Joel Bennet Barber

is what I heard her being described to me by a co-worker as I read over the frivolous suit brought on by my ex and his lawyer. What?? I had to respond to that garbage?? and yes, sometimes we find ourselves catching the stench of something really sick. How to know a good lawyer from a bad one? Well, ...take advantage of my hindsight, reviews are great for that. I lucked out!! I really did. That "jugular" that was coming after me for money, character defamation, and threatning jail time over literally nothing..after all did not know her job. Writing endless letters and "fee'ing" her clients into financial ruin is about all she did. But this is about Joel Barber,not her. He is so level headed, which is calming. He will tell you when you're in the wrong and why. He is honest, he does not inflate his fee's writing a bunch of letters or delaying the process to get paid longer. She does that. He does not promise you an outcome that is not possible. Whatever he said he would do and would happen, did happen. I have to say, the office cannot be nicer. His team (Elizabeth, Rachael, Nicole, Adriana )is very patient, efficient, friendly, consistent, reliable. I was a newbee at being sued so you can imagine I said odd things. :0) You get out of it what you put into it. As a client you have to stay in charge of your case. Make the phone calls when you dont hear back at the time you think you should. Everyone get's busy. Check up on things, it's your case! and Joel did win my case. Yeah! Back to the jugular now, because it fit's so well: I misunderstood that description. What I ended up observing on court day was that council could not hold her arguments (and if they are based on lies I expect it to be challenging). She did not know her job. I also overheard her wanting to continue the lost case so she could get paid more. I observed her lack of care for her own client that I could not help feeling sorry for my ex just then. So I saw what kind of lawyer would give everyone else in that field a bad rep. She continued arguing loud enough outside court that I could hear her challenging Joel to fight some more. So she could get paid. Thats not Joel's style. He calls a spade a spade, he deals with facts, and my faith in Law had been restored through his experience. I learned that the opposition could and did make up things that are untrue, building wrong associations between facts so they can have a case. A lawyer can make up and inflate anything to appear serious enough warranting a court date. But she may not get away with it. Sadly so, clients leap up lawyers responses that fuel their hate further, perpetuating this process and end up paying for it all, which I guess in hindsight is well deserved. A lawyer has a responsibility to humankind I feel and Joel does step up to the plate when it comes to that. A conflict of interest hovers in that client lawyer relationship if the lawyer inflates facts so she can get paid more. Joel will not fuel your hate, "creating a case" where there is none. He is an ethically sound person. He will take it down to Brass Tax so to speak and tell you what you can expect. He has years of practice. He knows his stuff. He can argue, oh can he argue! That date in court was designed by the opposition to ruin me financially and throw me in jail. It ended up being a highlight of all my day's lived so far. Feeling validated was pretty awesome. To summarize this: Fee's are reasonable. You wont get lied to. It's ok to open up. Your case will not be dragged along or inflated so Joel or others get paid. You get treated respectfully, honestly and depending on your circumstances, may just walk away seeing the silver lining in your cloud. ps, Elizabeth...you are wayy too nice doing what you are doing every day. Much Respect. You are a darling. xo