Client
This review is for (Partner) Lisa Gilkey Schoetzow. During my divorce, after my wife and I had began mediation, and concluded it would be a super simple divorce since we agreed upon literally everything, my wife got a second opinion from Lisa. After meeting with Lisa my wife called me and informed me she would be dropping mediation and hiring Lisa. This was a nightmare scenario, because I had heard countless divorce stories during my years as a Mortgage Lender. Almost all of their stories had a theme, everything was going well until one they hired a divorce lawyer. So many of these stories ended up being eerily similar to what I experienced with Lisa, as my wife's divorce lawyer. Apparently, there's a method to being a very profitable divorce attorney with low profile (otherwise simple) divorces. First and foremost, drive a wedge between the two parties. She did this by confusing my wife at every turn, and constantly stoking her fear and paranoia. I would talk to my wife, we would agree on something, then I would hear from my lawyer that Lisa was saying something completely different than what I had just heard from my wife the day before. I would then contact my wife and inquire about the confusion, each time she sounded anxious, scared, and suspicious of literally EVERYTHING. It was the most bazaar and frustrating 18 months of my life. The number one reason for choosing mediation over "lawyering up" during a divorce, is for the children's benefit, and for co-parenting together easier in the years to come. What could've been a smooth, simple, divorce, turned into 18+ months of hell, racking up over $50k in legal fees, countless fights, sleepless nights, the list goes on. Sure divorces are never easy, but we had decided amicably on the divorce, we had been friends since we were in middle school, so for the most part we were completely on the same page with everything and both agreed we should end the marriage. The most astonishing and unprofessional thing I have ever experienced in my life occurred the day my lawyer (who I chose for his chill and nice guy approach, aka a human with a heart and soul) and I met at Lisa's office with my ex there as well. We had called the mtg in order to try to figure out where all this confusion was coming from. We all sat in a room as Lisa began attacking me with accusations while seemingly beside herself with animosity toward me... Again, no clue who this woman is, or why she is taking our case so personal (I was yet to realize this was how she drags our cases as long as possible). She asserted that perhaps I was cooking the books in my business, then went on to criticize my bank account transactions etc etc etc... She was asking about bank transactions that appeared to be mysterious to her, as I explained their validity one by one she become increasingly agitated that she was coming up empty on crusade against me. When she asked why I was donating money every week to "some church", I simply replied "that's our tithe". She snapped back "what's a tithe"?!? I replied "a tithe is a Christian principle of giving 10% of your income to a cause that you deem worthy such as a church, ministry, etc." Her face turned red as she realized she had swung and missed again, as she explained "oh well I'm Catholic, so we don't do that" (insert awkward cackle). She went on to chastise me for tithing during "a time like this" (my mortgage income was declining rapidly as interest rates spiked). I explained to her that tithing is an act of faith, and something that had blessed our lives greatly over the years, so yes, it's necessary in my eyes. She scoffed and rolled her eyes as she went into her next line of questioning. I could go on forever but I have a word limit here. I met 3 other people during those 18mo that had similar divorce stories, 2 of those people's spouses were represented by Lisa. The 3rd had hired Lisa as his counsel. ALL OF THEIR STORIES WERE IDENTICAL TO MY EXPERIENCE. My wife ended up received $200k less than I had initially offered in mediation, while Lisa lined her pockets.