant, yet professi...onal demeanor. She takes a personal interest in her clients, most of them who have very serious family law cases. In one case, she went above and beyond when she helped a woman get emergency lodging as well as the medical help that she needed . Everyone who I have referred to her is better off today because were represented by Ms. Harmening.

Elise represented me in Court here in Chicago. She rarely communicated about what is going on. When she was asked to send me any of the important Court orders she would say there has been no orders entered in the case. I, eventually, had to review the Court records myself through the Court computer a...nd found out that she misrepresented very important events and proceedings in the lawsuit, including the fact that the other adverse party obtained a judgment at some point. She did not tell me about that judgement at the time it was entered. The records show that two weeks after the judgement was entered, the adverse party moved to the Court to vacate the Judgment and their motion was because they want to ask for more money. She never told me about that either. Any reasonable attorney would tell their client the minute a judgement was entered. For her not to tell me before or after means that she is intentionally leaving me in the dark. Besides, if the reason for not telling was that the adverse party was going to move to vacate it, how would she know that? and why would she not tell me neither before not after. She and the adverse parties attorneys falsely told the Court (through an official joint written Court status report) that me and the adverse parties are talking to resolve the issues amicably while she did not even tell me about any talks or tell me that the are open to talking; no such talks happened. Needless to say, the case continued after those non-existing talks and is still dragging in Court and all the lawyers are still making more money. She lied to me and to the Judge because the judge requested that the parties talk to resolve the issues. The adversary parties filed a second motion for summary judgment (the one with more money). Elise also did not tell me about it, and what I found out in reviewing the Court filing was that, instead of opposing that motion, Elise sent me an affidavit that she typed herself (not based on my statements) and told me to sign it as-is (without changes). I did not think much of it back then, but when I showed the affidavit to other people, the affidavit is basically admitting all the facts in the adversary's motion for summary judgment (while they are all false). Elise filed that affidavit with the Court as part of my answer as I found out later reviewing the Court records, and this can only mean that Elise is giving the case to the adversary party on a silver platter without even a trial. Elise Harmening was saving them money in their case while she guarantees that they win it. That was against my interests and against my direct defense instructions to her. She was telling me that she would not be able to represent me when the case goes to trial, but she never told me that there will never be a trial since there is summary judgment. I believe she was distracting me with trial thing until the case ends when she would leave me to deal with the disastrous consequences. Elise Harmening is a horrible attorney; don't be taken by what she says or that he firm helps poor people. My adversary in the lawsuit she represented me with is an insurance company with a very low-rating and a reputation of suing their clients for every claim they make. Knowing all these facts, I have no doubt whatsoever that Elise Harmening was collaborating with them to damage my case.