Richard Joseph Rotole

I hired Dick to take over a very complicated case nearly 20 years ago. My hearing date was actually on September 11, 2001 And was rescheduled when the court closed after the planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I had a very complex & emotional case. I was young & naive & married a man I thought I knew but didn’t. He was a fantastic liar & could charm anyone by telling them exactly what they wanted to hear. He was able to convince his lawyer & mine that I was the one lying when it was him. I had been severely injured in a car accident not long after I met him. I got a substantial settlement for my injuries & the future medical expenses, the life ahead of me of severe chronic pain and inability to earn the income I would have without the pain. The man I married changed into someone else the moment we returned from our honeymoon. I was foolish & naive & put all of that money in a joint account (legally making it equally his even though the accident & settlement both occurred before we got married.). My ex spent it all. I trusted and believed he worked very long hours and traveled as needed with his job. I was focused on a series of major medical procedures like reconstruction of my jaw and face (5 surgeries and still need a titanium total joint replacement for my jaw). Having to leave my job & find another one before my short term disability ran out while getting my surgeries. I decided to finish my MBA in one semester before going back to work so was very distracted with the pain, procedures, moving and getting my MBA. When that money was gone he turned to credit cards I was unaware of & ran up $50k in debt that I was legally half responsible for. ( Full of charges to places I had never been & things from Victoria’s Secret that I never saw.) I was not around much & when I was I was either doing homework or resting from the constant chronic pain & series of surgeries and recovery. He went from the perfect charming man for me telling me everything I wanted to hear & believe about him to a completely different man the day we got home from our honeymoon. He became increasingly violent and dangerous until the day I left. The day I left he started loading a 9mm gun while screaming at me that he would NEVER let me leave! He demanded instructions to get the money from my life insurance policy from my employer. He had a perfect plan to put my body in a wood chipper after I was dead to destroy my body & all evidence. We were needing to landscape at the new house & it was perfect to just mix my body in with the mulch. He would tell everyone I abandoned him & left everything with him. I managed to get the loaded gun from him & ran out the door with my purse, keys, gun, the clothes on my back and — MY LIFE! I hired a “low cost” attorney who drug things out ran up the retainer & told me I had to return the gun to my ex for HIS 2nd amendment rights. He also got me a restraining order with my location on it! I had to move again & hire a new attorney! I had already spent $10,000 to get nowhere. I found Dick & he fixed everything! In court Dick & his associate had a full day of questioning my ex until he lost track of his lies. He couldn’t fight with a real man when he was used to picking on women. My ex even insulted the judge! Dick came into a mess of a case with deadlines that had passed & I was an emotional, terrified wreck. Dick was able to make me feel safe & return me to as close to financially & emotionally whole again as possible. He was THE BEST Lawyer in 2001, & I can’t begin to imagine how good he is now. He saved my life literally & financially so I could get a new start. He is worth EVERY penny! Dick is extremely knowledgeable of the laws, he is great with negotiating in virtually impossible situations. He is tough as nails, but also sensitive to what his client is going through & gets results.

My divorce took nearly two years. We were weeks away from having to endure the expense and emotional toll of a two day trial. Dick was referred by my ex-husband's attorney for the final mediation attempt. I am grateful that we agreed to use him. His experience and professional, yet direct communication and explaination resulted in the impossible, a settlement. He not only saved our marital estate thousands of dollars, he made the road to rebuilding our sanity, trust and communication for the sake of our children happen that much sooner. I will be forever grateful for his professionalism, experience and ability to communicate with both sides in an honest and direct manner.