John S. Crisafulli, Esq. Bad lawyer, worse law guardian, thinks he is the puppet master. Syracuse New york

Your opinion of John S. Crisafulli as a attorney is yours to have. If you don't like him, that's fine, but understand that him "pressuring" you to come in for weekly counseling sessions is a mandatory part of his job, not in his best interest. He doesn't have to work for the City, County or State to be a law guardian, he does it of his own free will and gets paid a lot less than he does doing work for people that appreciate him and want him as their attorney.

Secondly, how do you expect a child to like an attorney ordered to be their guardian? Lawyers in our society are portrayed as wrong-doers and evil people, and most children learn this at a young age. When a child is given a law guardian who is in charge of deciding which parent they will spend more time with, you can't expect the child to embrace them with open arms. Furthermore, it is not the lawyer's job to become friends with the child or the parents. Their job is to decide who is the better fit. The reason the lawyer is appointed to the child is because the child is unable to decide for themselves which parents custody should be granted to. I also know for a fact that hundreds of children, even if not all he has represented, have in fact been friendly with John, despite the difficult situation that he has in front of him. Not all lawyers are "bad" people.

As for you claiming that getting to your appointment on time decided custody, I think you seriously misunderstood the situation. It may show responsibility and commitment to show up on time, but I can guarantee you that John S. Crisafulli would not decide the fate solely based on that. My guess is that you repeatedly show up late for your appointments, which shows a lack of responsibility and commitment on your part. I may be wrong, but that's what I fathom from your statement.

My biggest disappointment in your statement, however, is your criticizing John as a father. I can tell you with 110% guarantee that he is a great father and has a great relationship with all four of his children. All four of them speak to him on a regular basis. It bothers me most that you would fabricate such a statement when you clearly do not know this man at all.

As for your puppet master remark and that he must be stopped, see how many lawyers out there have the compassion and desire to work as a court-appointed law guardian. It is his job to control the situation, and it sounds to me as if you are not doing what John asks of you and think you should be in control of the situation. Unfortunately for John and yourself, that's not the way the world works. Instead of hiding behind a website and an anonymous blog, you should step up and voice your opinions publicly and to John instead of bashing a good man behind his back. I'm glad that John S. Crisafulli is my parent and that you are not.

As his son, and not his client, you don't know what you are talking about. I paid $200 an hour for his services as a law guardian, against my will, and he did a TERRIBLE job. I am not the only one who thinks so. Several other parents and attorneys have complained.

You obviously do not know my brother, and if you did, you would know that he talks to my dad all the time and is extremely proud to have him as a father. I really do not appreciate you making things up to make yourself look like you know what you are talking about. You have to pay $200 against your will, huh? So are you saying that you don't really want custody then? Because everyone who wants custody has to go through the same thing, so if it's "against your will," then you must not really care to have custody. You obviously can't show up on time either for appointments that you pay for, which shows your lack of commitment to do things "against your will." You really did not directly address anything that I brought up in my first response other than lying about my brother. He doesn't live in Syracuse, so I would find it hard to believe you know him nearly as well as I do. Law guardians get complaints all of the time, it is a thankless and difficult job. You should try doing it for a week and see how easy it is. My dad has been doing what he does for almost 30 years, and I highly doubt he would still be allowed to do it if he was really that bad at it. I'm sorry that you are bitter and upset over your divorce and the cusody case that you have going on, but taking it out on my father anonymously by attackiing him and his family is highly inappropriate.

 

dear imnotgonnagell (AKA Melanie Young)

i know both you and your ex-husband and when I learned of this post I was really appalled at this angry strike at mr. crisafulli.  i think you could have at least crafted this "report" on this law guardian with greater accuracy.  you just come off looking like an angry bimbo.  you are giving women, who migth need to fight for their kids, who might deserve them, less credit.

you never paid $200/hour.  aron advised me that he was paying 95% of the bill and you only had to pay 5%.  i don't know if your kids liked him or not, but i have to agree with his son, i think it would be hard for kids to like a lawyer.

what really irks me as a woman is that you thought the sessions with the law guardian were torture.  fighting for your kids and showing teh court what type of parent and person you is torture????  and why weren't you on time?  what could possibly be more important than working out the future of yoru children???

maxine