Reviews

Highly recommend! Jessica and her team made the process very smooth!

My husband and I were referred to Vanessa through a family friend. By the time we sought out Vanessa's legal services, we were in a very complicated and ugly custody battle. My husband had used two previous lawyers and both had epically failed him, so by the time we got to Vanessa, we were beaten down and had given up hope. After our first in person meeting with Vanessa, things moved quickly, and after just an hour, we both knew we had a lawyer who was willing to fight and truly had our best interests at heart. Vanessa and her team of paralegals were responsive, understanding, helpful, diligent, and kind. Once we were in front of the judge, she was concise, clear, and fought hard for us. And for our son. She changed our lives when we had no hope. I cannot recommend McKinnon Law Firm, and Vanessa enough. I have referred her twice now to friends and will continue to refer her any chance I get.

We would highly recommend Anna and her firm, and in fact we've already given her name to a couple of friends and family members. She is personable, thorough, very detailed and articulate when reviewing our estate plan or anything else. Her process was easy for us to complete in a timely fashion and get on with our lives! Now I feel so good to have our estate plan done!

My sister-in-law and I met with Anna Howard for more than the scheduled time at the Carlsbad Senior Center. She was extraordinary in evaluating our varied and complex questions, and in offering appropriate advice and guidance. When we decide to update and revise our estate plan and other key documents, we will turn to ACHoward Law first!

Anna Howard and her team were excellent to work with! They were very organized and had great communication. They made sure to follow up with us routinely to keep on top of the items needed until all paperwork was complete. Anna then also supplied a simple checklist of last items to complete on our end after the Estate was set up, and she followed up on that as well until all items were complete. Very friendly and professional and all around easy and painless experience, highly recommend Anna and her team!

I had the pleasure of working with Vanessa on a legal matter, and I cannot speak highly enough of her kindness, professionalism, and dedication to helping. From the very first consultation, it was evident that I had chosen the right attorney. Vanessa patiently listened to my concerns, asked insightful questions, and took the time to understand all aspects of my situation. In my time working with Vanessa, she has demonstrated exceptional responsiveness in her communication with me, specifically with how she returned my calls and emails, provided me with timely updates and how she offered reassurance during what could have been an otherwise stressful period. I highly recommend Vanessa to anyone seeking legal representation. Her expertise, professionalism, and genuine care for her clients make her a standout attorney. I am grateful for her support and guidance and would not hesitate to seek her services again in the future if needed.

Absolutely awful. My children were absconded by their alcoholic father who made false allegations about me. I hired Vanessa and sent her over 1000 pieces of documentation proving why I was in the right. She showed up to my hearing completely unprepared, without having even looked at any of the evidence I sent her, and continuing to ask me to prove that I’m fit mentally and insisting I get a new therapist for mental health references since my ex was claiming me mentally unfit. She also screwed me with visitations. I was granted supervised visitation and Vanessa told me I was granted 10 hours. After firing her on the day of my hearing due to her complete and utter incompetence, and having to represent myself, the judge said there was NO LIMIT ON THE COURT ORDER REGARDING HoW MANY HOURS I GOT TO SEE MY CHILDREN, WHY DID SHE MAKE UP 10?! Absolutely unprofessional, hire anyone else if you actually want someone who wants to help a parent get their kids back. She also charged me $5000 retainer and did not issue a refund, I had to file it through my bank. This is a greedy lawyer , just trying to rack hours and screw clients over. DO BETTER, VANESSA.

We immensely enjoyed Anna’s well laid out time line that included multiple face-to-face meetings, electronic correspondence and phone calls. Both my wife and I also appreciated the touch of a notary at the end when we signed the documents. We look forward to working with her in the future!

Horrible communication. Emails and phone calls returned days later. And now she's on leave. Need to find someone more reliable

My husband and I filed a complaint with the California BAR about Anna C. Howard at AC Howard Law firm in Carlsbad. Anna is incredibly unprofessional, and her incompetency cost us from owning/occupying a home in a very inflated real estate market. Do not hire her firm or her. The staff are very rude as well. Be prepared to be told Anna is away repeatedly. Why would anyone hire Anna for probate or estate and wills matters if she doesn't even know the fundamental laws of California real estate and the foreclosure process? They're all interrelated. All we requested from Anna was to inform her client to give access to a real estate appraiser to open the door of the foreclosed home that was in the possession of her client so 1) we could get a home loan from the bank requiring the home appraisal and we could pay the bank's trustee within the 30-day deadline 2) Anna's client could benefit from the overage of at least $440,000 at the trustee sale. As a result of Anna not returning calls in a timely manner, her client only received an overage of approximately $370,000. Anna cost her client $70,000. I trust her client, a 29-year-old, divorced single mother could have used it. Anna never returned our phone calls. The only time she did bother to talk to us was when she grabbed the phone from her receptionist and screamed at us and threatened a joke of a "Cease and Desist" letter that doesn't even apply to our trying to get a hold of her client and as a courtesy, Anna's office. We didn't have to call Anna at the law firm in the first place. We chose to communicate with her client at first because public documents said she is the court-appointed administrator of the home we were trying to acquire through foreclosure. The time Anna took to threaten us in a template letter, she could have talked to us civilly. Then, we realized we had to hire a real estate attorney at $2500 just so he could talk to Anna about opening the door for the home appraisal. Attorneys give each other professional courtesy. Anna did not give our attorney courtesy until the very few last days of the trustee's deadline for receiving our purchase funds. It was too late. By the time our attorney, an expert in real estate and a law professor on real estate, had one phone call with Anna, he learned that she was suffering from her own misunderstanding of applicable foreclosure law, erroneously believing her client does not have authority over the property. Anna used zero legal analysis, and has no openness to hearing the rules; she just flatly says her legal analysis without any review of the law and disagrees hopelessly. Our attorney was a legal expert in real estate and this particular new law allowing us to post sale bid on the trust deed after the trustee sale. Anna and her paralegal didn't even know about the law that passed in 2021 for eligible bidders/owners-occupants to buy a home at a trustee sale. This law can impact estates. Anna's lack of knowledge of basic real estate laws is shocking and questionable. Don't hire her unless you want to waste your time and money. She cost us a home to own and occupy. What will she cost you?

Very professional, and they handled our complex case seamlessly!