Reviews

I hired Michele to help with a legal situation I recently had. She was able to make it go away for a very reasonable cost. She is excellent at what she does, very responsive and I would recommend her to anybody.

I hired Michele for two different civil cases. The first civil case involved settling a lien against my property (co-owned) from a roofing company to avoid foreclosure. The general contractor that was hired had run off with the paid money, and the 4th party contractor who completed the work was not paid. The lien was resolved by a negotiated rate and cost split outside of court between their lawyer and Michele, who represented me. The second civil case I hired Michele for was to resolve a Default Judgment against me involving the same property after a dissolution/separation of the shared owners could not be resolved outside of court. The default judgment was won in court, as I was not served correctly, which extended the lawsuit a year. This civil case I hired Michele for is still ongoing and is now in mediation; we reached an agreement to sell the house mutually, outside of a forced sale. Michele’s attention to detail and thorough approach make her a standout choice for property litigation. She is dedicated to crafting well-written court documents, earning the respect of judges and fellow lawyers. Michele is committed to ensuring her clients’ truth leads to successful case outcomes. I believe Michele is the attorney to turn to when faced with a complex situation and a sizable amount of evidence. I highly recommend her services!

I hired Michele as my attorney in February of this year to help me with a personal property case. My jeweler had lost my engagement ring the September before and was failing to replace it as he had promised. I had already been through a lot with this jeweler so I was really looking for someone who would be able to help and support me in getting my ring back. I explained what had happened from start to finish to Michele and she agreed to take my case on. She explained the first steps, was responsive and made me feel understood and supported, but that did not last the entire relationship. Throughout the 7 months we worked together communications were delayed and lacking, and as time progressed I felt more like I was paying for a messenger than an advocate. At times, it even felt as though Michele was catering more to opposing counsel than me, her client. To add to the frustration, as I was in the middle of feeling disappointed, I received a notice that she would be increasing her prices. Also, my husband and I have had our names either misspelled or called the incorrect name multiple times. In one of my last email correspondence, her assistant called me the completely incorrect name, I replied and let her know that wasn't my name, then she called me the wrong name again in her next email and never apologized. Super bizarre and unprofessional. Even in trying to figure out a billing issue, her assistant didn't understand how their billing system works on the client-end, which made for additional unnecessary confusion and frustrations. I considered hiring another attorney multiple times but at those points, I felt as though my hands were tied because of how involved things were already and my fear that changing would set things back even more. It took 7 months for me to finally receive my ring. I'm glad I finally have it but feel strongly that I could've have achieved this with a different attorney and had a better experience while doing so. If you want an attorney and team that is consistently responsive, detail-oriented, professional and someone to make you feel supported and advocated for, I recommend looking elsewhere.

I had an issue come up with regards to property boundaries in selling our house and needed some precise answers quickly. Michele did exactly what we asked for and and wrote an excellent letter which we were able to give to another party to get them to back off. I would highly recommend Michele for advise about real estate matters.

I had several questions about Sheriff Sale, including eviction, case record search and redemption. I was not able to find the answers until I meet with Michele, she was able to help me right away, no waste of time. Thanks you!

In 2010, I was disabled and no longer able to work, nor keep up with my mortgage. My former employer (King County) referred me to Michele for a complimentary consultation. I hoped to get advice on how to get a loan modification of some sort. I was immediately impressed with her. She took time to listen and learn about the details of my situation, explain my options to me, and to answer an extensive set of questions from me and my sister who joined me at the meeting. It was clear from the start that Michele had deep knowledge of real estate law. In my case, refinancing and loan modification were not viable options and it became clear that a short sale would be necessary. I asked Michele if I could or should hire her to help with the short sale process, and she recommended that I NOT hire her on retainer for this work. Instead, she told me to save my money and gave me step-by-step instructions on what to expect and what to do to move forward with a short sale on my own. She took a lot of time to explain the pitfalls of the short sale process and also made me aware of two critical things: 1) I needed to secure specific language from the bank in the sale documents saying that I would not owe any money after the sale closed. 2) After getting that language secured, the forgiven debt would be reported as income. However, due to an Obama administration tax break, IF my short sale closed in 2012, I would not have to pay tax on that amount. As I worked through the short sale process, everything happened exactly as she predicted. When I had questions or wanted a document reviewed, I contacted Michele via email and she always replied promptly, providing clear, concise answers and feedback, and for minimal charge. Thanks to Michele, I was aware of the urgency of closing the sale in 2012. My real estate agent pushed hard and my short sale closed just before Christmas. The bank forgave $130k and, because of meeting the tax-break deadline, I will not have to pay tax on that amount. My total consultation fees with Michele totaled just a few hundred dollars and saved me about $40,000 in taxes. If you are looking for a real estate attorney, look no further.

