I had a lot of anxiety and stress going into my case, and I ended up hiring Zelikha last minute…read more From the moment she took my case, she acted quickly and got straight to work. She was professional, focused, and made me feel supported during a really overwhelming time. Zelikha handled everything efficiently and helped me stay calm and prepared. Thanks to her hard work and dedication, I was awarded primary physical custody of my child, which means everything to me. I'm truly grateful for her and would highly recommend her to anyone needing a strong, reliable attorney who genuinely shows up for their clients.

After the case had concluded, I won most of my family law issues. Contact them for a consultation…read moreto get a good foundation where to start.

I work for a large Title/Esrow company and always recommend SDL to people who want to add/subtract…read morea person from a deed, change something on title, need a document executed, notarized and recorded which is not an active escrow.

My mediation clients found her document prepaeation stellarShe is smart and effecient. It is indeed…read morea same day legal propcess Dr. Robert D Doerr

We started working with Ms. Abbass to prepare our estate plan after our first child was born last…read moreyear, based in part on the strength of these reviews. However, our experience did not reflect the praise shared here and it was a mess all around- + We were given a questionnaire asking a number of questions to which we didn't have sufficient context to answer. + Ms. Abbass was patronising and borderline rude from the beginning - and was outright dismissive of our naive responses to the legal questions in the questionnaire. For example, when we had directions we wanted to place around our child's care involving overseas family, she called it "a dumb idea" but did not elaborate on why. + The office seems to work in a pre-digital age and notes on our questionnaire were handwritten. Despite us filling out the form accurately using a computer (so that names were written clearly), the prepared drafts were full of very basic mispellings of our names and inconsistencies (i.e. relationships were stated wrong - my father was stated as my wife's father, etc.). We provided amendments via text as we were travelling and didn't have access to a scanner - but Ms. Abbass refused to incorporate them unless we amended the actual draft document by hand and sent it back. + She placed a huge amount of pressure on us to review the documents within two weeks but it took her office over a month to send us the first draft. By the time we received the draft, we were travelling overseas for an extended period of time and it was challenging for us to review the documents in detail. + She was adamant that we would only be allowed to ask for one set of changes because of the limitations of our legal plan. This gave me a lot of cause for concern because 1) I'm not a lawyer and 2) there were so many trivial errors in the original draft. + Ms. Abbass refused to respond to any of my queries on how to answer specific questions after our initial response until I escalated to her office staff and expressed my disappointment with the professionalism of this response. + We received professional communication from Ms. Abbass's personal AOL account, so I had concerns that our personal data was not being securely stored and protected. In the end, I decided to seek another firm to work with. My (again, naive) understanding is that estate plans are pretty significant to implement and fund and I had zero confidence in the way ours was being handled and set up.

We are returning clients for Magany Abbass, Inc. We initiated our first family in 2010 and needed…read moreto update our status with the personal milestone approaching. I took full advantage of the union members' opportunity at UPS with the list of panel attorneys through the Western Conference of Teamsters Legal Services. We returned to Magany since we had a positive outcome the first time, and she was straightforward about what was needed to get the ball rolling. After the initial documents needed to proceed, Magany's legal team, Adriss, contacted us. We stayed in constant contact via email and over a dozen phone calls from the initial round of drafting, proofreading, signature day, and notary office visits. Though I mentioned to Magany that we had time constraints and a tiny window to work with, she gladly appreciated that information to accomplish our family trust promptly. Check that off the list! Thank you, Magany.

Recommended to me by a realtor and another title company. They helped me with a deed transfer- made…read morethe process super simple! Professional and courteous staff

