Early in the process of my divorce it became apparent that my lawyer of choice was not competent or…read morecaring. Through an acquaintance, Allison was then recommended as someone with superior skills, understanding, and one that would ensure the best outcome for me. Thankfully I took her advice and switched my representation to Allison. By far, the best decision I made through the painful process of divorce was making that switch! Allison was simply fabulous to work with! Her guidance, strategy, and management of the legal process was outstanding and it led to an outcome that I can feel good about for the rest of my life. She always exhibited an understanding of the anxiety, stress, and depression that can accompany dissolution. And furthermore, and most importantly, she truly represented MY best interests. Yes, she was a fantastic legal representative, but she also was a support mechanism. Kudos to anyone that decides to use Allison's services...you will not be disappointed. James M.

Simply the best divorce and family attorney in St Paul!read more

I was the opposing party in a Dakota County family-court matter in which Clarence Patterson III…read morerepresented the other side. He never represented me. This review concerns my direct experience with his courtroom advocacy and written positions. I understand that attorneys must advocate firmly for their clients. But in family court, words can alter a person's life before disputed facts are fully examined. At an August 28, 2025 hearing, the transcript records Mr. Patterson saying that I "love to talk about guns," that my "relationship with guns is concerning," warning that people could be "caught in the crossfire," and later portraying me as someone who "needs a gun to solve his problems." I stated on the record that I hated guns, had never owned one, and would never have one. I found it profoundly disturbing to be portrayed through repeated gun-related language when I was expressly denying any interest in owning a firearm. The same transcript records Mr. Patterson referring to "his bipolar disorder" while denying my concern that mental-health labeling was being used against me. I experienced the combined gun and mental-health framing as stigmatizing and dehumanizing--an effort to turn disputed allegations into a frightening portrait of an armed and mentally unstable person. A separate and extremely serious discrepancy involved Dakota County Crisis. A sworn filing in the case stated that a crisis-team member had contacted counsel and that the entire office had been alerted about me. A Dakota County Crisis supervisor later wrote that she had searched the system and consulted with colleague supervisors, found no record or recollection of such an alert, found no documentation of a duty-to-warn event, and stated that the team does not communicate directly with attorneys. In my view, a discrepancy involving a claimed government warning was too consequential to be left unresolved. It deserved a prompt, transparent, and documented explanation. Mr. Patterson also asked the court not to consider approximately fifty exhibits because he said he had not received them. I am not claiming in this review that the service objection itself constituted misconduct. I am describing the consequence as I experienced it: severe allegations were presented while a substantial body of my responsive evidence was not considered at that hearing. The matter ultimately resolved by stipulation before the scheduled evidentiary hearing. The most severe characterizations were therefore not adjudicated through that scheduled hearing. The litigation nevertheless caused profound personal, financial, and reputational harm. I found Mr. Patterson's approach unnecessarily escalatory, stigmatizing, and damaging. I would not recommend him. Strong advocacy does not require turning another human being into a caricature of mental illness and violence. Family-law attorneys exercise enormous power, and that power should be matched by factual precision, restraint, professional judgment, and accountability.

Working with Clarence was an excellent experience. He is knowledgeable, straight forward, hard…read moreworking, and transparent. He was extremely helpful and honest with me. He was reasonably priced and respected my time. Thanks to him, I was able to win in court thanks to him. Even if it had it not ended in my favor, I would have felt appreciative of the way he was able to convert what was an immense level of stress on my shoulders into calm and clarity. I appreciate the work he does.

Mr Dittrich represented me in my very difficult divorce. More than that, he was patient,…read morecompassionate, and gave me sound advice that resulted in the best possible outcome in what was a very difficult situation for myself and my family. I've had the pleasure to have Mr Dittrich represent me in mediation and consult with me multiple times in the 7 years since my initial divorce. I worked with 4 different lawyers during the 3 years that it took to achieve a settlment in my initial divorce and I was very fortunate to find Dittrich Law Firm. I can honestly say that Greg is the best. I highly recommend Dittrich law firm..

I couldn't be more thankful for Jennifer's help. She was able to negotiate a VERY serious and…read morecostly situation down to a petty misdemeanor. Without her, I could have been facing a hefty fine that I couldn't afford and possible cancellation of privileges...or, worst case scenario, jail time...for a very stupid, stupid, stupid mistake. She and her incredible assistant, Mikki, treated me with the utmost understanding and respect! I will recommend her services to everyone!!

Jennifer is more than amazing! She went above and beyond! More than helpful! Very proactive and…read morevery helpful during all my court hearings! I would highly recommend her!

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Ms. Markiewicz!!!…read more This is a late review and I completely dropped the ball on posting this. Ms. Markiewicz was extremely helpful when I got married in 2017 by preparing and negotiating a prenuptial agreement for me. She was extremely fair and knowledgeable, because I had no clue how to navigate some of the challenges of negotiating a prenup and feeling extremely overwhelmed. Ms. Markiewicz was very understanding, professional, and respectful when things got heated between my fiance and I and she took my fiance's calls and responded to his emails. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a prenup or any other representation. Ms. Markiewicz was patient and worked with me while I was going through an extremely stressful time and she literally held my hand all the way to the end. Thank you!!!

