Celia J. Harned

I have worked with some very amazing attorneys in the past as well as have quite a number of friends that practice in all different areas of law. I would recommend any and all of the attorneys I have worked with in the past except Ms. Harned. She is too busy for you, always brushes off any question...s, does not follow through or respond to emails or voice messages, she is not thorough, she makes A LOT of mistakes AND submits them in her reports to the court. Ms. Harned is deceptive and will say whatever you want to hear. She is primarily looking out for herself and is spineless and when push comes to shove, as it often does in court, she does NOT fight for what's right, she will give in to what makes her life easier. I was extremely disappointed in her legal ethics and integrity, she is clearly just doing a J.O.B. and unfortunately even that, bare bones doing the work wasn't even done well or accurately. If I did my work at her standards I would have been fired a long time ago.

This is the most clueless "attorney" I have come across ever! I was appointed her by the courts and I literally laughed at her recommendations. The CFI report that she produced had misspellings, fragments and run-on sentences. I laughed at the report and just could not take it serious though it was u...nfortunately. It's no wonder this person works solely as a court appointed attorney. She certainly would not make it on her own. She is a very incompetent person. She was so subjective against me in the report, it was like totally from the other person's perspective. She left out important details that had significant weight for the court to consider. She download very important matters dealing with the child's health. She twisted the details of the report to push the agenda she wanted to convey. She was very unprofessional and is a disservice to all those in the field who believe in objective reporting in important matters such as family law. I wanted to post this as an avenue to help others and I will also be filing a formal complaint with the Colorado State Bar Association. I suggest those who have experienced this woman's ineptness to please do the same. Her state license is the following: #16516 I can't allow her incompetence to influence another court's decision.

Celia Harned was assigned by the Denver District Court as a CFI for my case which, iniitially, was a minor dispute between co-parents. The court ignored their own order for mediation and proceeded to assign Celia Harned as CFI. The reports are true, the only thing Celia Harned is concerned about is... the money. She refused to talk with me until she had received and cashed my retainer fee. When she finally granted me an initial interview, she shuffled me out of her office after 45 minutes, yet her final bill shows that she met with me for 2.4 hours. In her home visit with me, she arrived 1 hour late, only stayed for 50 minutes, yet she billed me another 2.4 hours. During her home visit, she watched my children eat dinner, then played "hide and seek" with them for 10 minutes while I was required to leave the house. The only billing she was correct on, was the final conference with me, by phone only. Yes, I was only allowed 3 conferences, and this took 6 months. At no time did Celia Harned inform me about issues that were brought up from my ex, nor did she investigate issues that I had brought to her attention regarding the children. The issues brought up by my ex were never brought up in the original motion that brought Celia Harned into the case, so I had no idea about them. The most important thing is, Celia Harned did NOT even interview the children regarding any issues, nor did she spend the time necessary to find out what the children's wishes were, or what problems they were having. This "IS" what it's all about, right? Celia Harned's report to the court and recommendations were completely biased and based soley on issues that were never discussed with me. On top of furnishing an incompetant report, she overstepped her own orders by issuing recommendations regarding issues not requested in the original motion. Overall, if you end up using Celia Harned, you will find that she is unable to remain neutral and is easily swayed. She will not discuss, equally with both sides or share problems brought up. She is not concerned about what is in the best interests of the children, nor will she consider their wishes. Celia Harned has no business acting as an attorney let alone a CFI, and if she finds it necessary to continue in this line of work, she should at least attend some form of formal training. She needs it. Celia Harned has done more harm and created more conflict in my children's life then they had before her arrival. This will take years and thousands of dollars to resolve.

I am amazed to find that Celia Harned is still practicing from the overwhelmingly similar stories from the many that have used her, or were suggested to use her, then to find that you were stuck with her absolute incompetence. Every instance that was discussed in the above reviews, happened to us in... our child custody case; misspelling the CHILDREN'S names, not speaking to witnesses until the last minute only to exclude crucial testimony, inaccurate and malicious remembrances of events, and eliminating crucial details where the childrens' safety was involved, perjuring herself on the witness stand, having vital information and not disclosing it to the Court, and on, and on, and on. It is such a shame that a person like this, that you are supposed to trust to be just and fair, can have such an irreparable effect on our childrens' lives, prove time and time again the same incompetence and still be allowed to practice. It is heartbreaking, what she did, and continues to do, to our family. Our children are now struggling through the ultimate decision that she made for them, and we wish that she never would have been involved in our lives. Please continue to speak out about Celia Harned, and maybe someday justice will be served on our behalf and those that have been subject to her.

Celia is very incompetent and should not have a license to practice law. In my case, we both wanted equal custody however there were minor issues to hash out regarding the children. Celia waited almost a yr to write her report (2 days before our hearing), she never met with any of our witnesses, in... the report she misspelled the kids names, the issue that was decided on, she had it wrong in the report by having it concern the older child when in actuality, the issues laid with the younger child. She made one decision & then changed her mind once the other party didn't like it. She never came by for a 2nd visit, she called instead. She asked if I had any concerns, I said yes and explained. She never followed up on my concerns nor on the other party's concerns and when writing her report, she lied in the report by putting I had no further concerns. Half of her report were lies and misinformation regarding both parties. This woman should be barred and reported to as many people as possible. BEWARE. All she cares about is taking your money. Her reports are inaccurate, she doesn't followup on anything, and she makes judgments by her own personal beliefs, not by what the truth is.