WARNING; EXTREME UNPROFESSIONALISM! I had such a negative experience with Ann-Marie Okros and was…read moreforced into a position of having to replace her because she was just so unprofessional. From being late, unprepared, and unresponsive, to finally stealing $3,000 from me after she basically forced me to switch attorneys. After some research I see from other reviews that my experience isn't uncommon. When you're fighting for your children or going through divorce you really need someone that's gonna fight for you. Ann-Marie barely showed up for me. If you want more frustration during one of the most trying times of your life, hire her to get ripped and get robbed. I've added more below.
PLEASE READ FOR YOUR SAKE. Note; I don't believe in writing a bad review unless it's absolutely necessary. This is unfortunately necessary.
I'm keeping this as brief as possible which means I'll be leaving out a ton of details but you'll get the gist of it. My experience with Ann-Marie as my attorney is far from positive. I had used her in the past and almost fired her because of lack of communication and to be quite honest, she comes off as extremely lazy, very unorganized, and terribly unresponsive. The ONLY reason I used her for this last hearing was because I had a credit on file with her firm of over $2,000 and she was already retained for my custody stuff. We jumped into a new motion for custody against me and it was same old, same old. She doesn't return calls, doesn't respond to emails promptly if at all, and it's extremely frustrating. She blew through the $2,000 credit in just a couple weeks and her invoices are "reviewed emails and worked on case". How does one blow through $2,000 in pay by reading emails? She hasn't even responded to them so, what on earth? Regardless, this is a fight for my children and she knows enough of the details and enough about my divorce that I really don't think it's a good idea to try to switch attoneys so I'm gonna white knuckle it. That was a big mistake. Very first hearing before the judge she comes in 10 minutes late, speed walking down the court hallway, hair is a mess, she's holding a stack of papers literally 10" thick, her outfit in shambles, papers flying, and eyes filled with panic. I'm looking at her literally embarrassed that this is my representation. Then she sits down next to me nearly out of breath and starts hounding me for information. I've sent her a ton of emails giving every detail, every account, tons of evidence, character letters, everything needed and now she's hounding me for information, showing clearly she hasn't "reviewed emails and worked on case" like her invoice claims. Ugh... We lost in court and I lost my kids, against false accusations and zero evidence. Hang in there cause it gets worse. We set an FOC (Friend of Court) hearing with a referee and get this reversed. I start preparing for this hearing and Ann-Marie is showing me a few signs of hope by actually responding to emails and answering calls, not consistently but enough to keep me hanging on. She sent me another invoice for $3,000 and reluctantly I paid her. BAM! Instance silence. She's got my money and immediately becomes unresponsive. There are other reviews out there describing her the same way. Unfortunately I read those reviews AFTER all this. So she's got my $3,000 and I can't get a peep out of her. I'm in the fight of my life for my children and she's gone silent. I need to know we have a plan, and know she received my email with my evidence and witness list and documentation and pertinent information but no response. In a move of desperation I did some research and hired another attorney. Literally the day I hire the other attorney, Ann-Marie calls me. Complete shocker because I wasn't even sure she was still living. I told her I retained another attorney AND SHE COMPLETELY UNDERSTOOD! She told me she was sorry for not responding to my attempts of communication and she understood why I hired another attorney. She ADMITTED she dropped the ball on my case. The honesty was appreciated, but it gets worse. She refuses to give me a refund! After her admittance of guilt you'd think she'd agree and refund my $3,000. NOTE: This was money paid IN ADVANCE. She didn't send me a bill for services rendered but she was going to draw off that $3,000. That's how attorneys work. They get paid in advance. SHE COMPLETELY REFUSES THE REFUND!
Even now, my case isn't closed because there were some hang ups and my ex refuses to sign the agreement, so i've offered her a chance to work off some of the $3,000 and she refuses to respond. I was hoping to give her a chance to redeam herself but she continues to demonstrate a serious lack of integrity. COMPLETE WASTE. Get in touch if you want more details. Erik Emery 231-649-7744
