Laurel Elizabeth Royse, Attorney At Law

Client Testimonials Laurel was great. I came to her for a custody/visitation case last year. She was very thoughtful, sincere, and upfront in listening to everything my family had been through. She offered ideas and solutions that my past attorney hadn't even thought of. Honestly, she is a wealth of information and knowledge. She was always attentive, detail-oriented, honest, and to the point. All qualities I really appreciate in an attorney. Highly recommend - Laurel is exceptional. (1) Exceeded expectations. Laurie was superb. I cannot say enough positive things about her. She was able to take my case on, and my primary home is in another state and it is a family situation, so she did not have jurisdiction to take it on. Therefore she shared and took the time to advise me. This was AFTER she had already put several hours of work into my case. She showed a lot of capabilities to find and present the reality of my family's circumstances. This situation is problematic, and as a father, I have already spent a lot of time and resources into it, so as a result of her consultation, I would recommend Laurie without hesitation. (3) Awful. Laurie. Bless her heart. I realize this one star review might come across as vindictive and nasty, but it's not my intention. Before hiring her, I had zero experience with lawyers, and I know that there will be other people out there in the same position needing representation. In my opinion, Laurie was deficient in several seemingly critical areas of lawyering, namely knowledge, instinct, strategy, communication, and confidence. Knowledge/instinct/strategy all sort of go hand in hand. The summary is that her lack of knowledge led her to an inherently flawed strategy that inevitably failed, essentially forcing me, thousands of dollars later, to start all over again from the beginning with new representation. In terms of communication, her time equaled my money. She required a lot of hand holding for nearly every form of communication. She would send drafts of her work back and forth to me asking for revisions, to the point where I would be offering micro-edits about grammar and wording. This included her personal emails to the other party's lawyer. For that kind of money, no client should have to manage those kinds of details. We would have a conversation over the phone, hang up, and literally 5 minutes later she would call me back rehashing the same topic. We had several unpleasant interactions over the phone, and the last thing I needed was another source of conflict. My biggest complaint with her, however, is that I thought I was hiring a specialist. It was more as if I had hired a primary care lawyer. Despite the fact that it was a pretty straightforward case, she asked permission to hire consultants not once, but twice, which I stupidly granted. I thought maybe this kind of thing was routine for a lawyer in solo practice who didn't have a paralegal to help. Essentially, she had me pay someone else to literally do her work for her, twice. She said they were the experts in the field, and I trusted her. In court, the judge overruled our argument in such a dismissive fashion, it was embarrassing. Worse yet, as we were walking out, she had the nerve to say something along the lines of, "Now you're really going to start spending money." That was the last straw. What I'm learning from talking to other people is that Laurie has quite a reputation in Charlottesville, and it's not a good one. I feel foolish for not figuring this out for myself before hiring her, but lesson learned. Please see Sarah S's yelp review about her as well. I would echo her sentiments. I encourage you to learn from our mistake. I'm searchable, feel free to contact me for further details. (5) Exceeded expectations. Laurie. Bless her heart. I realize this one star review might come across as vindictive and nasty, but it's not my intention. Before hiring her, I had zero experience with lawyers, and I know that there will be other people out there in the same position needing representation. In my opinion, Laurie was deficient in several seemingly critical areas of lawyering, namely knowledge, instinct, strategy, communication, and confidence. Knowledge/instinct/strategy all sort of go hand in hand. The summary is that her lack of knowledge led her to an inherently flawed strategy that inevitably failed, essentially forcing me, thousands of dollars later, to start all over again from the beginning with new representation. In terms of communication, her time equaled my money. She required a lot of hand holding for nearly every form of communication. She would send drafts of her work back and forth to me asking for revisions, to the point where I would be offering micro-edits about grammar and wording. This included her personal emails to the other party's lawyer. For that kind of money, no client should have to manage those kinds of details. We would have a conversation over the phone, hang up, and literally 5 minutes later she would call me back rehashing the same topic. We had several unpleasant interactions over the phone, and the last thing I needed was another source of conflict. My biggest complaint with her, however, is that I thought I was hiring a specialist. It was more as if I had hired a primary care lawyer. Despite the fact that it was a pretty straightforward case, she asked permission to hire consultants not once, but twice, which I stupidly granted. I thought maybe this kind of thing was routine for a lawyer in solo practice who didn't have a paralegal to help. Essentially, she had me pay someone else to literally do her work for her, twice. She said they were the experts in the field, and I trusted her. In court, the judge overruled our argument in such a dismissive fashion, it was embarrassing. Worse yet, as we were walking out, she had the nerve to say something along the lines of, "Now you're really going to start spending money." That was the last straw. What I'm learning from talking to other people is that Laurie has quite a reputation in Charlottesville, and it's not a good one. I feel foolish for not figuring this out for myself before hiring her, but lesson learned. Please see Sarah S's yelp review about her as well. I would echo her sentiments. I encourage you to learn from our mistake. I'm searchable, feel free to contact me for further details. (6) Laurel was great. Help me with my divorce. I am very grateful for all that she has done. She was sympathetic to my situation, fair and honest. She's very dedicated to her clients and will do all she can to help. (7) Laurel was great. Help me with my divorce. I am very grateful for all that she has done. She was sympathetic to my situation, fair and honest. She's very dedicated to her clients and will do all she can to help. (8) Recently, Ms. Royse helped me solve a complicated legal situation. She was assiduous in her effort, remained detail-oriented, fair, and thoughtful in her analyses of all the legal aspects of my case. She had the wisdom to tell me that I needed representation from another state. She was very kind. I would definitely refer her services to anyone with respect to divorce and family law. (9) Recently, Ms. Royse helped me solve a complicated legal situation. She was assiduous in her effort, remained detail-oriented, fair, and thoughtful in her analyses of all the legal aspects of my case. She had the wisdom to tell me that I needed representation from another state. She was very kind. I would definitely refer her services to anyone with respect to divorce and family law. (10)