Kern-Urbik Laura M

I just want to say that this is the first time I’ve ever written an online review of any kind. I am currently working with Laura and Sean on my third divorce, (yes I’ve learned my lesson) and I must say that the two of them have been nothing but professional and reasonable with their billing. They are straight forward, they tell you what you need to hear and not what you want to hear. They have been the only attorneys I’ve had represent me that actually made me feel that they are on my side and willing to fight for my rights and protect my rights. I am thankful to have this team of Lawyers representing me today. They play by the rules. They stick to proper procedures and don’t try to fool anybody. They are not the type to take the easy way out just to get the payday. I have recommended them to friends and have not been sorry I did.

I have never written an online review for a business and/​or person that I wasn’t satisfied with. I’m no fan of publically leaving bad reviews. My choice is to resolve personally but after my experience here, I feel I have no choice. I’ve been scared to death of retlatiation as a small business owner in the same town as this attorney. Unfortunately, I feel if I don’t share someone else may end up in an uphill battle that feels impossible to get out of. For ANYONE considering using her for legal representation, I urge you to read this… it will be long.
I went to her firm for help with a child support modification (450/​mo for 3 kids was financially destroying me). I’ve tried to modify over the past 5 years but my ex is complex, out of state, hides income, lies and I never had enough money to follow through. I was stressed and on a TIGHT budget and made that known. Laura Kern assigned one of her attorneys to me, she was awesome, compassionate and kind. Unfortunately, about a week after my petition was filed, she up and quit, NO notice. I should have known there had to be a reason for such an abrasive, fast exit.
Laura had to take me to trial. She was totally unprepared, crude, loud and uncaring at best. She cussed so much when the judge was out of the room, he came out of chambers and all but told her to shut up. I was mortified. I also felt this judge absolutely couldn’t stand my attorney. This should have been an open and shut contempt case and an increase. It was anything but. This judge never let her talk, you could feel the tension between the two and he overruled everything she said, pretty much never letting her get a word in.
I was out several thousand and pretty scared I was about to lose everything I was fighting for. I felt trapped and tried to do a lot of work myself, including drafting initial letters for her to edit. A year plus later, she called me forcefully demanding I pay her half of my bill or she was dropping me. Somehow, my bill was then at $ 8000 in a matter of 3 months and I’d never once seen an invoice. I panicked. I was stunned as this bill escalated after my hearing. I had all but talked with her once, everything else seemed to be one word emails or a sentence at most. I panicked big time, begging to see the invoice, found double charges, time added for a one sentence email, etc. Next thing I know she dropped me and sent over a judgment lien she’d file me if I didn’t sign and agree to the 12k something bill. I decided to dispute it in arbitration.
While waiting for our hearing in the lobby, Laura was cussing and yelling at me for everyone and anyone to hear. I was mortified and felt bullied beyond anything I’ve ever felt before. She’s an attorney, she was supposed to protect me and here I am worried about her finding a way to hurt my business and trying to scare me before disputing her fees. Talk about being scared and I’m a strong individual. The receptionist looked at me when I stood up with a look of fear on her face for me. Of course, this was right before we walked into the hearing. Great tactic, scare me and rattle me before having to present to a panel and plead my case. Bullying doesn’t even describe the fear she put on me in that lobby. I’ve all but begged for her to reconsider her charges for «reading my emails» as she put it and her response has been it’s too much drama and therefore, «I want full payment.» So if you are financially needing help with a family matter, I would think long and hard on which attorney you select. If I couldn’t handle the abrasive tone, talk and ways, I’m not surprised the judge wouldn’t either. Lesson learned, if the attorney you are working with up and walks out without notice, likely there’s a very good reason. I may never know why that was, nor do I care but thinking I couldn’t change counsel due to my initially payment of my retainer costed me thousands more. I should have gone with my gut and changed immediately.
Since, I’ve begged, pleaded and asked Laura to reconsider the 8k balance I have left (after it being reduced in arbitration, plus the $ 4000 already spent) since it was truly «emails» and in her words «drama» but when your life depends on child support, it’s not drama, in my opinion. The few words or a sentence response is not worth the money I was billed and even worse, she set me back big time compared to where I was when I started this process. I had to pay another attorney to get me out of the mess Laura left me with, financially costing me thousands more. Ethical billing seems to be difficult for some attorneys who have the legal system on their side. At this rate, even with a huge child support increase, I’ll never financially recover from this sort of frivalous and outrageous billing, in my opinion.
I changed attorneys and Lisa Giese overturned every single item I felt we were losing big on. Might take me 90 months to collect but it’s done, finally.