Sherine M Pahlavan

I am grateful for the support I received from Sherine. After four years of trying to resolve my case, working with another lawyer, and attempting to deal with child support services on my own, I reached a point where I felt stuck and hopeless. Sherine was straightforward, explained each step, and sta...yed in contact throughout the process, which helped me feel prepared every time something came up. Her work with Empower Yolo reflects a deep commitment to helping mothers in vulnerable situations. In the courtroom she stood firm, spoke with confidence, and made sure my voice was heard. She did not tolerate excuses or disrespectful behavior from my ex, and she addressed every attempt to sidestep responsibility. She is small in size, but her focus and presence in front of the judge made a strong impact. I now have results I spent years trying to reach on my own. I am thankful for her guidance, her support through each stage, and her willingness to help when others did not. I recommend Sherine to anyone who needs an advocate who follows through and stands up for what is right.

Sherine has been an enormous help to me during a high conflict and difficult time. She is both professional and incredibly thoughtful and I am so grateful to her for her understanding and patience with her clients like myself. She makes me feel safe and taken care of. She has invested personal time i...n reaching out to me to ensure things are going smoothly with my case and problem-solve whatever comes my way. I can't say enough good things about her. She's got you covered on the legal side of things, but also just makes you feel like you're being genuinely cared for by a friend. She is strong-mannered, detail oriented, and I've heard her be compared to a shark (in the best way) while in court. I also appreciate how strongly she advocates for those having trouble fighting for themselves. I can only hope that more people who are struggling find her because she is such an incredible resource.

How do you beat the best offense? By paying attention! Having a keen eye with a quick response. In my case, I got lucky to have an attorney who actually cares about me and the best interest for My family. Best part about Sherine is that she will quickly find the hidden secrets Lingering in the dark. ...Don’t be shy or scared to tell her everything. That’s why she’s there. To protect you. To help you. To be your shining light at the end of the tunnel. Don’t go to war with this attorney. YOU’LL LOSE.

I called Sherine's office completely out of hope and at a loss for what step to take next. I was immediately comforted by her wonderful and compassionate office staff who have been always been extremely helpful and supportive. Sherine passionately cares about her clients and uses her extensive legal ...experience to do everything she can to put you at ease. Despite every curveball that was thrown in my Child Custody/ DV case, Sherine and her staff have always been persistent, knowledgable and handled my case with a sense of urgency. I am forever grateful for the help, support and feeling a safety that I felt after choosing Sherine's office to represent me.

I couldn't have made it through this tough time without Sherine. I hired her as soon as I met her. I am a father of two who had joint custody of my children. At the end of 2017 some issues arose that led me to believe there was extreme physical abuse going on at the other household. In going through ...the proper channels, CPS etc nothing was done. I was scared for my children and I felt like the system was letting me down. During the beginning of 2018 the children expressed that the abuse had escalated after making contact with CPS. I felt that I had to do something to protect my children from this horrible environment. I had expressed concerns in the past about the living conditions, treatment of the children and neglect that was taking place at the other parents house, only to be told that it wasn't enough to remove the children from the other parents home. Initially, I hired another attorney, the first one I met with, because I was filing an Ex-Parte and needed to be seen in court before the children left my care. This was a mistake. My lawyer was awful, did not represent me, I did not feel like they took the case seriously and most importantly I had to do all the speaking in court. My lawyer was late, they did not remember anything we discussed, tried to blame something on me in open court, plain and simple they did not fight for me. I was a wreck, knowing that if we didn't win that case and the children had to go back to the other parent's house after coming forward with all this information, the repercussions were unthinkable, and more importantly they would lose all trust in me and the system that is supposed to protect them. I ended up winning sole custody by the skin of my teeth and no thanks to my original attorney. We were scheduled for another court appearance after the children could be seen by a court mediator. I immediately started doing research about other Yolo County based lawyers, because my current attorney was incompetent. I stumbled across this website and started reading the reviews about Sherine and some of them resonated with me. In reading these reviews I felt like Sherine would understand my situation, get to know me and my family and truly fight for us. I immediately called to make an appointment and she squeezed us in for the end of the day. Half way through the initial meeting I was already feeling more at ease and hired Sherine immediately. Sherine asked the right questions, took time to understand the situation, was empathetic about the issue and understood how important it was to me, my wife (not the children's' mother) and the kids. I wasn't just a dollar sign, or another job, but she saw us as actual people who needed help in a time of chaos with no idea how to protect the children. Prior to the next court appearance I was in constant contact with Sherine's office. Everyone in her office is friendly, and familiar with the case, they don't make me feel like I'm bugging them when I call or email with questions. Sherine always makes a point to get back to me even if it's at the end of her day, and having that contact helped me be less stressed through the whole situation. Sherine relieved a lot of my worry about the upcoming court appearance because she is so knowledgeable and patient. She explained everything to me, along with the reasoning behind each decision, and I felt like there was full transparency between us. At our next court appearance, I was granted full custody. Sherine was on time, prepared and did a great job advocating for me and my children. Although I was still nervous about the court appearance, Sherine being with me definitely put me more at ease. Most importantly, she knew what I wanted and fought for it. I couldn't have done it without Sherine, she has done an outstanding job thus far.