In 2023, I heard about Guideway from a title company (who would not help me) when my mother passed…read moreaway and I needed to get the deed/title for home changed as her successor trustee. The process was smooth, clear, efficient, and less expensive than I expected for legal work. In 2025, I remembered my good experience and contacted Guideway again. As successor trustee of a different estate which includes a house that is not paid off, I was asked by the mortgage company for proof that the trust was still valid. This trust is from 2017 and had no connection with Guideway. I was at a loss about what would prove that the trust was still valid; nothing had changed. I was so happy to reach Ian Duncan at Guideway! He knew what I needed immediately, told me what it would cost (once again, not much!), and shared clearly what the steps would be. I work full time and don't live very close to Walnut Creek, but we were able to do everything online. Ian also took my phone call when I had questions (some of which were more like irrational worries), and talked me though my concerns and what the options were. He was so clearly experienced, knowledgeable, professional, and also warm and understanding. His patience showed no end when I asked for a small follow-up revision (out of my own caution, likely unnecessary) on the document. He quickly revised it and sent it to me within hours. Throughout the process, Ian was very responsive and efficient -- even replying to me outside of business hours, which I would never expect -- and was friendly, clear, and patient. I'm so happy to have Guideway, especially Ian, and to have this bureaucratic issue resolved. Thank you!!

The difference between a good lawyer and great lawyer is called Dess. She provided me incredible…read moreinsight and understanding on a trust I need to manage. I've dealt with multiple attorneys over the years and Dess stands out as the best.

My wife and I had the pleasure to use the services of Dess. We had our wills and a trust set up…read more Dess guided us through this process effortlessly. She answered all of our questions and presented to us the best way to set up the wills and trust. We highly recommend Dess and will continue to her service in future dealings. Thank you Dess

David Arietta and Megan Huffman were both incredibly patient and compassionate throughout the…read moreentire case, helped guide us through every step, and made sure everything was taken care of. Professional, diligent, and reliable; highly recommended to anyone who needs legal representation!

Terrible experience!!! I reached out to David and his team for their service. I was charged $3500…read morefor the entire service and when I asked to delay the filing of the case, he was going to charge me another $3500. All I needed was to wait to file my case for another 2 months. From there, I opted to cancel his service and I only got partial of my payment. He and his team (Megan) lacks communication. It takes weeks for either one of them to get back to you. Megan had all my paperwork all wrong. More than half of my claims were missing for the filing and she says "I didn't look through all of them." What am I paying you for?!? Would NOT recommend their service.

I prefer to call him Robert because I respect him so much even though he prefers to go by Bob. A…read moretrue Oracle, gentleman and human being, who will push aside his personal life to make sure your urgent family situation (missing children!) is addressed -- even on Christmas Day. My wife physically assaulted me while on a court-ordered a EPO and then abducted my children the week before Christmas for a month. Bob spent four hours during Christmas Day with me laying out everything I would need to know and he was later proved to be 100% accurate on every single word that came out of his mouth. Bob is truly a nice guy. I don't think he'll ever retire because he loves what he does and he provides such a strong value to the local families who urgently need his expertise navigating the challenging family court situation often for the first time. I tried to find an attorney several days before Christmas and the entire industry was out of service until the second week of January. I believe my wife took my children that week specifically to make it very challenging for me, but Bob stepped up and saved the day in a huge way. I could ramble on for hours about how Bob and Carolyn are consummate professionals, and how they changed my perspective on family lawyers. Bob and Carolyn secured 50% parental access for me within three weeks. The opposing firm told my wife to run away with our kids after removing them from the home and was using every tactic in the book, but Bob played hardball in the most professional way during the most important time in my entire life. He stepped up like an athlete during the Olympics and I forever will love Bob.

Bob Goodman and his associate Carolyn Pettifer worked hard to help secure my community property…read moreinterest in my ex-wife's pension. It took a while but thanks to Carolyn's persistence we were finally able to get the matter resolved. Without her efforts I would never have been joined to my ex-wife's pension because the divorce was 28 years ago and the original court's order was not carried out due to pre-digital record keeping snafus. I'm also very grateful to Bob for helping me navigate through a very challenging time in my marriage. He is extraordinarily responsive and knowledgeable and I recommend him and Carolyn to anyone contemplating a divorce or other family law matter.

I received a falsehood ridden Cease and Desist letter from this firm that included threats of…read morefurther action. The letter ended with: "...please do not hesitate to contact me directly." Yet they refuse to take or return my calls, and multiple written communications sent to them have been ignored. I believe this review is compliant with the written Yelp Guidelines which state: "address the core of the consumer experience"

They helped me out on a legal matter with all the necessary documentation etc. Very professional…read moreand helpful.

