Celia J. Harned

If your case is assigned to Ceila Harned, do everything you can to get a new CFI. This woman is biased and incompetent beyond belief. She is enamored with the men in the case. She seemingly hates the mothers and will do everything in her power to paint the mother in a bad light and put the father in... a good light. My ex-husband had a long history of domestic violence on file with the courts. But she painted out as a saint. And she painted me as a liar, who coached my kids to hate their father. When we got to court, she walked into the room and openly hugged him, and his new girlfriend and sat right behind them waiting for court to start. Like they were best friends. She totally fawned over my ex in open court like she was a schoolgirl with a crush. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Luckily for me, her incompetence is what got her. She had my kids names listed completely wrong in her report and messed up several dates. My lawyer ate her for lunch and had her report struck from the record and she was never allowed to testify. That is what saved me that day. Avoid this woman at all costs. She is truly terrible and should have her law license stripped away.

Ceila Harned is the most incompetent, biased, untrustworthy and unprofessional "lawyer" I have ever had the unfortunate displeasure to meet. Ms. Harned was assigned to my case as a CFI to help to reach an accord with my extremely difficult ex. She promised that she would be fair and professional, ho...wever after my experience with her its apparent that she has no idea what those words mean. From the beginning she showed favoritism towards my exes version of events. While she showed him sympathy I was met with aggressive disdain and disapproval. When I was honest with my concerns about that she rudely told me that she couldn't be "bamboozled". After that she was openly hostile during our interactions. She told me to leave the room while speaking to my young children, however I could hear her talking to them. She completely discounted their concerns about whate was occurring with their father, practically calling them liars and then leading them to answer her questions in a more favorable way towards my ex. Afterwards she flat out accused me of telling my children what to say, which I did NOT do. She put that in her report anyway. She constantly refused to answer my phone calls or return emails, but when she did her responses were short and scathing. Meanwhile my ex bragged that he had her "eating out of the palm of his hand". As a "unbiased" lawyer, she showed up to court and hugged my ex and laughed and joked with him. When we remarked how unprofessional that was she tattled to the judge that my side was harassing her. Ceila's report appeared to have been written by a middle school student. There were misspellings, run on sentences and even smiley faces included! She couldn't even get the names of my children correct in her report. It was ridiculous. This woman is a danger to your children. If she is assigned to your case immediately request another person. RUN! She has zero interest in the truth and most importantly she has no interest in your children. She is one of the worst, most dishonest people I have ever met in my life.

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.