Claire Karlene Mehaffey

I've personally only had to use 2 lawyers for my custody and Claire was the replacement to my first lawyer, and I can say without a doubt I would have preferred my first lawyer. Firstly Clair charged $6500 more for her retainer fee and fed me all sort of excuses why we would need the larger fee, to c...ontinue on with the crap shoot I provided hours of audio recording, a detailed journal of events, a handful of videos, and quite a bit of other scrapes of evidence that clearly outline my ex's failings so far as a mother (ie drug use, borderline abuse, abandonment ect) just for it all to be sweep under the rug and forgotten. The entire time my case was going on it was a struggle to even contract her, I couldn't tell you how many times I heard 'I'll call you back' but I can say I've never received a call back unless I owed them more money. All in all Clair Mehaffey charge me a total of $15000+ to get me 50/50 custody and paying child support when a had proof my ex lied about me and that she likely needs to be in jail (Again).

I hired this lawyer over a year ago to assist with my custody battle with my child. It has been the most stressful and the worse experience I've ever had with an attorney. After countless of evidence ( video, message and pictures) against the other party I have provided throughout the year along with... thousands upon thousands dollars spent I ultimately feel that she never had my interests at heart. It was all about money with her and if you can pay thousands of dollars BEFORE anything gets done and IF anything get done. She did not file anything to assist with my case and my childs' welfare was in jeopardy countless times and nothing was done. She has failed to stay in contact with me and will not contact me (even after payment) about the next steps in my case or updated me when things were happening. She avoided going to court at every instance even when it was a necessary step at one point. I have continued to give her chance after chance in hopes that she will help. EACH new instance that occurs requires around a $3500 dollar retainer. So basically I am back to square one with my child in the hands of someone who is unfit, me out of thousands of dollars and an a attorney who is good for.. nothing really. I wouldn't recommend her to my worse enemy, she's HORRIBLE.

I will start off by saying that Claire seemed very ready and willing to represent me in the beginning , when I had first come up with full amount $3,500 dollar retainer fee for my Child custody case for my son with my ex boyfriend . As I said , at first she seemed attentive to a degree . Then I would... get emails from her where it came off as if she was putting my story and actions into question . In our particular case there was domestic violence that I had occurred that I had never reported until after I had taken my children , my 3 year old daughter from a previous relationship and my son and fled . I had pictures of the numerous attacks on me and had filed a report with APD and had even been living at the Noah Project . She seemed enthusiastic about all of this documentation that I had , yet when we went to court she didn't really focus on it too much . Infact , she really didn't focus much on anything . It seemed to me that she was just there to keep the peace and not really fight for me . After it was all said and done, Claire was very short and hardly ever responded to an email or phone call . I was never sent copies of the court order and had to go on a "Wild goose chase" to only find out that our orders had never been filed or even signed by the judge . So, basically I'm right back where to where I started and it feels like I had payed all of that money for a retainer, which somehow she managed to GO OVER !!! All for nothing . What a terrible experience, She is horrible ! Definitely wouldn't recommend her ..

I can’t believe how horrible this person (not a lady) is to everyone including my self. She took my 3500.00 than wanted more money. She wouldn’t even set up a Consultation before or after our first court date, didn’t tell me anything about when to be in court next, never updated me on the case and ...never had her paperwork ready for court ( the Judge wasn’t happy with her either ) She is a poor excuse for an attorney and definitely needs her license revoked. PLEASE DONT HIRE HER AND SHE IS KNOWN FOR LOSING IN COURT!

Upon the request of Ms Mehaffey and her assistant, I first paid a $5000 retainer and was later emailed a contract to sign. Ms Mehaffey assured me that she would refund my retainer if I would decide not to hire her. When I read the contract I realized I could not agree to its terms, especially the Rep...lenishment of Retainer Clause and the additional excessive fees. The contract clearly states that legal representation does not commence until a retainer is paid and contract signed. I did not sign and informed Ms Mehaffey that I was not going to hire her. However, she refused to refund my retainer fee in full. She claimed she did work on my behalf, prepared documents to submit to the court, to note without my knowledge or permission. I have never known a lawyer to do work on behalf of a client, specifically prepare court documents for a case, without a signed contract in place. A grievance filing and lawsuit are sure to follow unless Ms Mehaffey begins to behave ethically and morally. Her actions are a disgrace to the legal profession.