Liza E. Burke

If you want a highly skilled and professional attorney who genuinely cares about your criminal case, I can't recommend Liza Burke enough. I hired Liza after having been charged with 2 counts of assault 4 as well as having incriminated myself at the time of arrest. Despite facing a very tough prosec...utor, Liza's persistence and mastered skills, ultimately led to the outright dismissal of my case prior to pre-trial.

Liza helped my boyfriend and I through a very unfortunate event which resulted in my arrest for domestic violence. With a lack of understanding for the domestic violence laws that apply when the police are called in Washington State -- we found ourselves in a situation where my boyfriend was worried ...about my mental wellbeing after I learned of a serious breach in trust. When the police came, they asked about a broken a picture frame and several other small items. Ultimately they arrested me for domestic violence (mandatory in WA state) and property destruction. My boyfriend pleaded telling them that is not what he was seeking in this. But alas, on top of one of the most emotionally hurtful personal betrayals of trust, I was now going to spend the night in jail. I was in beyond disbelief and did not handle the situation well. Later when i went before the judge, I learned they had tacked on 4 other charges -- one of which being assault of an officer (for stepping on his foot by accident-- I am 5ft weighing 105 lbs) It was a nightmare. This was my first arrest ever. My boyfriend went before the judge telling him this was a huge misunderstanding and that I was not violent and that he was simply worried about me driving and my well being. Despite that, I was released and given a 3 year no contact order with my boyfriend pending my court date. My boyfriend hired Liza to represent me. Upon our first meeting Liza was very upfront about the fact it would be extremely challenging to have 5 charges dropped -- despite the absurdity of them all. She urged me to immediately sign up for alcohol classes 3x per week and start seeing a personal therapist in the month leading up to my first court appearance. I did those things. We asked for a continuance at the first appearance, the prosecutor came back with an offer to drop all of the charges except assault of an officer with an SOC agreement, we didn't take that offer (in body cam footage there was no proof of this), Liza asked for one more continuance, then ultimately she worked a deal with the prosecutor to drop ALL of the charges at the completion of my 4 months of alcohol classes (2x per week). The no contact order was lifted. After almost 5 months of emotional ups and down-- it was over. I was not going to have to enter an agreement with the state, meet with anyone, take more classes etc. And while hiring a great lawyer isn't necessarily cheap -- neither is the alternative of taking mandatory classes or therapy that cost $100 a session, multiple times a week, over the course of years. Liza was such an amazing advocate for me during this time. She was open to any questions any time, willing to explain things to me as many times as I needed. She was understanding, yet straight forward -- something I really appreciated. I would recommend Liza to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.

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 helped me with a DV assault in the 4th degree charge that was filed against me in May 2013. Having no previous experience with such a case, and having gone to jail for the first time I was pretty freaked out. I found Liza's information on avvo and reading her positive recommendations decided to ...go with her... There were multiple things that were amazing about her - 1. Timely Responses - regardless of whether it was the weekend, or whether I texted/emailed/called her, she was always willing to respond to my questions. This was super important to me since I was pretty freaked out about the whole incident 2. Thorough - she patiently listened to the entire incident and explained to me the entire legal procedure that we would go through and what I could expect at every court hearing 3. Proactive - she had a fairly good idea of where my case would end up and proactively recommended that I do a few thing such as register for DV intervention classes, see a counselor, etc. so that we could get the desired outcome for our case. My case took a couple months before I was offered a stipulated order of continuance which was pretty decent. So I jumped on that offer from the prosecutor and am doing the rightful things to ensure that the DV case against me gets dismissed. Overall, the past 3 months have been pretty freaky and some of the worst in my life... I really appreciate having Liza represent me for the legal aspect of the DV case and help me go through these 3 months with some confidence. If you are facing a DV charge - 1. please dont freak out - in hindsight, I have come to realize that I freaked out a lot more than I should have. The law is written taking into account the most serious DV crimes and even a small shove or expression of anger is treated as seriously as a murder by the law enforcement officers. This is pretty ridiculous, but that is how it works. Over time, you will come to understand and realize that things get better and at the end apart from being an inconvenience and an expense (of time & money), the DV charges wont last long. So keep the faith and go on with confidence. 2. Hire Liza without an iota of doubt - she will do a fabulous job representing you