I hired Melanie to handle a second offense DUI. I paid almost 9,000 for her representation. I was so hopeful after my consultation after their over-the-phone-hypeman reassured me that "Anything less than a dismissal, we consider as a loss" "We are known to have some of the most aggressive DUI attorneys in the state, one (Melanie) was previously a judge and has a lot of recourses.." "You will have 3 lawyers working together to get you the best possible outcome" "Our goal is to avoid jail time completely" I can't put into words how disappointed I am with the quality of representation I received. Melanie consistently missed our telephonic meetings (as a commercial fisherman out of California, my time in cell reception, as well as free time, was minimal). It came to the point where I would only communicate with her via email so that I could have documentation of everything. Her emails, additionally, were extremely illiterate. She is unethical. She once sent me an email, intended be sent to the district attorney, with another clients full name, case number, and personal information. On numerous occasions I requested Melanie to speak with the DA about allowing me to do house arrest, didn't happen. She was not present for my sentencing and never made a single court appearance with me or on my behalf. I am a resident of the state of Alaska, and I was given a day and a half of notice that I needed to be physically present for my sentencing. I made it happen. However, my attorney bailed and sent an "Associate" on her behalf. Who was not only late, but completely unfamiliar with my case. Before entering my plea we had agreed to ask the judge to allow ankle monitoring, this was very important to me. Even her associate failed to do that. He said "I slipped the paperwork in, hopefully he doesn't notice and just puts it through. Follow up with the DOC in Alaska in two weeks." Unfortunately, as I've found out the hard way, it doesn't work like that.. I ran out of characters for the rest of my review. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
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