Review by Danea Yawn, North chesterfield VA Tori Zicker was…read moremy attorney April 23,2023. My other attorney I used the same day for another incident, talked to my spouses attorney who agreed that my spouse would drop her protective order against me if I dropped my protective order against my spouse so that we can have an amicable divorce. This attorney walked over to Tori and I and stated this to us. So I dropped my protective order, believing my spouse had dropped hers. Within seconds, Tori was escorting me into the courtroom for a protective order trial against me, by my spouse. My spouses attorney had lied to my other attorney, and yes this other attorney has recently confirmed this to me. Tori should not have let me enter the courtroom. I didn't understand what was going on. Tori let my star witness come into the courtroom so she couldn't testify on my behalf. A two year protective order was placed on me. I was put out of my home made homeless with my son and 2 dogs. I'm still not divorced due to the noncompiance of my spouses attorney not responding to or delivering requested documents upon my attorneys request. Tori Zicker has destroyed my life, financially and emotionally. I fired her right after the trial. I questioned, on that day, if she truly is an attorney! I don't know if she is with Friedmans Law Firm now, But she was when I had hired her. If she isn't still at Friedmans Law Firm, beware if you come across her name at any other law firms. She's most incompetent and should have her license revolked. Having just realized what really happened that day, I am in the process of taking legal action against Tori Zicker for legal malpractice.

I worked with Brittany Auberger in custody court. I am left disgusted in our justice system after…read moreworking with her. Not only did we not go to trial as we asked her, we now don't even have our child an entire week. And to make it any worse I can't think of any advisement we got other than, "The judge is mad at us for filing our petition".

M. Vanzile represents. No nonsense. No drama. Excellent attorney. My soon to be ex wife is not in a…read moreposition to screw me. M. Houyong is a true professional. He knows the judicial system, and everything and everyone throughout Richmond. Barnes and Deihle are not cheap, but their expertise and experience pays off in spades. I have spent at least $20k over the past 2 years in a knock-down drag- out divorce, and have not gone to jail, gone bankrupt, or had to pay my wife for anything. Divorce sucks... But, B&D will take you to the other side without losing anything you're not willing to forsake. Best family law firm in central VA.

My sister passed away and her husband decided to take their only child together away from our…read morefamily for two years. We needed a top notch law firm to represent our family law case. We knew this was going to be a tough case and our chances of winning was not good at all. Parents have more rights than aunts, grandparents etc.. Just because you are a grandmother or aunt is not good enough in the eye's of the court. You have to prove a lot in court and it is not easy at all. We started at ground zero and we were devastated. We searched for a law firm that could represent this special type of case that we were up against. We researched and contacted Barnes & Diehl in Chesterfield VA. We were represented by Mr. John Karanian who put together a magnificent case. He worked diligently and as a result...We won!!! Mr. Karanian is outstanding as an individual. Mr. Karanian is very professional, works very hard for his clients, keeps clients updated, and he never disappointed us. We now have visitation and it would not have been possible without Mr. Karanian. If you feel like you are up against the odds, we can assure you that there is hope at Barnes & Diehl with John Karanian.

Professional and accommodating. Accomplished everything we needed in one visit…read more Would recommend

I highly recommend Purely Law, P.L.C. for your legal services in Real Estate Law, Business Law, and…read moreEstate Planning. Lisa Bradshaw, Attorney at Law, and her staff are professional and efficient. (804) 987-9890, or lisa@purelylaw.net

Excellentl lawyer, comes off as she has N attitude problem but it's just her going into beast mode…read morewhich is what you actually want from your lawyer, she's a no play lawyer who came thru in a big way,she def saved me from a pretty long jail sentence, I def recommend her to anyone thank you so much Mrs, Newman if you're reading this I appreciate you so much..... Jason Stahl

