Lydia (Chiro) Gross

I had a very complicated UCCJEA child custody matter involving two states, Ohio and California. I will admit, I was hesitant to hire Lydia Gross because she seemed so nice the first time I spoke with her. Having very little family law experience, I thought I needed a family law attorney with a cer...tain demeanor to take on my high-conflict, abusive ex, as I figured my ex would hire attorneys with the same demeanor as him for our UCCJEA child custody matter (which he did). As I soon found out, Lydia Gross' demeanor amongst the sea of pugnacious and (let's be frank) dishonest family law attorneys set her far above the rest and was a huge asset to my matter. Lydia Gross' conscientiousness, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness saved me an incredible amount of time, money, and stress in my UCCJEA child custody matter. If you have had to hire attorneys before, you likely know that some will "shoot from the hip" and say or do something even if they have no idea what the actual answer or best way to proceed is, because they do not want to admit that they do not know, whether because their ego can't handle it or whether out of sheer laziness. This slipshod conduct can cause numerous problems down the line which can cost thousands of dollars and a lot of time to rectify. Lydia Gross is not one of those attorneys. While she is already incredibly knowledgeable, if she did not know something she would tell me that she did not know or was unsure, and would inform me that she will do further research into it, check with a colleague, or have her firm’s research team look into it. Which in my matter, being a very complicated UCCJEA child custody matter, was vital, as a wrong “guess” could have cost thousands of dollars and a lot of time to rectify. Additionally, Mrs. Gross did not get into petty ego competitions with opposing counsel, as he constantly tried to bait us into, which saved me a lot of time and money. I mention those things because I think when it comes to family law matters, if people think they will be in for a long fight because their ex is high-conflict, they may try to "price shop" for the lowest hourly rate, as they realize their ex may try to use the court system to try to further cause them never-ending strife. The problem with that is, if you hire a practitioner with a very cheap rate, if that practitioner is not knowledgable, conscientious, or spends time waging unnecessary "ego battles" with opposing counsel, you could (and likely will) end up in a situation where your total bill ends up being more than if you had hired someone who practices thoughtfully but has a higher hourly rate, because of the sheer amount of time a "cut rate" attorney may waste. That being said, I found Lydia Gross' rate incredibly reasonable and even, dare I say, underpriced, as I have worked with other attorneys who charge significantly more than Lydia yet are nowhere near as knowledgeable, skilled, or thoughtful as her. Lydia Gross' demeanor and work ethic truly makes her stand out in court and makes working with her while going through an incredibly unpleasant process as much of a pleasure as can be had in a child custody matter against a high-conflict ex. I also appreciated how well Lydia Gross explained things to me when asked for an explanation. She is not the type of person who gets offended if you ask her why she is or isn't going a certain route. Which, considering this was a complicated UCCJEA child custody matter, I really appreciated. Lydia Gross won my case not only once, but twice. That's not a misprint - because of some actions of my California attorney at the time, and through no fault of Lydia's, this matter had to basically be tried twice in Ohio. Lydia Gross was successful each time. Lydia Gross is an incredible professional who will save you time and money on your family law matter and is also just a good person to talk to, on a personal level, when dealing with a case against a high-conflict ex.