The 1-star reviews are not flukes. I cannot speak for anyone else but if you need another reason to avoid retaining Ellen, I will tell you my story... I hired Ellen as my attorney from 2018 through 2021 to advocate for me during my child custody and child support case. I was new to the process and ignored several red flags before I had to fire her as my attorney. The initial over-the-phone consultation was 30-days before the hearing date for child custody hearing. We spoke about the facts of the matter, she requested payment. On the day of the hearing, she had no clue what I was talking about when I introduced myself to her. She had to call her paralegal to validate that she was supposed to hear my case that day. Then without my consent she requested a continuance which was denied. On three separate occasions Ellen failed to communicate with me that she asked for a continuance because the hearing conflicted with something within her schedule. She never spoke to me before requesting the judge continue and as a result I was stuck looking dumbfounded as I took time off work hoping to have the matter heard only to have my attorney request the change. Even though I had no ability to effect the continuance I was charged for her appearance that day in court. This happened two more times. I later found out she had to continue due to personal medical reasons and being double booked for a criminal trial. In May 2021 I was sent an invoice for those date and when I questioned why I was being charged for the continuance I didn't ask for this was her response: "For 28 years the answer has been the same. We Continue hearings based on 2 objective criteria: Last scheduled is the case continued, Except in cases we have triaged as priority, i.e. domestic abuse which must be heard quickly by statute or when a child is endangered, The client's case continued, is the client billed. This charge will not be removed from your bill. The next time, another client's case may be continued because it conflicts with your case and you will never know about the other case we had to continue" I received an invoice from her that seemed unusually high. After contacting her I was informed I was being billed for multiple +1 hour conversations she was having with my high conflict co-parent (HCCP). She never even told me those conversations happened. She informed me that since my HCCP was not represented by an attorney she had to have legal conversations with her to ensure she understood what was happening. I informed Ellen that I was not going to pay for those conversations. The straw that broke the camel's back was when Ellen yelled at me during a hearing for not wanting to accepting the terms of an agreement that would allow my HCCP to avoid being fined and avoid paying court costs and lawyers fees when she was found in contempt. I had a horrible experience with Ellen. She has been doing this for a long time but the 1-star reviews are not flukes. Why take chances with something as important as family law read more

Thank you Ellen and team for sticking out a 2 year adoption battle with me. Your professionalism and dedication for doing what was right for the child has paid off. I am new first time father and could not be prouder. read more

The greed of this woman is insatiable. I consulted her for a mediation and she demanded "5K" from me even before she could talk. She then went on rambling about how excellent her services are and she has a 100% success rate. I immediately could figure out that something is wrong. I told her I would get back and then I looked at the reviews. THANK GOD ! I ALMOST ENDED UP GETTING SWINDLED......PLEASE PLEASE DONT GO TO HER. read more

Ellen follows up with the bad reviews on here but no one is really allowed to disagree with her statements. Yelp doesn't allow for a back and forth conversation. Ellen has a low standard for herself on what she finds as acceptable work. If you have expectations of someone working behind the scenes to viciously fight for you, don't assume she will. It is the fault of the person hiring her to not ask what her expectations are of herself. $5,000 plus for services means something different to everyone. read more

I hired this attorney for a divorce and property petition. After forking over a $3K retainer, it was radio silence from her office. I reached out numerous times to ask advice and was basically discouraged from contacting the office because it will cost me money. After 2.5 months of not even 1 phone call from the office, I reached out to find out where we stand. Granted, Hurricane Ida happened and knocked communication out through much of the area for a couple of weeks but after 2 months, you would think something would give. Finally, I was told a divorce petition was drafted in mid-September. I was shocked considering 1) I NEVER spoke with the attorney. We did not have a discussion prior to the petition being drafted. 2) At this point it was the end of October. Furthermore, the petition was riddled with typos and inaccurate information. I requested my retainer back but she kept $150 for the crappy petition. I think she has some nerve considering the amount of time it took and how badly drafted it was. Needless to say, I do not recommend Ellen Cronin Badeaux. read more

I should have checked the bad reviews before I chose this attorney. This is by far the worst attorney I've ever had the misfortune to be represented by in a custody matter. So much so, even the judge herself reprimanded her in every court appearance we had. Let me further elaborate. The first court appearance was supposed to be in person, and I tried to contact Mrs ellen for a month straight to inform her that the court date was approaching but they never returned my call. No contact whatsoever, didn't even bother to call me to prepare for the ruling in advanced. So the day of court, which we wasn't even sure she would appear, we searched around the building to locate her but to no avail, keep in mind she was supposed to be in person, however she appeared in a zoom call. When our proceedings began the Judge asked her "why are you appearing in a zoom call when you are supposed to be here in-person." Mrs Ellen got an attitude with the judge and said, "Well my paperwork says it was suppose to be a zoom call." The Judge responded "no. This is a ruling, which has to be in person." Mrs Ellen disagreed with the judge which was just so unprofessional and shows she was clearly unprepared. The judge gave her a stern warning to pay closer attention to court documents. Once the first appearance came to a close the judge mandated that there should be a filing done by April 18th 2024 by Mrs Ellen on our behalf. The judge went on to Say that if Mrs Ellen failed to prepare the order in a timely manner then she(The Judge) would have no other choice but to consider the opposing party counter suit. Mrs Ellen agreed and promised the judge that she would file an appropriate order per the judge request. I left the court thinking that progess will be made, ASSUMING that Mrs Ellen would take heed to the demands of the judge and file the appropriate order in the timeframe alloted. As time passed, I was disappointed because she did not. I went to the clerk of court to check well after April 18th to see if she filed, and the clerk of court told me that she did not, that no one heard from her. They stated that the judge reissued only Mrs Ellen a summons to appear before the judge to give a reason why she had not prepared the order. I left to court to call Mrs Ellen and after a number of, maybe, 10 times I finally got the receptionist who said Mrs Ellen would get back to me later that day but never did. I've didn't hear a word from her but 5 days later I received in my email a poorly drafted order than could of been done by a 5th grader. My heart dropped. Just poor work, I was so disappointed because I forked over 3500 dollars for this attorney to do nothing and get everything wrong plus argue and debate with the judge. Lastly what made me finalize the separation from this so called attorney was when she sent a bill saying I owe an additional $1800.00 for preparing that poor document at a rate of $400 an hour. Of which her sending that email was in that cost at a price of $100. This lady is a scammer. At the last court appearance she appeared angry that I asked her to withdraw from my case and hearing officer asked her if she wanted to sign the paperwork of withdrawal and she told the hearing Officer "I'm not signing anything for this client." The hearing officer just told her she could leave. Thank God this nightmare is over. Mrs Ellen gave us more problems than the opposing party. She made this case so difficult when prior to her services I was pro se and represented myself far better than she represented me. 0 stars is what I would give this rude and obnoxious lady. Please no one use her services. I wish I would've took heed to the bad Reviews. This is my loss don't let it be yours. read more

