Jessica Alana Tolba

I entered the system through a child abuse case. The first words out of her mouth after I met her was "it's illegal to spank with a belt." Later I would have to hire a criminal attorney and find out it was in fact NOT illegal to spank with a belt. I directly pointed this out to her and her response w...as "I thought is was..." I immediately thought to myself "You thought it was? This is your area of expertise and you didn't know?” I had to have a criminal attorney who didn't focus in child abuse to find out the truth all the while I had an attorney who specialized in child abuse who didn’t know. This was a huge disappointment in my mind of her ability and credentials to really handle this case. Throughout the process I have found information out about the case through social workers or other attorneys and it wasn't till I would email her that I would receive a response confirming what I had heard. I would prefer an attorney who was on top of the case rather than finding things out after the fact. If you sit and watch her working in court she is very good. However, it is apparent that her case load is too much for her to do each case well. In the end the one who suffers is the client because they don't get her best. They get enough to perhaps get them through but it won't be her best because she can't afford the time to do it. Lastly the way she made me feel as her client. But the way she interacted with me at times came across as judgmental and not helpful. I recall one time when I was talking and made a reference to spanking and she interrupted me and loudly said “this is not a spanking!” I had enough people against me I didn't need to pay for another person who was supposed to be on my side to be against me also. I would end up being arrested and the police called her to give her a chance to call me. It would give me a chance to have someone tell me what was going on and let me know that the police wanted me to turn myself in (which I did). However, when she spoke with the police her comment to them was “you can call him.” Again no consideration of what I may be going through as her client. Even the investigator commented to me that she said “uh..okay I can do that.” It was as if even the investigator thought it was leaving me out alone.