Lisa Nicole Ellis

We met with Lisa via video conference (we really appreciated she was willing to do this to accommodate our family needs in the middle of this pandemic) to go over our ideas for our will and estate planning. With the info from the pre-filled questionnaire, Lisa was able to efficiently explain in great... details the options that would make the most sense for our particular situation first, but she also covered some "available" options that would either not make sense for us and\or are not really available. I liked that she was honest and upfront. She also explained with examples and even gave us some non-legal suggestions to increase our kids security in case of a tragedy.

I certainly recommend Lisa Ellis as an Immigration / Customs attorney. She assisted my daughter, who is a physician, obtain her U.S. permanent residency status. She has answered my questions with regards to U.S. immigration / residency status on a few occasions, and each time was very helpful l and ...accurate in her assessments and recommendations.

Even during these times of fear and uncertainty due to COVID-19 Pandemic, Lisa still agreed to meet with me and my brother in her office, I thought that was very courageous. My brother had been rejected through Temporary Protection Status and we didn't know where to turn next, but Lisa analyzed our s...ituation and walked us through various options. She even found another lawyer for us who could help more in the area of asylum. Thank you for your professionalism Lisa. We will definitely reach out as soon as we found a job for my brother. Thanks

We hired Lisa Ellis to be our immigration lawyer for a Fiancé Visa. I would not recommend her as she was not transparent regarding the cost of her services, there were inefficiencies and duplication of work, and incorrect information provided by Lisa that we were billed for. We were billed $8,452.83 ...by Lisa for legal services. We paid $3,420.69 for services provided before 11/4/18. We received a final invoice of $5,032.14 on 12/7/18. We were shocked – a bill of $5,000 was more than we were led to believe our entire bill would be. We contacted other immigration law offices in WA and fees other lawyers charge for the same services was $3,500-$4,000. Our visa was straightforward, with no extenuating circumstance and no errors on our part requiring extra time/expense. During a conversation on 12/10/18, Lisa stated she should have been more transparent with us regarding our bill. At no point before we received our last invoice did she inform us of a significant increase in costs. Had we been fully informed earlier regarding increases in costs, we would have completed the remaining work ourselves. In our 1st consult, Lisa advised us that by agreeing to an hourly fee, we would likely save money, rather than paying a flat rate fee agreement that is used by many immigration attorneys. She noted that our case was straightforward, and since we had already gathered the required information, she made the case that we would benefit from choosing her. As a result, we signed an hourly fee agreement with Lisa Ellis – we believe the hourly rate contract led to increased costs. There was repetition of work at our lawyer’s office that was not necessary. For example, we received 4-5 different emails regarding confirmation of a FedEx delivery to us. Consequently, we received multiple emails verifying cancellations for these overlapping jobs. As well, some items described in an invoice were tasks that were completed by Lisa Ellis, rather than being completed by her paralegal. For example, she charged us for her time to complete a form for courier delivery to us. In an email to us, in response to a request to clarify why there was a delay in starting the process of requesting an FBI check, Lisa suggested she would be reviewing processes within her office to ensure things ran more smoothly, as she believed there were functional issues that needed to be addressed. Lisa provided me with incorrect instructions in an email explaining how I could complete the DS-160 online questionnaire. Within the same email, she detailed how I should make a consulate appointment immediately after I completed the DS-160 questionnaire. This was not the correct process for the U.S. Consulate in Montreal. I was supposed to wait to hear back from the consulate before booking an interview. In an email to Lisa and me, the consulate stated any appointment booked early would be cancelled. I had to email Lisa to clarify her instructions. She emailed back to confirm the consulate appointment should be cancelled and that I should wait to hear back from the consulate before booking an appointment. This was not our error, it was incorrect instructions provided by Lisa, which led to more confusion for us, extra time, work, and back and forth emails required for clarification. After a concerted, good faith attempt to resolve our dispute regarding these charges, both by phone and email, we offered to go to mediation, she declined. After an examination of our options, including contacting the WA Bar Association, our only alternative was to pay the bill of $8,452.83, as Lisa was going to send our case to collections. In summation, these charges were excessive. As well, we should not be responsible for costs incurred that were a result of incorrect information, inefficiencies, and duplication of work on the part of our attorney.

I cannot recommend any services provided by Lisa Ellis and encourage you to look elsewhere for immigration law. As a small business owner, I hired her to assist an employee in securing a visa. The firm provided their own list of requirements for visa preparation. This list of requirements was very... unclear; causing much confusion, loss of time and money, and ultimately resulted in very little progress toward securing a visa. Moreover, I was extremely disappointed with Lisa’s treatment of myself and my employee. Questions that we raised were ignored on multiple occasions and Lisa abruptly ended the contract (without refund of the money spent thus far), without having responded to my correspondence with her. We spent 3 months trying to make progress on the visa application with Lisa, during which my employee was living in temporary housing, very unsure of his future situation. At the end of it all, we didn't make any progress in our application but spent about about 1800 dollars. Now starting over with a new attorney.