Several months ago, I was in the unfortunate position of needing to find a divorce attorney. I made…read morefour appointments with various area law firms (based on Yelp and Google reviews) and then I met with Alison at Bates Family Law. I immediately felt a sense of relief despite the incredible emotional stress I was experiencing. Throughout my divorce case, I was impressed with the efficiency I observed with Alison and every person in her office. Whenever I emailed or called with a question; I received a very quick response. Unfortunately, my case was incredibly complicated for a 15-year marriage without children. Despite the complications, Alison was able to manage my case successfully but I believe it required a professional with her depth of knowledge. Also, the final cost of my case was significantly less than I had estimated, and I am very grateful. I am highly satisfied with the outcome. I am confident the result could not have been achieved if I had signed with a different firm. I highly recommend Bates Family Law.

I used Kevin & Debbie (Rochester, NY office) for my mediation process. I really would love to give…read morethem 5 stars because Kevin was just a good dude...very knowledgable. Debbie, the paralegal who I only ever consulted with via e-mail, was helpful if lacking a tad of bedside manner. The reason for the drop from 5 to 4 is I felt things were not fairly or adequately explained to me during the mediation process. Now that I'm a year post-mediation, I really wish they had explained more of the Child Support laws - and that we should negotiate & potentially deviate from the state calculator because we were 50/50 custody. Instead, they just signed me up for the full $2,700/mo cost as the higher income earner and sent me packing. I also wish there was more thorough explanation about asset division. He suggested we keep her car loan in my name until the loan matures and just share the cost. Cool. Looks fine on paper, sounded fine in the office - but in reality, now I'm financially tied to my ex for 3-4 more years. I weirdly own her car and have to do her registrations, maintain insurance for her, and all that stuff. I can't imagine this isn't something they experienced before being professional family law specialists. A little education would've gone a long way. I appreciate that they wanted to keep things on the lower end of costs & move us through quickly...but some of these basic things would've been super helpful instead of telling me things to "get it done" that would ultimately be HUGE headaches later on.

I worked with Jamie Bakleh and she is absolutely the best lawyer I could ask for ! She was so…read morepatient, kind, professional and helped me navigate through my legal matter. She always kept me informed and answered all my questions promptly while taking a lot of time so I understood all matters. She was absolutely amazing and went out of her way to keep me calm when I was anxious. Jamie worked so hard on my case and I am forever grateful to her. So thank you from the bottom of my heart! I would recommend her to anyone.!

One of the worst experiences of my life. Assets were under valued and I have no weekends with my…read morekids ever. The first 8 hours of mediation were spent discussing fictional #'s where she had me paying child support for the entire year my kids turned 21 which was 19 extra months. After mediation you go to a fly by night attorney with a basement office to handle the legal part because she is not educated in the law. You don't have to have any training to become a mediator. I also overheard conversations while using the bathroom.

Do not use this woman if you're in a high conflict situation. I have spent over $60k in post…read moredivorce legal fees trying to untangle the complete mess of a separation agreement she authored. That's in addition to the lost custody time and general pain and suffering caused by the illogical and nonsensical terms she wrote into the agreement. During mediation, she definitely favored the other side, so men beware. My requests were quickly dismissed, while my ex's were given weight and preference. End result was an agreement that was comprised almost entirely of my ex's demands. I strongly recommend using an attorney mediator, not one who tells you to buy her book if you wish to understand all the proprietary terms she will throw at you.