Elise Mitchell, Attorney Objective Report But Potential Clients Beware San Jose, California

The experience with Attorney Elise Mitchell was very disappointing. She was retained to provide defense in a family court case. Initially she indicated what a strong case there was and how the code did not apply here and how the prosecuting side did not have much to go on.

The main complaint to issue here is not that the case was lost, but how she handled it. She was unprofessional in demeaner and did not handle herself according with the professional decorum one would expect of an attorney. She was blatently rude and demeaning during a meeting the night before the trial. She also accepted a phone call from her childs school/PTA and discussed a matter thereby setting aside the focus that should have been on the trial ahead. This was inappropiate especially considering it was the first in person meeting where all other interaction had been by phone.

After paying her THOUSANDS of dollars to prepare for trial she had the audacity to  make a copy of the family code and gave instructions to access a computer and research the code to see if anything else could be found (the night before the trial)! This was shocking as the expectation after such great expense was that she was prepared for trial.

Another disturbing event came when opposing counsel wanted to drop the case. She moved forward in an attempt to recover legal fee's. This was a mistake of HUGE porportions with lasting consequences both financially and emotionally. She did not have the skill level to know when to call it quits. In addition, she does not posses strong skills for court trials. She appeared weak in court and research done privately by the defendent was in front of her on the desk in court. This was shocking to see. Elise Mitchell was adament about there not being anyone supporting the defendent present during the trial. During breaks the day of trial she was very rude and shouted "you don't have to whisper" as well as "you aren't listening" when a question was asked of her by her client.

In the end, the blame for losing the case is not placed so much on Elise, but on how the judge chose to interpret the law. There is subjective verbage with this particular code. However, with that said, it was extremely disappointing to witness that she did nothing to defend her client and counteract the damage opposing counsel attempted.

Although she appeared weak and lacking in court room skills, her closing argument was good, but her voice trembled.

It is also thought that she "flipped" favoring the other side. This was indicated by her favorable comments. It is questionable if she did her best for her client or if in the end she was satisfied with the outcome for the opposing side.

This was written as objectively as possible and given the nature of law and all its various interpretations and nuances, the job must be very difficult. However, if you are looking for representation from someone who presents themselves with professional legal decorum, you may want to interview her in depth and decide if she meets your expectations. As with many lawyers they seem to tell you what you want to hear and it isn't until the rubber meets the road that you discover if their intentions and loyalty are on board. At one point she said "the ball is in our court". Actually the ball was in the other court, placed there by the judge and his interpretation. If nothing else she should've done an acceptable job at representing her client. At $300 an hour this was a minimal expectation.