Absolutely the worst Lawyer or GAL you could hire or have dealing with any custody or family law…read morecase. If you need a lawyer in Richmond, Va you should go elsewhere. If Mrs. Newman is appointed by the court ask for a different lawyer. You will receive a questionnaire in the mail with a letter attached asking you to fill it in and contact her office. Do this at your own risk, she really doesn't want you to do this. If you do meet you will immediately get the sense that you're taking up her valuable time. I guess it's because it is set by the court how much that her firm can bill you for her services. Mrs.Newman's questions were aggressive, and she had a "Why are you here ?" expression written all over her face. When I informed her that it was the letter from her asking me to call her office to arrange an appointment to see her she showed me the door.i was glad to leave and almost felt like getting sick. This woman has no place in Family Law.

After having negative experiences with other attorneys in the Richmond area, we hired DeFazio Bal…read moreto take over our case in family court. Mary McLaurin went above and beyond to make sure we got a favorable outcome. Her key attention to details in reviewing documents was part of major successes throughout litigation. Her professionalism and extensive knowledge of the law was impressive. She took the time to go through every outcome and scenario possible in our case explaining all of the pros/cons along the way. Most importantly, as her clients, we felt heard and understood about our endgame throughout settlement negotiations. She fought for us every step of the way and in the end we couldn't be more satisfied with the result. Highly recommend Mary and the Defazio Bal Firm. Nupur and Dottie were instrumental in our case as well.

Please Be Aware. I had the worst experience with this man. I found him through the "white pages",…read moreso I will admit that I regretfully did not do my due diligence when searching for a good divorce lawyer. During our initial conversation he said since I was seeking a "simple", uncontested, no fault, no minor children, only one property and with no large assets divorce, that he wouldn't charge me a retainer so the cost would be between $300-$600. He also said that the process would only take a couple of months because this would be very "simple". So, I hired him based solely on this info without me doing any further due diligence. Big mistake on my part. He took over 2 yrs to get my again "simple"divorce done and attempted to give me a final invoice of over $2,000 in addition to the monies that I had already paid. During the 2 yrs, he wouldn't return calls and I caught him in lies such as, saying that I had to have a witness when in fact I did not need one to proceed. Also, had to reschedule a court date because he had to get some info to my ex when that wasn't true (my ex never received the" docs" in question). When I told him of my frustrations he said "okay, I will not charge you anything else", but that also wasn't true. I found Mr. Collier to be unethical, untrustworthy and untruthful. I felt that he wasn't looking out for my best interest but all about his own interests. If you're feeling adventurous and have money to freely give away than be your own judge, but don't say that I did not warn you.

I was referred to "Mac" Nathaniel Collier by an initial attorney that I reached out to. I called…read morehim and we spoke by phone and he indicated that when I fly into town that he wanted to meet in person so we scheduled it. I was home for 1 week and went to court to get qualified as the Executor for my Uncle's estate and had 11 meetings planned that week with Tax CPA's, financial brokers, banks and this Attorney. On the meeting, I found Mac to be extremely personable and very talkative. About the case but mostly about other things that arose that was just learning about each other and our likes and dislikes. We met for almost 2 hours. We didn't finish talking about the case so he asked me to come back and we rescheduled. I went back and was there for about an hour talking and we got through most of the rest of the case and the details but he had another appointment so he asked me to come back a 3rd time. I was unsure why and don't deal with this type of stuff so assumed he had more to tell me and I agreed. The last time we met it was at the end of the day and I had to wait 30 minutes before going in. I was the last client of the day, we exchanged pleasantries and then got down to business and he told me that the original amount he indicated of around $5k which happens to also be his retainer amount would likely be around $10k or more now because he's going to have to do quite a bit of research on this. While this is a confusing case because the original Attorney that wrote the case, wasn't an Attorney in that area and apparently "really messed things up and didn't know what he was doing per the folks that reviewed this", we simply need to go to the court and ask the court for "aid and guidance" and let the Judge know the details and he decides what needs to happen around the Will for the Estate and I, as Executor am bound by this decision per the Attorney's and the Commissioner of Courts. I flew back to CA and then later spoke with various people while handling other aspects of this case. Whenever it would arise, I mentioned what is the fee appropriate for an Aid and Guidance case and they indicated it would probably be around $5k. I called Mac back and left a VM msg indicated I wished to speak to him about the fee as I'm being told that it wouldn't be that high. He didn't return my call. I called a 2nd time and got the Receptionist who told me "all I can do is give him the message". I called and got his VM the 3rd and 4th time and left a message just stating I wanted to simply discuss this and got no response. I called a 5th time and got the receptionist and explained the scenario and she indicated again "all I can do is give him a message and he is very busy". I never heard back from him. Now I have to go find a new Attorney and have wasted 6 months thinking he was my Attorney. I was happy to pay the retainer fee however did not want to do so until I had a conversation with him on why the price had gone up. If it is required, then I would understand I need to pay it but I can't get the professional courtesy of a return call back. Very disappointed in the handling of this situation.

