Leslie Jean Garrison

Another attorney sailed me into the worst storm possible and then abandoned ship. I was left foundering on storm-tossed seas on a wreck I thought surely would sink and take my life down with it. Then a friend referred me to Leslie Garrison. As soon as I got in touch with Leslie she quickly assesse...d my situation, efficiently and speedily gathered the necessary information and documents and got right to work guiding me in the right direction. I appreciate Leslie's no nonesense style of communication. She listened to my thoughts and ideas and followed up on the worthwhile ones, but just as quickly told me which ones needed to be shelved, and why. Leslie kept me well informed with regular e-mail updates and phone calls. But when waiting was what was called for, she counseled patience. I always felt like I knew exactly what was going on with my case and exactly when and what to expect next. Without going into specifics of my case, I must say that before I retained Leslie my future looked very grim and devoid of hope. She managed to guide me safely out of the worst possible situation and got my life back on track. I shudder to think how things might have turned out with out her cool, calm, expert and professional help.

Arguably, the most controversial law in recent American history has been the civil commitment of sex offenders FOLLOWING their lengthy prison confinement. I was one of those offenders in the very state that pioneered this draconian law. For approximately two decades, Leslie Garrison was a major... part of the team of public defenders who represented people in my situation. From 2000 up until just recently, she had been my attorney. This background information is necessary if you are to find my recommendation credible. Attorneys are first and foremost public servants. Ethically, and as officers of the court, they are judicially bound to be vanguards of the public safety while promoting their clients' best interests. Imagine then, if you will, the dilemma that Ms. Garrison must have found herself in day after day representing my peers and me. Certainly, she had very strong feelings that the civil commitment law was flawed. And she and her team fought that law from day one all the way up to the U. S. Supreme Court, only to lose by the slimmest of margins in the high court's rendering of a 5-4 decision. Still, the alleged WORST OF THE WORSE population and the hysteria running through society, underscored by the accompanying media and political hype, made it very tough for Ms. Garrison and her team to make any kind of meaningful headway in the commitment trials. The cases were pretty much open and shut and always...always in favor of the prosecution. How convenient to parade heinous crimes for which one had already been convicted of (and even alleged acts that hadn't resulted in convictions) before a jury, hiring experts to provide psychological and forensic evidence that added to the "convincing proof" that the detainee was guilty of the past and thus doomed to re-create his own ugly history in the future, and, most intrusive of all, having the victims--motivated by the understandable trauma of the past as well as the fear of their attackers getting out of prison--give their testimony in civil court (just as they had done ten, twenty, or maybe thirty years prior in criminal court). It was easy for the prosecutors to wield FEAR as a litigational device. Imagine the daunting challenge a public defender faced in trying to convince a jury that his or her client was no longer a threat. How in the world does an individual, as an attorney, go to work day in and day out knowing that the most diligent, exhausting, and gallant efforts are predestined for failure? How does a female attorney representing a serial rapist--never mind that he'd already done his time!--stand tall in court and look boldly at the jurors, many of whom are women...and still present a convincing case that her client is a changed man? How does a female attorney put aside her own personal feelings of horror, disgust, and rage about the criminal acts of her client in order to best represent him? It takes a very dedicated individual. It takes strength, conviction, a true passion for and adherence to the law, and a willingness to be tough-skinned and truly independent of public sentiment. It takes, quite frankly, the composite attorney you will find in Leslie Garrison. Having written all of the above, I daresay that I may have presented a myopic review of Ms. Garrison's professional attributes. However, ponder this truth--if Ms. Garrison could courageously and diligently represent the likes of me--consider the outstanding legal services she'll be able to provide you. In the ratings chart above, I could not in good conscience give Ms. Garrison 5 stars for the Responsive category. I want to make it absolutely clear that this was because of the organization she worked for. Those of you who practice law know very well just how overworked the public defenders are. I rest my case.