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.

Excellent team to work with through out the whole process of our estate planning! Attention to…read moredetails, professional, hard working and thoughtful. Would highly recommend.

After years of putting off putting a Trust together, we finally decided to get it done. Matt and…read morehis team were very personable and felt very comfortable working with everyone!

Finding and retaining Provision Law Firm was just what we needed when starting our estate planning…read moreprocess. An initial conversation with Carrie let me know that I wanted to work with her firm to do estate planning to ensure that my disabled young adult's needs would be met in the future and his public benefits would not be affected. We had an urgent, needed guidance right away, situation. Carrie took the time to explain what our options were and how we may want to proceed before we had even retained her for estate planning. She takes care of all the details and stays in communication about where things are at. I would highly recommend Carrie and her staff at Provision for your estate planning needs!

Richard Caldecott helped my wife and I deal with an ex-spouse. His caring demeanor when giving us…read moreadvice was appreciated, as was his no-nonsense, direct and firm approach when dealing with my wife's ex and his attorney. Thank you, Mr. Caldecott!

I used Dave for both personal and Business. I went thought a very long and costly devoice. Thought…read morethe year long deal Dave was always available and easy to reach. He also has a vast knowledge of family law. He won my case and get me in a good position with custody. He is also very realistic and will lay out all options. There is no one else I would use.

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

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..

Mr Roulet did a mediocre job creating documents for a trust. There were mistakes made (wrong names,…read moreetc.) initially, which were corrected. Upon completion, he said to reach out if anything came up. Upon doing so, his response was snarky, and just said he's not on retainer and don't represent you. Maybe could've explained that he can't offer legal advice without being on retainer and discussed options for that. Maybe shouldn't have said to reach out in the first place. I just feel that was extremely unprofessional.

Wife and I needed to do a trust for our kids. When I did a search for a lawyer to do a will for…read morekids with special needs he came up as the first choice. We had a wonderful experience with him. He explained things clearly and concise. We loved that he included a few extra sections that are fairly common situations that might occur. It was a relief he understood our concerns. Too often when we needed help with our kids some people would just not be able to have an understanding of our situation.

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.