Michelle Lorene Stowell

Most negative reviews come from clients who lost their case. This is not one of those situations. My experience with Ms. Stowell was extremely disappointing, discouraging, and cost me more than just money, it cost me more quality time with my family. My case was being handled by another attorney at... Ms. Stowell’s firm until that attorney left and I was transferred to Ms. Stowell. The switch was made with assurances that we would “pick right up where we left off”. This was not the case at all. I spent approximately 18 months under her representation with little to no substantive progress made on my case. Communication became minimal, and it often felt like there was limited familiarity with the history or details of my matter, and when referenced I was challenged about that approach. Over the 18 months I never met Ms. Stowell directly or even had a Zoom meeting (despite my offers to meet in both formats), and we directly chatted on the phone approximately a total of one hour. I was repeatedly asked to resubmit information that had already been provided, and key issues, especially regarding custody,were never meaningfully advanced despite repeated discussions. This was not a minor issue. The lack of action on custody resulted in roughly two years of delay in securing an updated agreement that ultimately proved to be in the best interest of my children and myself. I was also encouraged to consider a settlement that was not in my best interest and would have increased my financial burden. The settlement outcomes proposed by Ms. Stowell would have also been more “hours intensive” to complete, benefitting her more than myself and family. After 18 months of representation I finally moved on to a new firm and attorney. I had not switched originally prior due the assurances, but after a year and a half with no progress I had zero confidence in Ms. Stowell’s handling of my case. The contrast after switching attorneys was immediate. Within weeks, my new counsel moved the case forward, filed necessary updates, secured mediation and court dates, and ultimately achieved a significantly more favorable outcome. The financial settlement was dramatically better, more than double prior proposed outcomes. At my new firm the work required to resolve the case was completed for nearly half the cost I had incurred under Ms. Stowell’s representation. It was a night and day difference in every aspect. After my case was finalized, I took the time to carefully review my representation by Ms. Stowell. My priority after transitioning from her representation was seeing the divorce through to completion with new counsel, not raising disputes mid-process with former counsel that could have diverted time and energy away from reaching resolution. Throughout this process, my focus remained on achieving the best possible outcome for my family, the divorce needed to be completed first before raising concerns with Ms. Stowell. I reached out to the firm in good faith to address these concerns directly. Their response focused solely on a 10-day billing dispute window and did not address the substance of the issues raised, including lack of progress, missed actions, and overall representation. I would encourage anyone considering Ms. Stowell to look closely at the substance and timing of her direct positive reviews and cross-reference them across the different attorney review formats. In my experience, many are either dated, clustered, very general, and do not reflect the level of detail or outcomes that matter in a case like this. For an issue as significant as divorce (and given the experience I was told Ms. Stowell had) the pattern of limited, non-specific feedback raises questions. The difference in approach, urgency, cost, and results between this firm and my new counsel was not subtle. It was decisive, meaningful, and reaffirming that I was putting in solid effort to help my case come to a conclusion. I strongly do not recommend Ms. Stowell. 0/5