Donna Person Smith

Donna and her staffs have been very responsive with my uncontested divorce proceedings of my Vietnamese ex-wife who left me outright 6 months after she got her US Citizenship. I researched online and interviewed divorcees on the pricing bracket, and it was within the range. I must admit I asked lit...tle too many questions and repeats for me to be sure and understood were what piled up the bill. If I had enough confidence in myself, knew for sure that the divorce would be uncontested, and easily communicate with ex-wife directly, I would go to different direction for half less in total expenses or lesser in by doing the other way. I choose Donna because she was two out of five lawyers that responded right away, is local, near Costco, expert, good reviews, and was referred by Employee Assistance Plan (Magellan Ascend). I will utilize her service again as needed. On the few silly minor downsides: seems staff turnover seems to be high during the pandemic, one staff charged annoying 0.05 hour of service but bill as 0.1 hour to round to the nearest tenths, staff got my email wrong first few times by using gmail.com instead hotmail.com, and Donna didn’t graduate with law degree in WA State at least she was certified to practice law in WA with law degree outside WA state.

I cannot put into words how horrible my experience was with this law firm. I had never had to hire a lawyer before so I did not know what to expect, but I should have paid attention to the red flags I had from just the intake call. Made an appointment to talk with Donna, desk associate had to call ba...ck because she had not written down my name. Go to pay the cashier and even after an email asking for the receipt they said I would receive, but didn't, still didn't get one. Received my papers to sign via an app called DocuSign and 4 times they had me signing in the wrong place and I had to do it again. I had an uncontested- open and close- divorce case. I was quoted 1,500 with a retainer of 3,000. I wasn't told I would be assigned to C. Tucker and not Person, whom I'd spoke to, but I didn't initially mind, until I had to call back a week after I signed on to even get the name of who my lawyer would be. Then for the appointment I made to speak with her for the first time, I had to call in an hour later because she'd forgotten to call me. From there the list goes absolutely bonkers of questions I wasn't asked, questions she refused to answer, paperwork that was filled out with wrong information on paperwork that they didnt explain, to Losing the info I'd sent multiple times, to charging for 20 mins of actual 5 mins of phone conversations. She charged me for every mistake they had to go back and fix. It was only after 3 email threads I CC'd to Person of the mind-boggling incompetence and the fact that Tucker spend 400$ of my money sending a server to my ex, that was admitted by Person that it was a waste of time and money, did Tucker get fired. Donna then took on my case herself and finished the almost complete job, but absolutely refused to make things right with the money the person she hired squandered. Stating she had to eat the 600$ of work she had to do. So a total of over 3,600$ was what it costs to get an uncontested divorce. Save yourself in incredible and expensive headache and just RUN!

She has helped us tremendously with divorce and custody issues. I have and will continue to recommend her. Donna tells you like it is, will work with you to negotiate and be open minded where necessary and pursue legally the issues at hand. We actually came to her after another attorney failed to pro...perly represent us causing us more time and money. Donna always took into consideration our finances and what steps we should take and what we could handle on our own.

Over Memorial Day weekend I had an incident with a Federal Forest Service Officer and he seized my shotgun and rifle, and I received a citation for possession of a firearm in violation of state law. He stated that all I had to do was pay the $275 fine and I would get my weapons back. I was afraid to ...just pay the fine because I didn't want something on my record that stated I was illegally in possession of a weapon. I was afraid that it would affect my ability you have my concealed pistol license renewed in the future or if it would cause any problems if I go to purchase any other firearms. I called around and no attorney would give me a straight answer, that was until I spoke with Donna. When we spoke on the phone she had me explain the circumstances to her and had me give her some information from the citation. She said she would look into it and get back to me. She called me back asked me to email her the citation. She also let me know that she was going to be going to the US court in Tacoma and will talk to the US attorney to see if it would affect any of my gun rights if I just pay the ticket. She let me know that the US attorney told her that it would be best if I just paid the citation in lieu of appearing in court. The reason I explained all this to you is because she did all this without charging me a penny. A lot of attorneys/lawyers would have charged me to do what Donna did and then they would have told me to just pay the ticket or they would have charged me thousands of dollars to contest the ticket when I really didn't need to. I truly believe Donna does what's in the best interest of her clients, even if it means she doesn't end up representing them and making money. If I ever need an attorney, and Donna is able to represent me, I will hire her without any doubt in my mind that she is going to do what's in my best interest!

I hired Ms. Person a few months ago to represent me on a DUI charge. I couldn’t be more pleased with the way Donna fought for me, and in the end, got me a great deal to end the case without the huge expense of going to Trial. Before this DUI, I was lucky enough to never have needed a lawyer. But I... have friends and acquaintances that have got into trouble before and had to have legal counsel. I’ve heard horror stories about huge legal bills, phone calls not being returned, lack of communication, no aggressiveness in court, etc. Donna never disappointed me in any of these areas. From the start Donna was friendly and personable, and made me feel that she was really on my side. She didn’t put on any airs and was easy to talk to. She returned my calls promptly and kept me up to date on my case. Most important, Donna listened to me before telling me the up sides and down sides of my case. She explained the risks if I wanted to fight the charges, and also explained the options if I wanted to negotiate a plea bargain. At the first court date, I got a chance to see how sharp and aggressive Donna was in court. I left feeling ready to fight the case all the way. But eventually, I realized it was a better overall decision to take a plea bargain. My choice to settle was partly based on the risks I faced if I lost at trial, but even more because of the great deal Donna was able to negotiate on my behalf. Getting a Dui was no fun, and I don’t plan on ever getting one again. But if I do, I will not hesitate to call Donna. I wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone that gets into legal trouble and needs a tough, aggressive, but fair attorney at a reasonable price.