One of the worst divorce attorneys on this planet. If you are a man stay away! My husband hired her in 2016 for a divorce. He still to this day has issues with the wording she put in there allllll pro mother. child support was biased, medical care was biased, parenting was biased, all in favor of the mother having less burden. My husband hired Karin to have his back and she did jack for him. He was younger and more naïve, but having lived through the stress of this agreement and lack of support it provided him, Oye vey! I am a divorced woman with two children and didn't put my ex through half of what Karin allowed my current husband to go through. shame on her. read more

I originally chose Karen M Lavin after attending the mandated "Divorce & Children" class in which the instructor told us to chose our lawyers wisely. She said your outcome often depends on your lawyers reputation and track record with the judges. If the court doesn't like your attorney....... So my search began for a local attorney that seemed "in tune" with the courts. KML and Associates have represented me twice now (re- the same divorce). Karen and her team are great! I go into court knowing they are knowledgeable, and will handle any issues that arrise in my best interest. They have made some tough times much easier. Although the final decisions on how to proceed were always mine, they are available to offer guidance and support. read more

I've seen Karen work her magic on a number of cases in McHenry County. Her personality comes from her passion. She would be my first choice and I have a strong personality myself. I would with confidence do as she told me to do. I would also recommend her for families with disabled children. She will produce a positive out come for most of her clients. People forget a lawyer isn't god! It's ultimately up to the man/women in the BLACK ROBE! read more

Unless you have lots of time, and lots of money to waste, I would look elsewhere. I hired Karen for a custody case. For our original consultation she was great! I was feeling pretty good about the boat I was in, it went downhill from there. Office never returned phone calls or emails, Impossible to get a hold of. Ended up dropping her a couple weeks into the process, because we hadn't been to court yet and my retainer was already GONE! read more

I would give her a zero rating if I could. We hired her to fix an MSA and she man handled us into signing it. Now, 50k more, we are using a separate attorney to fix her mistakes. She is not a compentant woman. She tried to bill us for two other people's accounts (took us to court even) and in the process gave us all of their personal information. Not a good attorney and STAY AWAY!!! In our opinion of course read more

I hired Karen for a will and a trust, for my husband and I , she implemented several ideas I didn't think could be done. It is always a good idea to go to a professional. I would recommend Karen Lavin to protect your rights. read more

If I could give zero stars I would. I did not hire her as my lawyer but she was on the defense side and filed false documents on a probate case that was already hard enough. She dragged us through court and racked up court costs and attorneys fees. She is so unethical and lies just to make a buck. After losing my dad was hard enough and his girlfriend went to 5 other attorneys that said to walk away he didn't have a will so it all falls to me and Karen took it on. She at one point made an appointment to come get property and then when my fiance showed up came out swearing and pushed him out the door. It was like we were set up just to have her start a fight! She is unethical and immoral. I would not ever use her and hope NO ONE ever does! Disgusting professional and person that does not care about you or the family she is up against. SHAME ON YOU KAREN AND YOUR FIRM. read more

In my son's case, this attorney accomplished nothing and as far as her emails indicated, she didn't even read half of what I had written her. She did not honor our agreement to put a limit on what I spent in attorney fees, and that was just the beginning. I never received a bill in the mail, never. I assumed I was working off my retainer, only to get an overinflated bill at the end. After drawing this case out for 6 months, (until I put an end to it), I found out research was done on my case " the day before court." And then she billed her time when she assigned an associate to my case. I would not recommend her to anybody!! read more

I feel it is my due diligence to post a review to forewarn others to avoid this law practice. My uncontested divorce was utterly painful due to their lack of follow through. My file was misplaced and my calls and emails were rarely returned. The new client paperwork was never given to me and I was later berated my Karen herself regarding my incompetence as a divorce client. I never planned to get a divorce and didn't study Illinois law so that was why I hired an attorney. I have never heard so many excuses and never an apology for such a fouled up case. A year after my divorce finalized I am finally done with all the outstanding paperwork due to all the typos and errors...wrong names, dates and addresses were used. Learn how to cut and paste to make accurate documents. Have a heart Karen and treat your clients with respect. And learn to accept your mistakes and amend them. Enough knocking people when they are down, what you did to me was absolutely heartless. I hope you and John have learned from all the errors in my case and will longer treat a client as you did me. Wish someone had let me know before I hired them. Good riddance! read more

Actually went on here to review another lawyer and saw Karen's review. Had her in the 90's over custody issues. Would not use her to get custody of a dog much less my children. I did get custody of my children when I went to another lawyer (thanks Mike). read more

My past divorce was a nightmare. This was many years ago and I hired Lavin. Spouse was fighting it, he is a cheater. I was not asking for anything more than an equal half of debts and assets. He just did not want the divorce. She let it ride on and on then almost 1 year later she announced that my equity in my home was no longer enough to cover her bill so I had to either start paying her cash or she would withdraw as my attorney and I would need to look for another. I hired another, divorce went through the following month, it was divided in half and she Lavin took her payment right off the top of my half of the equity in my home so I was left with nothing. My new lawyer reduced his fee so that I broke even. Would never refer her to anyone. read more

If I had written this in January, I would have given it more stars. But it's June and I just received the refund for my overpayment today. I went and picked it up at her office after waiting MONTHS for it to arrive in the mail.(There were multiple reminders from me and multiple excuses from her office) And then I saw that the included invoice (which I am sure is pre-printed) demanding that payment be made within 10 days or a finance fee would be added Blah blah blah. What I didn't see was any kind of apology (or added finance fee for me) for having to wait MONTHS for my money to be returned. I might add that I always PAID promptly. As for Ms. Lavin's talents, I liked her personality. She picked up a case for us in the middle and I think if she had had it from the start the outcome might have been more expedient and perhaps more positive. My husband disagrees. Especially now with the refund issue. But she does seem far more compassionate, to me, than any other attorney with whom we spoke and that alone can be appealing in family court. Just keep an eye on your bill. read more

There is an attorney in the KLM office named John Parisi. If you want any kind of positive result, I suggest you avoid having him represent you. He represented me over two years ago in my divorce. The other attorney walked all over him. She was probably laughing the whole way because she didn't even have to try to intimidate him. He did not stand up for me in any way. I was forced into agreeing to a lot of things I should not have had to agree to if I had an attorney who would stand up to anybody. There was absolutely nothing fair about the whole agreement because "Attorney" John Parisi did not fight for anything at all. Over two years later, there are still issues that have not been resolved because he did not bother to get any solid dates for anything that was left to be taken care of. If you do not want to suffer for years after your divorce do not, under any circumstances, hire "Attorney" John Parisi. I don't know how he received a law degree. They must not have to be able to win an argument to be able to get the degree, or even care to win an argument. I guess if you pay enough money, you can get a degree in anything. read more

I was recommended to use Karen from someone that she was actually against because she was a fighter. Yes strong personality, but that was all I got out of her. At first, I thought great finally a lawyer that would really look out for mine any my children's best interests, WRONG-it was once again how much $ I can take from this client. Charged me for advice that I gave her no approval to handle and if I took it, I would have been in a worse position then I started. Passionate no way, when I was upset & crying she said we had been on the phone to long and suggested that we hang up.....don'twant to waste her precious time. Watch her contract, she doesn't explain it and when she wants off your case she withdraws and charges you for documentation and court time and adds about $1000 to your ending bill. Her office staff very nice but a fighter, she is not. It is a shame when someone lists all their good deeds they do for women and the community, but then takes advantage of the situation. read more