Lisa M Dugoni, APC

Not sure why Unilocal is hiding my review. I was honest about my experience with this business and other potential clients should be warned about the the ability of this firms effectiveness of handling cases successfully or efficiently.

I can highly recommend Lisa Dugoni if you are facing a potential divorce or other family law issue in San Mateo County where her practice is located. She has been practicing law for many years and has a quick and facile understanding of complicated business and financial issues that are a part of many divorces. Lisa herself is very well-​respected in the legal community by peers and judges and maintains business relationships with highly competent and honest forensic accountants etc whose expertise is invaluable when necessary. She also does not call in these professionals when it is neither necessary nor financially feasible. In working with Lisa and her staff, I saw that she pushes tasks to the LEAST expensive person in the practice which saves the client money. Her experience, competence, resourcefulness, kindness, honesty and determination to best serve each client make her the highly respected professional that she is. She may not always tell her clients what they want to hear but she will always speak the truth and give a client options so that the client feels in control of a sometimes out of control time in life. She is also absolutely unflappable. She is calm and strategic no matter how complicated the situation. If you are facing divorce or other family law situation, interview several attorneys. I am so happy that after doing so I chose Lisa Dugoni. She has represented me most expertly and made a positive impact on my future financial situation.

I had very little time to get ready for my court day and no time to bargain shop for a law firm. I needed a good attorney and what I got was a great attorney. Lisa came highly recommended and for good reasons. She’s knowledgeable, experience and dedicated. I was anxious and very nervous about the whole process but Lisa was available and willing to walked me through the court process to ease my nerves. Family law has so much hanging on the balance, however, I was thankful that I had Lisa by my side, she’s compassionate, yet, tenacious. Is not easy to navigated the court system, I need it a competent attorney who actually cared, but I was fortunate that I had Lisa do both for me, she is competent and cares. She left nothing to chance,
Lisa and her well organised staff worked seemly synchronized and such professionalism was reflected on the positive outcome of my case. I hope I will not need an attorney again but if I do, I know who to call «Lisa».

If you need a competent lawyer for a very challenging divorce, Lisa is NOT for you. Briefly, after temorary restraining order Lisa was hired for respresentation for a permanent restraining order. She took a 2 hour history at the first meeting. For the court we had a date to meet ½ hour prior to court for prepping. She showed up 25 minutes late so it was straight to the court room and then while listening to prior cases in family court she was whispering in the back of the court prepping her client. When our case was heard she failed to mention to the court that ex-​husband stalked by phoning work site and administration of employer. Outside the court room she was asked why she didn’t mention the work contacts by the ex? «I didn’t think that would have made much of a difference.» She also advised to return to the family home even though it wasn’t safe. When asked if broken ribs would help the case she just shrugged her shoulders. Her outfit, in my opinion, was inappropriate for a courtroom. She wore a sleeveless summer mini-​dress, no nylons and bare-​backed cocktail shoes. Lisa was fired after this proceeding and of the $ 5000 retainer fee $ 45 was deducted for writing up the bill. Eventually, ex-​husband was awarded therapeutic supervised visits for the 2 children of this marriage, and in a second unrelated case from this one, the child from his prior marriage. In this situation Lisa was not proactive with Domestic Violence and certainly did not take it seriously.

Luckily, I don’t need law advice often… but when I do it’s nice to have this team on your side — plus, I’d give them five stars alone for their office hours — most lawyers aren’t willing to take business calls at pre-​dawn hours to accommodate a client’s west coast/​east coast schedule but the team here must drink a lot of coffee because they’re just as professional at 6 a.m. as they are at 6 p.m. Lawyers aren’t cheap (unfortunately) and they aren’t psychics (unfortunately, again) so they can’t guarantee that you’ll win your case and they aren’t going to spend their time attempting to for free — but this A-​team is worth every penny!

I actually had a great experience with this office. They had two different rates: one for less senior attorneys (cheaper) and one for the more experienced ones (more expensive). I chose the cheaper option. The lawyer that handled my case always answered my emails and phone calls quickly. I was anxious and crying and she had patience with me asking the same questions over and over. My ex was threatening and demanding a lot of money to move out and the lawyer was useful in letting me know all those demands were illegal.
Finally I really appreciate her advice in avoiding a long case when my ex sued me for alimony. She said «I am not cheap, my fees are high» and that I could either lose a lot of money in lawyer fees by fighting for many months or get it done as soon as possible. The whole thing ended quickly, we negotiated a smaller payout for my ex and I didn’t feel I was robbed.

This attorney is VERY unresponsive. At the rate they charge, you would think they would at least get back to you! It’s incredible that these divorce attorneys can charge an arm and a leg and still take days to get back to you! They also miss filings, which end up hurting my case. I would not recommend this office.

Please, please, don’t hire this firm! It’s been three years since my divorce and I still rue the day I choose to work with this firm. They did absolutely everything they possibly could to damage my case, ruin my credibility, and then charge me exorbitant fees that made no sense.
Case in point: during my case, the first and second lawyers that were assigned to me quit, without warning, one right after the other. The advice I received from the first lawyer was, I’ve since learned, the EXACT opposite of what I should have done. The second lawyer was pretty much MIA until one day he simply quit the firm.
By this time, my case was in shambles, and I ended up losing everything, and owing the firm tens of thousands of dollars for «work» I feel they never actually accomplished. Their fees pretty much ate up the proceeds from our house I was ordered to sell (which should not have happened in the first place). And now? I make less than HALF of what my ex makes (he makes over 125K), and even though I am the primary custodian of our child, I receive no child or spousal support.
Oh well, life is tough and I don’t want to waste away feeling sorry for myself. But your lawyer should be competent, at the very least. I’d recommend my ex-husband’s attorney, actually.

By all means stay away from this firm! Lisa Dugoni says all the right things, but just strings you along, generating fees without getting any results. She makes lots of promises, but never honors them. She lacks basic knowledge of family law, and never follows through getting answers to your legal questions.
In short, an unethical, unprofessional, incompetent lawyer.