Lisa B Heller

I hired Lisa Heller in the middle of my divorce. In the beginning, my Ex and I were in agreement with all the terms of the divorce, but things ended up going south and that is when I decided I needed an attorney. It was important to me for everything to be fair for both parties and that is what ...I stressed to Ms. Heller. She was very supportive and understanding of what I wanted to have done and she helped my peace of mind. She also did a great job at keeping me informed of everything along the way. She also tried, when she could, to minimize the costs associated with the divorce. There was a point when I thought we were going to have to go to trial ($$$), but with Ms. Heller's suggestions, we were able to avoid it. Divorce is a very stressful and emotional time in life, and Ms. Heller did a great job at helping me keep things in perspective and look at the long term picture. I would recommend her to anyone in my situation.

When I made the tough decision to divorce my wife after 25 years of marriage, I had checked with another attorney to see what the process would be like and what I could reasonably expect to pay in support and what assets I would likely forfeit. That first attorney I sought out was too cold and unfeel...ing for me. Even though I did not love my soon to be ex-wife anymore after receiving poor treatment from her for many years, I still wanted to make sure the lady I was married to for that long was taken care of in the divorce. That first attorney did not seem to grasp that concept and had his own agenda to pursue, which did not match up with mine. To him it was a battle, a war in which you hope to leave your opponent with as little as possible. It is like he did not hear me at all. My agenda was to be fair and reasonable, without being stupid. I wanted my ex-wife to feel like she was treated fairly, without me “giving up the farm” and leaving myself with too little for the future. That “fair and reasonable without being stupid” motive is exactly what lead me to hire Lisa Heller. She was tough when she needed to be, but mostly caring and understanding as I wanted my ex-wife treated with compassion and respect. She was that perfect blend of toughness and compassion that I was looking for. And her knowledge and experience was an invaluable asset to me. Since my ex-wife did not want a divorce, her attorney tried to delay things by taking the maximum amount of time to respond and making unreasonable counter settlement proposals, like asking for 75% of my take home pay per month. Obviously that proposal was rejected in a heartbeat. Lisa kept the divorce on track and answered each counter proposal with a reasonable one, always keeping me informed along the way. In the end, the settlement was what I feel was fair and reasonable for both parties. Lisa could have played hardball and been cold and uncaring to my ex-wife and pushed for a better settlement for me, but she did exactly what I asked her to do. He experience and expertise were exactly what I was looking for. She was exactly the right attorney for me.

I was mislead by Lisa Heller's office since the very first phone call. Her husband screened my call prior to my becoming Lisa's client. He informed me of her fees and told me that she's known for settling things very quickly and for less money than most attorneys. He told me that in most cases, the c...lient is refunded about 40% of their retainer. Lisa uses one assistant and her assistant is very unprofessional and unorganized. Not only did I recieve email responses saying things like "yup", but she also had my case mixed up with someone elses at one point. My paperwork had clerical errors and had to be redone twice. Each time I had to meet with Lisa or her secretary causing me to miss work. I also had to repeatedly email the office informing them of the errors which in turn I was charged for. Her assistant even tried to make it seem as though I was to blame for her errors. I started working with Lisa on my divorce in June and I was lead to believe would be settled and finalized by September. Now almost November my ex was finally served the documents. That same day I recieved an email stating that (even though nothing has happened yet) my retainer has been mostly exhausted and that my options are to either pay more money (I was given two days to pay an additional $1,500) or Lisa would be withdrawing from my case. I was informed that if my ex and I could work out all of our differences with no legal help, Lisa would finalize my paperwork. If that were an option, I would never have hired a lawyer to begin with. So now that I'm heading into mediation and a custody battle, I have no representation and I'm out $2,000! I would not recommend this law office to anyone!

My experience with Lisa was great! She understood my divorce issues, my concerns about child custody, and my concerns about the stereotypical placement of young child with their mother no matter the circumstances. I ended up with custody, a healthy child, and my retirement. My ex and I can have a ...civil conversation, our son is healthy, and things have worked out very well. I experienced a very emotional, miserable, divorce and custody battle; false accusations, blame, and blantant lying from the other party (and her supporting friends). Lisa allowed me to vent, knew what was legally important and what was not, and successfully sorted through all the emotional issues to get to the facts and discussed with me what was in my son's best interest and what was fair. Mediation could have been an emotional, time wasting, hateful event. It wasn't, Lisa was very clear about what was important and what wasn't. She explained what to focus on, what to let go. Prepping for mediation was easy, be specific, be factual, be truthful, be fair, and remove the emotions. Lisa was very protective of my son, concerned about his needs and well being. It was apparent that Lisa's concern was genuine, an attorney with a heart is rare from my experience. She understood that my primary concern was about the well being of my son, not the money and not revenge. Oh, and her fees were very fair, she even let me make payments considering events surrounding my divorce and my ex's controlling issues. I would recommend Lisa in a heartbeat.

This lawyer lead me into a "divorce mediation" with ZERO preparation. It was a huge disaster! We only had an afternoon to work through all the issues. At the end of the day, I was not at all satisfied, but I felt pressured into a settlement by this lawyer. I had been married for over thirty years and... receive less than 10% my ex's income in support. (I raised our children, and he never allowed me to work outside the home.) After the fact, Ms. Heller had the nerve to tell me that she, my ex's attorney, and the judge had all attended law school together! Go figure!