Liza E. Burke

Last fall, I walked out of King County Jail absolutely terrified, alone and speechless. Now in my 30's, I haven't had so much as a speeding ticket since I was in my early 20's. Yet, I found myself accused of a felony and several misdemeanors. Worse, my wife, which would be the person I normally tu...rn to for support was the accuser and I was blocked by a no contact order from any communication with her. The accusations were based on a police report that contained my wife's supposed story. But as she would later tell the court in a letter, most of what the officer wrote was either false or blown way out of proportion. Yet that was the "evidence" the court was using against me, including being charged with trying to strangle her, which absolutely did not happen. I was given a list of 10 recommended DV defense attorneys by my bail bondsman and I called each one and met with several. I left Liza a voicemail at 6am and by 8am she returned my call. I'm certain my voice was shaking while I explained to her what transpired just 36 hrs before. She listened calmly and at the end of our conversation, she told me, "it's going to be ok, this is the lowest point. It's going to get better." Those were the words I really needed to hear at that moment, because walking out jail with nothing but the clothes on my back was truly the rock bottom of my life, and had I not heard those words of hope, I don't know how I would have survived. There were a number of reasons I decided to hire Liza. Of course, the consultation mentioned. I also vigorously read reviews and they all seem to indicate the same thing. Liza is smart, compassionate and she knows how to defend against DV charges in King County. But the point I knew I had to hire Liza was when consulting with another top Seattle attorney, he told me that if he had to hire someone, it would be Liza Burke. During the entire criminal justice process, starting with day one, Liza was able to explain the process, what to expect and what I needed to do. She explained the various possible outcomes and how we could improve the likelihood of the best possible result. To say I'm a "needy client" might be the understatement of the year. During the entire process, Liza was in regular contact to keep my informed about progress, be it by email, text or phone. Including just acting as a friend when I needed one. At the end of the day, I believe Liza did achieve the best possible result given the circumstances. My DV 2 felony assault was reduced to DV 4 misdemeanor with a deferred sentence, meaning after 2 years the guilty plea will be removed from my record. She fought tirelessly to get this result from a prosecutor that seemed at times, unwilling to bend at all. It was without a doubt her expertise and experience at handling these exact types of cases that allowed her to do this. It terms of cost, LB is not the least or most expensive, but charges what I would consider to be a reasonable sum, especially given how she's gone above and beyond her required responsibility for me. If you find yourself in a situation where you need an attorney for a DV charged, I'd recommend Liza without hesitation and then hold on, because it's going to get better with each passing day.

Liza is a wonderful attorney in every way. I was dealing with a false accusation of DV from my spouse, and in the midst of a nasty divorce. My situation was difficult because the outcome of the criminal case drastically effected the outcome of my divorce, most importantly custody issues. I had ano...ther attorney before Liza who was horrible and has now actually been disbarred. When I parted with the previous attorney, I interviewed several highly recommended lawyers before choosing to hire Liza. This gave me some good perspective, and was an opportunity to understand just how great Liza is. The things that make Liza stand out to me are that she'll work incredibly hard on your case and will not drop communication. It's all too common for lawyers to be hard to get in touch with and to not give your case the focus you'd like it to get, because to them you're often just one of many clients. It's different with Liza, she treats your case as if it's as important to her as it is to you, and trust me that is saying a lot. Liza is of course extremely experienced and knowledgable about the law. She also has a lot of different ideas about how to resolve a case. Other attorneys, talk about either taking a standard deal from the Prosecutor or going to trial. Liza however has experience resolving cases in a lot of ways, all focused on getting the desired outcome with the least amount of risk and expense. These types of resolutions often take some finesse. Other attorneys can alienate the prosecutor with bluster, and the negotiations become a show of force. Liza however has an amazing ability to disarm people and thus is able to get information and insights that others aren't. This tactful approach seems to have yielded great results for both myself and others. In the end, my case was resolved with a favorable dispositional continuance with no proactive requirements for me (basically just stay out of trouble for a year). This was the type of resolution I needed to not get a bad outcome in my divorce, and we were able to avoid the risk of trial. She was very close to a complete dismissal but the politics of DV in Seattle made that almost impossible, and this outcome fulfilled all the criteria for my situation. She was able to get such a good deal through a combination of hard work, extensive legal knowledge and some great connections in the business. She actually found some WA supreme court precedent that suggested my ex wouldn't even be able to testify against me in trial (due to a violation of the privacy act). She also engaged a very reputable legal researcher to confirm the precedent and to draft an impressive memo explaining it. Within days of receiving this, the prosecutors went from what was a very bad deal for me to an excellent one. Even though this deal was really good, Liza never pressured me to take it. She answered all my questions patiently and made it clear it was up to me whether to take it or go to trial. If you're reading this, then you're likely considering hiring Liza. My advice is: hire her! I'm confident you won't be disappointed. Your case will get the attention it needs, and you'll have the ultimate say in how your case is resolved.

If you have been accused of domestic violence call Liza immediately. Liza was my second attorney after I initially hired an attorney without domestic violence experience. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is to hire an attorney with experience trying DV cases. Liza is tremendously skille...d and efficient and most importantly, she has a wealth of experience trying domestic violence cases. Wether you are falsely accused or not, you absolutely need an expert like Liza. Trust me. If it wasn't for her it's entirely possible I could have been found guilty of something I absolutely did not do. Thanks to Liza, my case was dismissed and I have my life back.

Liza was a pleasure to work with respect to several domestic violence cases. She was thorough, professional, and competent. She answered my questions in a very timely manner, and was even responsive to me when she was out of the office. I had nothing but quality interactions with Liza, and would r...ecommend her highly.

I reached out to several attorneys, all highly rated on Avvo, because of an anti-harassment order filed against me. It was messy because I already had an existing AHO protecting me, plus two no contact orders since the woman I was protected from was being criminally charged for violating the AHO (the... petition against me was clearly retaliatory). Liza was the only attorney who saw the entirety of the situation-- not only to get rid of the AHO petition against me, but to strengthen my protection from this woman in both civil and criminal courts. She laid out options for the extent of her involvement whereas other attorneys only focused on eliminating the AHO petition against me, or worse, just told me their retainer fee. The entire case was an emotional rollercoaster for me, but Liza was always on top of EVERYTHING (the cases themselves, communication, what needed to be done and when, paid attention to every single detail, etc), kept things in perspective, and really did a lot to ground me and help me not feel as hopeless and further victimized. I truly, truly felt like she was my advocate, in every sense of the word. She is empathetic, passionate, capable and confident. Additionally, she has lots of experience in the courts here, which was very insightful. I think things would've gone differently if I didn't have Liza-- I am very, very happy with this outcome!