McIntyre Tate LLP

I hired Deb Tate to represent me in my divorce, a decision I regret to this day due to her shoddy, lazy, negligent lawyering. I was married for 14 years. My husband was a CFO and professional negotiator who represented himself. I have an MBA and an MPA. He insisted that I become a stay-at-home mom for our daughter and family. I did absolutely everything – a hot home-cooked meal every night, housework, laundry, childcare, non-stop trad wife. I hardly slept and never had a break, even when I was sick or injured. I also had a side gig as a nonprofit consultant because I wanted to contribute to our household income. I gave 200% to my marriage and kept all of my marriage vows. While I was not perfect (who is?) I did everything I could to nurture and save my marriage. When I asked to end it, all I wanted was a fair settlement and no drama. I wasn’t interested in revenge or taking him to the cleaners, though I could have. He convinced me that we could mediate a settlement between ourselves. I was physically and emotionally exhausted and mentally fragile. It seemed reasonable since I didn’t want to waste a lot of money on legal fees and I wanted to protect my daughter from suffering. Here is the deal I presented to Deb Tate: No alimony, no child support, an equity payout on our house (below FMV) so he would keep the house, no financial disclosure, 50/50 split of assets in Vanguard, I would receive ½ of 1/14 of his 401k, and I would be responsible for half of our child’s private school tuition, half of her college expenses, and half of her other expenses. He claimed that he did not put any money into a 401k during our marriage outside of the first year so there were no other 401k assets. We would share 50/50 custody where our daughter would spend Sunday night through Thursday morning with me and Thursday afternoon through Sunday evening with him. (I know that’s not 50/50.) Deb said nothing except to question the placement schedule and grilled me and billed me for an hour of her time on that topic without providing helpful guidance. She did not tell me to counteroffer on the deal. She did not express any shock, surprise, or concern that I was being manipulated or lied to. She did not warn me of the long-term consequences of no financial disclosure, and how he could hide money and assets and he would never be accountable. She did not question the value of our house in a tony zip code. She never told me that child support is always open and if my income changed by more than 10%, I could apply for it. Deb did not tell me what I was legally entitled to under RI law, did not discuss or question any assets, did not say anything about the fact that I lost 14 years of income and retirement contributions during peak earning years as a high-capacity earner. She did not question the apples-to-oranges comparison of his income, retirement, and job security as a fully-loaded C-Suite executive and mine as a nonprofit freelancer with highly variable income. I estimate that my ex-husband is worth at least $4M-$5M. I ended up with $750k in the divorce. I even had a post-nup that was drawn up after our first separation early in our marriage. Deb Tate didn’t use it. I was too weak to think clearly and I relied on Deb to be the excellent representation I needed to advocate for me and my daughter. She did NOTHING. She just processed the paperwork and charged me hefty fees to do it. I would have been better off with Legal Aid because at least they would have cared. While my experience was terrible, I hope that I have prevented you from making my mistake. Deb Tate is a pathetic excuse for a divorce attorney, unless you are the other spouse. My ex-husband was thrilled.

Ms. Laura Ruzzo Reale previously represented my family. However, she misused confidential information obtained during that representation to her own advantage in a subsequent legal matter involving my wife. Specifically, Ms. Reale used this information to gain an unfair advantage against me in a restraining order/divorce proceeding where she represented my wife. This conduct demonstrates a concerning prioritization of personal gain over the best interests of the children involved, which is a fundamental ethical obligation for any attorney practicing family law. I possess documentation to support these allegations.

Absolutely worst law office I have ever dealt with. Got an attitude and told me to notify when I got a court date. Then dropped me because of to much of a backlog of clients. After I paid the consultation fee of course.

My experience a few years ago was much like Lorie's. Laura repeatedly lied to my face and charged an arm and a leg. She also repeatedly forgot the details of my case and I ended up paying and owing thousands and thousands. At the end they billed me under an incorrect name when they knew my current one. They also charge interest for balances due. She misunderstood very important details and didn't clarify them until paperwork was signed around those details. Never, ever hiring them again and absolutely do not recommend. It's one thing to lose a case. That's out of a lawyer's direct control. It's another to handle it that badly.

I had Laura Ruzzo Reale as my attorney in a divorce case. I spent almost $30k , she did nothing for me that a mediator couldn't have done. She was very unprofessional in the way she talked to me as well as comments she made about the other attorney in the case. She put a lien on my house without even contacting me when I had already gave her almost $20k in cash, she knew I wasn't going to have access to any other cash until the divorce was final. She required a $5k retainer, when she thought we we're going to trial , she wanted another $10k to start working on preparation for trial, then before we went to trial she wanted the balance of her bill paid off. We never made it to trial, I had to settle because I couldn't continue to pay her for not working on my behalf. I had to ask her to withdraw as my counsel because she was not helping me and charging me for time and hours that I know we're not accurate.