Nat Edward Hales Jr

Worst legal experience of my life. My divorce attorney recommended we use Nat Hales as a private judge rather than adjudicate our case in Superior Family Court. We paid him roughly $8K to handle the case, and after two sessions lasting less than 4 hours total, he withdrew from the case, with absolute...ly no explanation (and I still have no clue why he did it or how he could possibly justify it). I couldn't believe he could do that, but apparently, if you get a private judge, there's absolutely no accountability, and they can do whatever the heck they want. "Judge" Hales was "highly recommended" by my attorney, and I now pretty much believe that the legal operatives in the CA family court system are all in cahoots with each other. Anyhow, now we have to start over in family court. Counting the money I paid my attorney for these sessions, this little charade cost me roughly $14K, for nothing, with absolutely no accountability on the part of "Judge" Hales, or my attorney, for that matter. Disgusting and outrageous, and just goes to show you the legal system is basically set up to transfer money, very efficiently, from client's wallets to the wallets of the esteemed legal practitioners, who for some reason feel they automatically have some sort of elevated status vis a vis the rest of us schmucks. (Suggest you watch Divorce Corp. on Netflix, which I watched, unfortunately, after this happened.) People have been complaining about lawyers since time immemorial, but there's nothing like getting hit in the head with a 4"x4" as I was with this experience, to make you realize it's all true. Aside from his resigning the case for no reason after being paid $8K, I found "Judge" Hales to be arrogant, pontificating, and just generally not someone anyone would want to deal with. My strong advice: Look somewhere else if you need a family law attorney, and by all means, NEVER EVER sign up for this private judge racket, and especially with this guy.

I went through a very difficult situation where my husband seemed to know so much more than I did. In the end, I think Ned more than made up for this. He was fair, honest, competent and helpful from the very first stages of my divorce all the way through to it becoming final. And he was sympathet...ic to my needs as a Mom who needed to move on. He's an experienced attorney-mediator and he saved us both so much time and money by knowing up front what would work, not just between us, but also with a judge. He is professional, very knowledgable and has a calm, patient presence. I didn't really understand the mediation process at first, but because of his facilitative approach and attention to detail, I felt comfortable and empowered through all of the decision making. In the end, he helped my husband and me do the best for our kids, and get it done without ruining their futures, or ours.