Anne Wakefield

I received a referral to Anne from a friend of a friend because I was looking for a more aggressive lawyer to help me try to get my divorce settled vs going to trial. My previous attorney had already completed all of my paperwork (i.e. Final orders for divorce, child support, parenting plan) however... the other party’s lawyer was incompetent and instead of making any attempts to work towards settlement, seemed to be waiting for trial. I met with Anne via Zoom and found her to come off as confident and proactive. I hired her shortly after. Soon after that I was asked about pushing back my upcoming court dates so that they had time to reach out to the other party’s attorney. I was not contacted by Anne again. Somewhere in this timeframe and completely unknown to me I was handed off to another associate Dylana Jones, who I hadn’t met or talked to. I found out after dismissing them that paperwork had even been filed to replace Anne with Dylana on my case, and I had no idea this had even been done. From here, everything seemed to spiral. The bills that I received were for ludicrous amounts, especially for the minimal work that was done. As an example - They forwarded me a generic document for a Request for Production of documents to be sent to opposing counsel, that somehow seemed to have taken hours to be completed, and I was charged for this “work” as well as for the time taken to send it to the paralegal, who then put it into an email and sent it to me and then billed me more for that time as well. Of course the paralegals would be reimbursed for their time, but why would I be paying for you to send it to them and paying for them to send it to me, when it could have just been sent directly to me without the extra costs? I was also asked about setting up mediation, but it was never mentioned to me that by doing so we were skipping over a zero-cost settlement conference and that because of the history of my relationship, I also had the option to have mediation waived. I didn’t find any of this out until I happened to randomly read about this process online. I contacted Dylana to ask when my settlement conference was scheduled, only to be told that they had canceled if for the mediation and that waiving the mediation could have also been a possibility. In approximately 3 months, they managed to bill me over $6,000 essentially for moving a court date, making those other changes mentioned (that I wasn’t even told about) , and sending out a generic request for production to the other party. We exchanged VERY few emails and did not talk on the phone. There were no trials or conferences completed. Nothing else was accomplished. I was told that because my other documents were on another attorney’s letterhead and pdf, that they had to transfer the information, however this shouldn’t be a huge undertaking, and had they mentioned that in advance, I could have easily transferred the information myself. My prior attorney completed multiple proposals, all final documents, and a significant amount of email interaction with me and the opposing counsel over a span of 7 months and still didn’t go through as many billable hours as they claimed. He did 4x as much work for less than I paid them. I feel completely scammed. I got nothing for my money and to me $6000 in 3 months for a divorce where all the paperwork was already completed and the opposing counsel wasn’t even responding with offers, documents, or counters, is appalling. I would never recommend them to anyone, I believe that they definitely over-bill and pad their hours. I am actually worse off than before for having hired them. ’m out of $6,000 that I desperately needed, I lost the opportunity for a settlement conference that I would have liked to have had, I have court dates pushed back when I really want this to be over as soon as possible, and I have nothing more to show for all of this then I did before I hired them.

Hired her for a 30 minute evaluation. I had my plan for my case completely lined out and was looking for guidance that I was either on the right path or not. She actually didn’t give me any valuable advice. I won my case on my own and without much help from her. During the intake process she was igno...ring me and typing emails to someone else. Rude! Still had to pay $100. At least it wasn’t more because she seemed inadequate. She tried to tell me I would need a lawyer in a motion to reconsider ( I wasn’t the moving party) because the judge was certainly considering the other party’s side. That was a big fat lie. Judges rarely grant these motions and had I hired her, it would have been a waste of money. I would save your dollars, go down to the family law facilitation office, get the instruction packet and do it yourself. Family law motions do not need attorneys. They just end up messing up people’s lives and making cases worse by stirring unnecessary fear and emotion.

Anne Wakefield was the fifth or sixth lawyer that my husband and I contacted after being served with a DVPO that was filed in an effort to have my husband lose custody of his child. No one who hasn't experienced being falsely accused of something they didnt do could understand the fear and confusion ...we were experienci due to by the outrageous claims made about my husband, and had no idea what to do. When we met with Anne we knew immediately she was the lawyer for us. She listened to our complicated story intently, showed immense compassion, and most importantly immediately knew how to handle the situation. We also really liked that she previously was a defense lawyer. She represented my husband as he dealt with the DVPO, police, and CPS. She collected a dozen or so declarations of people who knew us and knew that these allegations were ridiculous. She prepared a new parenting plan proposal and got everything ready for court. Between hiring Anne and court she called or emailed us nearly every day. She always promptly returned our phone calls and emails, and she always explained to us WHY she was recommending what she was. She was always clear, confident, and had our best interest in mind. On the day of court to challenge the DVPO, Anne was a rockstar. She had complete command of the courtroom and represented us so well. The DVPO was immediately dismissed and I am convinced this is because of all of Anne's hard work. Later Anne also helped us with another new parenting plan, and revisiting schild support. Anne is also very fair and transparent when it comes to fees. Whenever the work needed to be done could be done by a paralegal at a lower rate, she always billed less. I never felt like she was just out for our money, unlike other lawyers we talked to. And when it became clear that we would be able to settle outside of court, Anne was completely supportive. Many lawyers would pressure clients to continue to retain them to make more money, but Anne was genuinely happy for us that we could find a resolution that was easier and less expensive for everyone. Anne Wakefield and her team are worth every penny that we paid. If I could do it all again, the only thing I would change is I would have interviewed her first so we could have hired her on Day 1.

I have been blessed to have a family law attorney as skilled as Anne. She has consistently represented me through the years. Our family is grateful for the work she put in to ensure balance and fairness. Most recently, I am now finding myself in need of additional representation as lives chang...e, children grow up. She is a source of realistic intentions and motivation to get what we need in order to maintain a sense of normalcy. Her most recent plan of action has led to a more civilized approach that I wouldn't have thought to explore. We may not need a court decision after all. Her guidance on the issues at hand have led to a more cohesive and compromising decision making process. Thank you, Marchelle

In 19 days a $4000.00 trust account was drained of $2732.50 in billing and the results from Wakefield and Penny were next to nothing. What I received in exchange for $ 2732.00 was a postponed review hearing (at Annes request due to a planned mini vacation and a continuing education class), two phone... calls to the opposing council that resulted in a slight reduction of the Interrogatories questions and a later due date ( never reviewed with me), 1 in person meeting, and 1 phone meeting. I received a copy of a draft letter written by Anne on Mar 1 2016 that resembled my GAL letter that I wrote myself. Your letter to the GAL included statements that did not represent me or what my case was about. Your drafted GAL letter contained details referring to the children being uprooted from their home, only my son had been and my daughter remained with me, they were split apart. That is a huge detail and makes it hard for me to believe that you had reviewed any of the case files at all. Anne's letter makes claims of a major modification, yes it is, and this was not a major discovery as you seemed to have thought. I expected a $275.00 per hour lawyer to have resources and upscale performance with knowledge of Family Law. The service I received from Wakefield was a disappointment at the least and has set my case back even farther than it had been. I was not advised to file an Objection to the Relocation or file an order to the court of the status quo. I was not informed that we should file a new child support order for my support had been completely quashed even though my daughter remained in my care. Interrogatories were never sent out to opposing counsel. Important and information involving my case were not submitted to me in timely matter nor was it at times relayed at all. I requested for a probation docket to be forwarded as the GAL as he asked for, that was never sent to him. I requested a recording of the prior adequate cause hearing tape and was sent to the court house myself to order and pick it up. The representation I received from Wakefield was disappointing at the least.