We recently worked with James Stein, upon the recommendation of friends, to create our estate plan,…read moretrusts, etc. He was a delight to work with. Very thorough, excellent at explaining the "whys" of what we were doing together, and fun to work with - even working through thorny topics! We received a huge estate plan binder from him once the plan was finalized and some further instructions for making any necessary changes to deeds and accounts to add the trust and avoid any problems in the future. I would not hesitate to recommend him to others.

We recently worked with James Stein, upon seeing his overall 5-star rating on Yelp, to create our…read moreestate plan, trust and Advance Health Care Directives. James was an ultimate professional, he even found an error in the legal description of our latest deed recorded in 2003 by comparing it with our initial purchase deed from 1998 and our neighbor's deeds. He divided the whole process into different stages and made a complicated process relatively easy. At first, he asked a lot of questions to collect personal data and gauge what exactly we need for our plan. Then he gave us some specific homework and encouraged us to ask more questions. At the final stage, he gave us a big beautiful binder of estate plans with a cover letter about some further instructions to avoid any problems in the future. Over all, he was a delight to work with and we would not hesitate to recommend him to others.

David is a great communicator and great attorney. He does a great job for his clients. It has…read morebeen a pleasure working with him.

This review is overdue, but it's been a year since my final settlement conference and I'm still…read moretrying to fix the mistakes Mr. Lederman made in my divorce. I've had to hire other attorneys to correct multiple oversights and errors he made in my case. It's cost me an additional year (and counting), and many times more than his initial estimate. I would seriously consider taking Mr. Lederman to court for malpractice, but I still have my hands full with the divorce he did a remarkably poor job on. I originally hired David based on his reputation. I had a similar experience to another negative review here. I was working with another attorney at their firm, and was reassigned to David. Here are the reasons for my negative review: - of the 5 things he requested in my settlement conference, he got me zero. Based on the status quo requirements in California for health insurance, he may have even gotten me less than what was legally required. Looking over the conference transcript, he told the judge that MediCal would provide the specialty benefits I'd need (it doesn't). In the transcript, the judge replied with skepticism to that proposal. - Mr. Lederman left me hanging with an outstanding bill for thousands of dollars my ex was court-ordered to pay before the final settlement conference, despite my having emailed Mr. Lederman multiple times to get it resolved beforehand. - After many months of assiduous billing by his firm, and extensive discovery showing that my ex had the funds to pay my legal fees, I asked about how to get my ex to pay. His firm hadn't yet gotten around to asking for support or attorney's fees, and never did: something both the opposing counsel and the judge remarked on. - when trying to get my ex to declare known, proven, and highly visible accounts for the initial financial disclosure, Mr. Lederman eventually gave up, instructing me to settle the divorce with him, and pursue the omitted assets in a separate lawsuit. - The opposing counsel pressed for a resolution conference three weeks after the initial meet-and-confer conference. The judge said this wasn't enough time to get outstanding issues finalized, but Mr. Lederman insisted he would "make do". The judge was right, and now I've had to hire other attorneys for the subpoenas and discovery that should have happened before the final settlement conference, not after. - his firm spent 6 weeks hammering out a privacy order they recommended to protect sensitive information. Later I saw that the privacy order they drew up required any confidential papers to be marked as such before they were filed. To my knowledge, not a single paper was marked as confidential, and now my private information is part of the public record. I have to hire another attorney to take care of this. - In terms of the client preparation he mentions, I never received a case strategy or cost analysis, despite asking for it. The afternoon before the settlement conference hearing, I had to call his office to find out how to log on to the video conference. I had emailed David about it earlier that day, and had no response. I hoped he'd show up, but wasn't entirely sure he would. - this was all with assiduous and extensive billing from his firm. Going over the bills, I'd find entries for other cases that had slipped into my bill. I need to take responsibility for my part, and I stayed with his firm when there were multiple red flags. But, I've never been divorced before, and I trusted David. There are many qualified family law attorneys in the Bay Area, with no negative reviews, who are competing for your business. I understand my experience may be an outlier, but there's no reason to take the risk when looking to hire a divorce attorney. Divorce is an extraordinarily stressful period in one's life, and my experience with Mr. Lederman made it more so. Choosing him as an attorney prolonged the process, and considerably upped the cost of mine. I hope you find a more reliable advocate.