IF I COULD AWARD NEGATIVE STARS, I WOULD!!!…read more My fiance' and I recently engaged Ms. Markiewicz to help prepare a prenup agreement and had an absolutely horrific experience. It appeared that Ms. Markiewicz approached our prenup as a hostile divorce (rather than a loving marriage) pitting my future bride and I against each other, employing emotionally charged adversarial negotiation tactics and dragging out an expensive lawyer intensive process to...literally...the day before our wedding. She dismissed the process I had proposed where my fiance' and I would work together (doing much of the work ourselves) to craft a fair and equitable agreement through an amicable collaborative process with guidance and feedback from our respective counsel. She also ignored my request to provide an overview of the process, key milestones and timeline that she would suggest as an alternative. Instead, she just moved forward in a manner that lead to a drawn out, time consuming, resource intensive (read "lots of billable hours") process that dramatically increased our legal fees; created intense stress, conflict and emotional trauma; and dragged the "negotiation" process out to...literally...the day before our wedding. And to top things off, she billed us double the hours that our other lawyer did...even though he crafted and authored the multiple drafts of the proposed prenup and the key legal documents. This nightmare of a process resulted in prenup that neither one of us felt good about, legal fees that were 3-4 times what we had expected, a prenup that got signed the AFTERNOON before our wedding and an excruciatingly stressful...downright traumatic...process that led to my fiance' and I "breaking up" twice in the two weeks prior to our wedding (including 4 days before). I can not possibly overstate how brutal the process was or how much disdain I hold Ms. Markiewicz in. In my humble opinion, if you want to hire a pitbull to inflict as much damage as possible in a very nasty divorce, Ms. Markiewicz may be a suitable candidate. But if your objective is to collaborate with people you care about to achieve a a fair and equitable outcome that all parties can feel good about through a professionally managed expedient process at a reasonable cost (both financially and emotionally), I would recommend running in the opposite direction as fast as humanly possible. P.S. This review features no embellishment or exaggeration (and I have the email audit trail to back up every word). I had never met...or even heard of...Ms. Markiewicz prior to this prenup process, do not work in the legal profession nor have any other potential conflicts of interests. I invested the time to write this review solely in the interest of helping others avoid repeating what was one of the most traumatic professional experiences of my life. One that came very close to aborting my wedding and costing me the woman that I love, adore and cherish with all my heart.

I hired Steve Messick to help me with a family dispute over a trust fund that belongs to my…read moreintellectually disabled sister. I should've known right off the bat that this was a bad idea. While Christine Boulay, his assistant was pleasant, when Steve called me back to discuss the case, he was flat, unenthusiastic, and uninterested. Against my better judgement I retained him anyway as I wanted to get started as soon as possible. At no time did Steve Messick call me to explain the process of the case or what to expect. In fact, as the case moved along over the summer, there were actually incidents of him asking ME what to do!! WTH!? I'm paying you thousands of dollars to help me navigate these shark infested waters, and you're asking me what to do!?! I had to tell him yet again what I needed/wanted, even though he feigned that he already knew... Then, as important dates approached, such as filing a motion in court, the firm would hit me with another huge bill. This happened three separate times, and I found it ironic that these bills would appear right when we were at a critical point in the case process. No coincidence! 100% planned! And poor form!! I also had to constantly stay on top of Christine with case progress. I had to e-mail and call multiple times any time I needed an update on the status of any event, such as if the motion was filed in court, whether or not the opposing party had been properly served, whether or not I needed to attend certain meetings etc. In short, communication was TERRIBLE!!! In the end Christine sent me three different invoices all for the same services, with three DIFFERENT amounts!! When I questioned her about this, she wrote me an extensive e-mail trying to explain away her lack of attention to detail and non-communication! After them trying to send me yet another bill for $1900, I was DONE!! I let them know how crappy this was. Then, without a phone call of ANY kind to resolve the miscommunication, this JERK of an attorney simply filed paperwork withdrawing his services as my attorney...2 WEEKS BEFORE THE HEARING DATE!!! This spells in no uncertain terms: ZERO CHARACTER, and the WORST that most people see in attorneys!! Unless you want to experience all of the above and worse, DONT CONTACT THIS FIRM!!! P.S. I hired a smart, competent, female attorney from a different firm the same day, and told them as well to NEVER refer anyone to Steve Messick!

Messick Law is an extraordinary law firm. Steve Messick honored my needs for a power-of-attorney…read more Instead of trying to force me into a standard-one-fits-all, Steve listened to me and my concerns. He was patient with my questions of the process and the meanings in the document. I learned so much from him. When I said what I wanted, he put it in language that is understandable (to lay people like me) and legal. I found Steve to be compassionate, kind, professional, friendly, and respectful. Steve is the BEST. Plus, interactions with the other staff, for example, scheduling and documents was excellent.

Amanda provided excellent legal services to me. I was treated with respect, and she carefully…read moreconsidered all the details of my case. She has a thorough knowledge of the law, and communicates with the client in a clear and precise way. She was attentive to the smallest details in my case. I would highly recommend Amanda as an Attorney. Craig Bergh

...if you are looking for a Lawyer who will fight for you tooth and nail, call Dan Adkins. His…read moreLegal Expertise is second to none and he listens to his Clients and will get the results that you are seeking! In my situation he not only got the charge lowered but also was able to get me off of probation in 2 Months! Don't listen to the run of the mill Attorneys, saying there is little or nothing that can be done. Prove them wrong and give Dan a call! I can promise you, he works Legal Miracles! He keeps his Clients at the center and forefront of what he does and he'll FIGHT to the very end to get you the results you ask for! If it can be done, DAN IS THE MAN!! Call NOW!!