Edward J Smith

I contacted Mr. Smith about a family law issue. He was able to quickly move his schedule around to provide me a consultation and review the matter in-depth. Although in the end the matter did not proceed, Mr. Smith continually followed up with me from the time of consultation by email and provided ...advice on potential next steps. You can tell Mr. Smith cares about his clients and is willing to invest time and energy to ensure the best possible outcome for them. I can wholeheartedly recommend Edward Smith for your family law matter.

I have been in court for the last decade fighting a highly contentious, international divorced/custody/child abduction battle. I had sole physical custody and lived in Manitoba lawfully with my son since he was only a few months old. At a hearing in Hawaii I didn’t know about and was not present for,... a judge reversed custody. My Ex then came to Manitoba and abducted our 3 year old toddler to Hawaii during a court ordered visit. I hired Ed after a bunch of other lawyers failed to get my kid back. My precedent setting case was heard at different levels of court in 2 countries, including federal court. My case is now mandatory study in Manitoba law school. The case required inter-judicial communication to be resolved. After jurisdiction got sorted out and I got my kid back, there was a custody trial in Canada. Then I had to get my Canadian orders regarding costs and child support registered and enforced in Hawaii. My Ex never stopped harassing us. I still deal with ongoing safety and access issues. I definitely needed Ed’s sound legal advice throughout my journey. He does good work and went above and beyond. My Candian lawyer is Carla Paul from “Levine, Tadman and Golub '' firm. Carla is my only lawyer in Canada but I went through a list of lawyers in Honolulu. Carla fired them all, except for Ed. If you knew Carla, small in stature but big in bite, you would understand this is probably the highest accolade a family lawyer could receive ....”Was never fired by Carla Paul on behalf of her client, in 6 years!” I have first hand experience with many different attorneys, both on my side and on my Ex’s. I gained insight into the crazy family law profession. I think overall, Ed is a good, experienced lawyer who writes well and is respected by the courts. He knows law and tries to get the best deal for clients under the circumstances. My case did take a long time to be resolved but it was complex and screwed up before Ed took it on. Plus my Ex is a raging narcissist with deep pockets with whom you can never reason. My Ex never acts in our child’s best interest but instead uses him like a pawn in his game of revenge. I now have sole custody and police protection. My Ex lost his parental rights except for supervised skype visits at my discretion. As a person I think Ed is a super intelligent, empathetic guy, maybe a bit eccentric. He can come across as gruff but I appreciate somebody telling me things straight up. There are evil, soulless lawyers who do anything for profit, even if it harms the very people who the laws were written to protect. But Edge does have good morals (despite the fact he’s a lawyer LOL). He’s not the best at explaining things but he talked to Carla and she explained things to me in Mom talk, not legal jargon. Ed floated me for a few years until my file was closed as I was totally out of funds. For this I will be forever grateful. If it weren’t for Ed I would've had to wait longer for my son to be returned, during which time my son would have undoubtedly suffered permanent psychological damage. Or perhaps Hawaii would not have relinquished jurisdiction, in which case I would have no custody/access in the country where my son was abducted to. I shudder to think of horrible scenarios and suffering my son and I might have endured if I had not found Ed’s website. My son was rescued at age 4. He is now 9 and doing well. I hope you are never in a situation that needs to be settled in court. However, if you need a fair, empathetic, thorough lawyer, I highly recommend Edward Smith.