Reviews

Finding a lawyer can be very difficult, especially one with morals, and ethics, that genuinely cares about their clients, and works hard to get the job done. Derraugh is the whole package. She is timely and hardworking, I swear she never sleeps! If you’ve got a high conflict custody case or a difficult divorce she is the lawyer for you. Her knowledge of family law is unsurpassed. I would give her more than 5 stars if I could, truly. She also really cares about her clients as people, she is positive and reassuring. And yes….she definitely wins her cases. She has honestly been a blessing to my life and I can’t say that enough. If you’re looking for a caring, knowledgeable lawyer who gets the job done she is definitely the lawyer for you!

I came to Ms. Dawson to help me through a particular family matter. I was very pleased with my experience with her services. I found her to be very knowledgeable, sharp, and well organized. I greatly appreciate Ms. Dawsons guidance and fortunately, There was a happy ending of reconciliation with my family matter.

Ms Dawson has worked with me for four years now, and in this time period she has made every effort to be as helpful and efficient as possible. She has made a tremendous difference in my life. She is experienced and hard working, and makes so much extra effort that I don’t think many lawyers would. She genuinely cares for her clients. The best quality Derraugh has is her honesty. I know for a fact that had it not been for her I would be homeless and penniless today.

She was the best thing that ever happened to me. She is a complete idiot. I am so glad my wife hired her. She did hire several expert witnesses that lied as much as her but the judge saw through her deception. Cost my wife a bunch of money and won the case for me. Thank you Derra and god bless.

Ms. Dawson has been my family law attorney since 2013. Ms. Dawson has helped me gain 100% legal and physical custody of my children. I admire her expertise and knowledge as an attorney. If there is an issue with any Family Law I always reach out to Ms. Dawson, because Derraugh knows my history and background of my children and their safety is the mostly important. I would recommend Derraugh Dawson to any person having to go through child custody issues, divorce, domestic violence, and Child support.

I am very happy with Ms. Dawson's legal expertise. I have hired many attorneys and she far exceeds any attorney that I have hired. Ms. Dawson is a professional, ethical, and moral lawyer. She was highly recommended by another attorney for our case and I’m very glad I went with her. I hired her for a complex child custody case involving two jurisdictions. She is a seasoned trial lawyer that takes her job and responsibilities very seriously. She fights hard and cares for the people involved, especially children. She seeks justice for her clients, even at the expense of being personally attacked by the other side. On top of all of this, she is a good person. She develops a relationship with the clients that demonstrates how much she really cares for the people she represents. I can't say enough about her and I highly recommend her for any child custody case.

I was extremely pleased with Ms. Dawson’s expertise. I had a bad experience with another attorney that I ended up not using so when I gave her my case I was really needing help and someone to help me sort out things. I came out with peace of mind and a clear path. She was super helpful and thoughtful. I really liked working with her, even in a difficult situation.

Derraugh made many mistakes on my case which cost me time, energy and money. She would also apologize to the judge for mistakes she had made and ask me to resign documents which were signed months before causing my case to not be finalized. There was turnover in her office which caused issues.... there are better attorneys out there.

Derraugh has been helping me with my custody case for several months now, and she is a very solid lawyer. She is thorough, even-tempered, inquisitive, and receptive to information. Her office is efficient and effective. She is good at answering questions, and is resourceful about researching the law. She is the total opposite of a fake "yes"-man. She never made me any grand promises that I would win my case for sure, but instead she questioned me thoroughly, making me really think hard about my case, which helped me gain an even clearer sense of how to push forward with it. Her office helped with court forms and filing deadlines. She helped me try to reach a settlement in my case, and stood up for me when the other party was disrespectful, rude, or doing things that were inappropriate. And when the other party refused all settlement offers, she prepared herself for court and performed excellently in the courtroom. And I do mean excellently. She was fully prepared in court, highly organized, and above all, calm. Her questions to me were very well thought out, and highlighted exactly the points I wanted the court to understand. When she thought my answers could be even better on the stand, she refined her questions and helped me say what needed to be said. She was quick on her feet when questioning the opposing party's witnesses, too, and (most impressively) she knew not to let go of the opposing party's witnesses before she had exhausted every possible question to them. This meant that there were some "awkward" silences in the courtroom while Derraugh paused, thought about what a witness had said, maybe referred to her notes, and then came up with another question for them on the spot. It is those awkward pauses that may have ruined my case if I had tried to represent myself without her. In my normal rush to fill silences, I may have prematurely released witnesses from the stand before I thought to ask them more questions. Derraugh didn't give up during those times, and instead thought of many new, insightful questions to ask. The questions she asked witnesses in court enabled her to (on the spot) put together an exceptional closing argument for my case. Derraugh had done good work for me from the moment I hired her, but her most impressive moment was delivering the closing argument for my case in court. If you're looking at hiring a lawyer, most likely you know your case pretty well, and are passionate about it. But unless you have years of public speaking experience and are familiar with a courtroom, ask yourself, what would happen if you tried to stand up and make a speech to a judge about your case? Would you sweat, shake or stutter? Would you trip over your words, or accidentally go off on tangents? Would you wring your hands, make nervous gestures? Would you be angry and come across as too aggressive? Derraugh had none of these issues that most non-lawyers like myself would have at least some of. She was strong, clear, passionate, unflappable, and dogged. She left out no point I wanted to make, and presented the court a summary of my case that was even better than anything I could have said, myself. She had understood my case, made it hers, and did everything she could to put it in the best light possible for the judge. Disclaimer: I had a very positive outcome in my trial, and that's not something that can be promised to everyone. But I knew that Derraugh was the right advocate for my case even before the judge awarded me a big win, when she gave her flawless closing argument in court. I knew at that moment that even if I lost my case, Derraugh had done everything right, had made no mistakes, and that I could not have done a better job myself. If you need a lawyer, hire her. She will work well for you.