We met with Michele to go over the foreclosure proceedings on a property I own and she was not only incredibly helpful, she was not judgmental and set our mind at ease about the whole process. I highly recommend here for anyone going through the foreclosure process or real estate law.

My husband and I consulted with Michele about our financial situation and real estate debt. She spent plenty of time with us, crunching numbers and giving us matter of fact advice for what to do. She layed the options out to help us make the decision to sell our home and move on with our lives. She knows her stuff (very up on the ever-changing real estate industry), is gracious and compassionate, and is very practical. I highly recommend seeing her if you need some professional direction with your real estate needs.

Like many readers who use Avvo, I contacted Michele after finding her 10 star rating on Avvo. I wanted loan modification on and Michele walked me through some options. It looked like I was in good hands... But after initial meeting, it was hard to even reach his legal assistant. I sent out my documents and she and her team was supposed to send them and connect with my bank. None of my documents were sent for 2 months !!! No updates, no follow ups nothing. I called multiple times. 2 months later, I was told to resend the documents. I sent those in 2-3 days. Again no action. Actually for 6 months no followup with bank was done. Sometime Michele was out of town and sometimes her assistant. What I was constantly updated about was my bills. I don't know how my bill went upto $1000 without any action. Last week, I was told that Michele is no longer interested in my case and she has changed legal assistant. I replied back with higher fee for handling my case and resolving it successfully. She didn't accept that offer and declined to handle my case further. I am back to Square one. Michelle is all about hope and nothing about action. I wish I had other lawyer who would have helped me. Please don't get blind sided by shiny ratings !!!!

We were in a time sensitive situation. Michele went completely out of her way to assist us and was willing to review our paperwork and contracts. Her advice was very appropriate and saved us a considerable amount of worry and money.

Wanted legal advice on a fairly routine easement running across my property for a utility company proposing to expand its use through my Woodinville land. We have had power lines cut across our back yard for the entire 18 years we have lived here -- but we are concerned and sought advice about how to react to a power company proposal to add additional capacity and poles in our community along with a new and more restrictive easement agreement offered by the power company to affected property owners. I conducted ALL of the necessary title research myself at county archives and obtained certified copies of prior easements dating back to the early 1900's (2 pages) which pre-dated my ownership of the property; I secured all available documents from the power company explaining their proposed expanded use (2 pages); and provided a marked-up copy (3 pages) of the draft new easement agreement from the power company -- and then I digitized the materials on my scanner and sent them via email to McNeill. About 10 pages of material in total. I provided an upfront $250 as a deposit for legal services. We met for just under one hour at McNeill's Bellevue offices -- attorney was almost ten minutes late for the scheduled appointment -- to discuss her findings and observations. McNeill prepared no letters, written suggestions, easement amendments or legal analysis demonstrating any significant review of the materials provided or the process entailed in modifying the existing easement agreement with new provisions as proposed by the power company. In fact, McNeill offered little more than oral commentary essentially urging restraint and common sense in the matter (duh!), suggesting I could meet and work out a deal with the power company for their intended expansion of use on my land. She offered no inventory of potential opportunities to leverage my position using federal, state & local permits; no analysis demonstrating the respective strengths and weaknesses of the opposing positions held by myself or the power company in this potential dispute; no suggestions to push for an environmental impact review to assess impacts of proposed new high voltage power lines running 30 feet outside my back window; she did not direct me to the Utilities & Transportation Commission or refer me to any WAC or RCW citations: in short, there were no particularly helpful suggestions or alternatives described to me regarding potential next steps. Even more bewildering -- McNeill asserted in our meeting that the power company might not even have a valid easement across my land. Weeks later, I was billed an additional $292.50 for "preparation for meeting with client". I am disappointed with the limited effort and corresponding excessive charges levied by this attorney on my due diligence review effort. To this day -- the only thing I have received in writing from this attorney are emails scheduling the appointment and a $542.50 bill. I do not feel that I have received value for this expenditure. I would strongly urge anyone looking for assistance to seek counsel somewhere else.

Michele McNeill is an extremely professional and exceptionally experienced attorney. Her sharp expertise and well-researched legal briefs allow for a successful resolve for any client she represents. Her style is no-nonsense, practical, intelligently executed representation and always focused on the good of her clients. Her knowledge base is expansive, as she is well-diversified in her humane and compassionate representation and clearly able to address most any issue connected with a case. Excellent firm with quality representation! Sometimes slow to return phone calls, only because of their high demand and thorough research for all clients. Very communicative and worth every ounce of trust from clients!