This lawyer straight up scammed me and my partner. She was extremely rude to us and her entire office showed signs of discrimination as well as siding with the judge for her discrimination. Employed this attorney who after we paid her she refused to speak to me only my wife and would call me and said she won't talk to me and charge for those calls. She was "injured" in a car accident and made us pay for her lawyer friend to misrepresent us in court and continue a case that has been continued 2 times before that. She charged us for drafting questions for a watermeier that I made! We sent her an email of the questions we wanted asked and she called to get more money out of us as she made us read out loud those questions for her to copy down. Her legal assistant or what ever Katie is lied saying she has been a part of every call and denied all this. We reached out to the lgbtq community center for help with discrimination and she charged us for that call too after rudely speaking with the rep. This woman is horrible! Disrespectful and will suck money out of your retainer anyway possible! DO NOT HIRE THIS MONSTER!! read more

I contacted Ellen for a consultation on custody and relocation of my daughter. Ellen was very honest and up front during this encounter, she made it very clear that this would be very difficult to accomplish. In 2020 I hired Ellen. I was instructed to complete anger management of which I did. Each time court was held a continuance was issued due to difficulty in finding another party needed to move forward. I had gotten a p.i. to locate the other party in which we were finally able to move forward and able to see a hearing officer. Ellen was able to get me every other weekend custody. This was the first time in three years that I was able to see my daughter. Being that I lived in another state I had to fly out every other weekend no matter how financially difficult it was. I made every weekend visitation and in March of 2022 Leslie was assigned to my case. Leslie answered all my questions and was extremely professional. After many continuances from the other parties I was granted temporary custody of my daughter for the summer. Shortly after this in September I received a deferred judgement granting me sole custody and relocation. Thank you Ellen and Leslie for all your hard work and dedication to me during my case, I am very grateful. I will be keeping Ellen on retainer just in case any legal issues should occur when my daughter has to go back and visit for holidays. read more

Ellen was and continues to be a great attorney! Ellen has never let me down and never failed to help me protect my children or me from a system that is very lopsided to Moms! Ellen has been nothing but fair and honest with me and her hard work has produced very fair results!! read more

Ellen missed a long awaited child custody court-date for a dear friend of mine. My friend had 5 people join her that day as character witnesses and for support. Someone flew in from out of state. We were crushed for our friend's disappointment, but it was even more heart breaking for my friend to have to go home to her 11 yr old daughter, and tell her there was no change in the shared custody, because your lawyer just didn't show up. I was able to listen on a conference call that happened later that day and Ellen probably didn't come to court, because she had prepared nothing. She was reading documents for the 1st time. Ellen was also very condescending to my friend- WHO WAS HER CLIENT- calling her "Sweetie" with a terrible tone. Ellen made no mention of a whole or partial reimbursement. My friend had to borrow $3,000 to pay this woman to not show up. You know what happens when you miss a court-date like this, you have to wait 3 months for a new one. That's excruciating for a parent and heart-breaking for a child. read more

Our daughter died suddenly in August, leaving her 3 year old son in the custody of his father, just released from Angola. We provided lots of financial and emotional support, but he just isn't up to being a good father. I had a lawyer who was very iffy about our being able to get custody. We hired Ellen. What a difference! She got us emergency custody. Her advice and expertise before and at the pretrial gave us hope that we will be able to maintain some control over our grandson's future. What a blessing! read more

I never thought I'd need a custody lawyer but I was pleased to find that Mrs. Badeaux and her staff are exactly what I need. They have worked hard for me and I'm grateful for their dedication to my case. read more

Trash and garbage. Very greedy. Sends exorbitant bills almost nonstop. Not an affordable attorney at all and not understanding. You will be billed for things you didn't even know about or that make no sense. read more

Horrible attorney!!! Her staff as well as herself are incompetent. She is very rude and has no idea what is going on with your case. Very disorganized and purposely drags your case out to get more money from you. I ended up settling with something in my divorce because I could no longer deal with her office. Please don't use her! read more

I hired Ellen Badeaux to represent me in my divorce. She and her staff were very understanding, supportive and professional in dealing with such a very sensitive and volatile issue. She handled every aspect of the divorce according to my comfort level and assured that my family's best interests were served. I would hire her again in a heart beat. Thanks to Ellen and her staff for making my transition out of marriage as painless as one could possibly expect. read more