If you need Estate Planning, you need this firm. I spoke with 3 different firms and received 3…read moredifferent answers. I decided to go with this firm because they not only took their time explaining, (as I know nothing about this), they were not after the green. Seriously guys, this is a trustworthy family establishment, who cares more about getting what you need, than their bottom line. Lawyers who actually care about you... I didn't think that existed anymore. We are getting the whole family outfitted here now. If you want honest, helpful and just what you need (not what you don't) try them!! You won't be sorry.

DO NOT USE THEM. RUN! It would appear the lawyer they retained for family law (Mrs. Barclay) should…read morenot be in practice or be retired. You can see the burnout or lack of caring (she self admitted that she no longer cared about complaints while at the same time, receiving many of them). In essence, the only thing they may have excelled at are uncontested matters, maybe a criminal one. Apparently, they only have one lawyer to work on family cases. When I determined that I was the recipient of ineffective counsel or ethical wrong by Mrs. Barclay, I tried working with the attorney directly in the course of the proceedings, and then ultimately addressed these concerns of ineffective counsel to the law firm owner. I expected that there would be a concern given, but there was not. I was advised by the law firm owner (Mrs. Ranney) that she could not help, considering her and her husband's background in family law was limited. Given that I tried to rehabilitate our relationship with clear expectations, I was further denied service by Mrs. Ranney due to my complaints or concerns that were credible enough to be reported to the Virginia Bar. I sought return of my retainer at the least (realizing they must be paid for some effort even if it were unscrupulous) However, this was never answered. Counsel in this matter was critical, due to a wife who absconded with my children over a decade ago and denied custodial or visitation. The issues I faced are not limited to: 1) Last minute discovery and poor communication. Whether about admissibility, facts or case direction and intentions. 2) No use of subpoena duces tecum to corroborate findings. 3) Allowing unsupervised interrogatories by GAL or court appointed staff. 4) Failure to make disclosures of evidence or submit interrogatories. No evidence was reported by judge! 5) Failure to proceed on the wishes of client during trial, threatening to leave the case and ultimately causing a show cause to be vacated. 6) Threatening abandonment numerous times over minor disagreements. 7) Fails to immediately recognize and object to inadmissible evidence. 8) Allows opposition to run all over the case. Rolling over at any concern raised by GAL or opposing party. Hesitant to make any push for justice, or seek recompense. During retainment, it was pitched about the enjoyment of such cases, determination to follow through, and aggressive stance. This could be further from the truth. We were treated as another manila folder in the stack. The only thing we expected were emails detailing what "couldn't be accomplished", and lowering the bar on the "aggressive" representation promised from the outset. When contacting other law firms to represent in the appeal, it was clear they were "known" as having difficulties in family related cases, particularly Mrs. Barclay's counsel. You cannot win a case when all you do is waste time putting out the fires... VSB case been opened based on this representation.