I waited a while to write a review, because of the uniqueness in the way I feel Ms. Bolton handles cases. I wanted this review to be thoughtful & honest, & to see how things played out. Law is black & white, but real life isn’t, & Donna lives that in her work.
I will start with the negatives, bc everyone has some.
#1 she is fairly expensive up front. Not astronomically so, but you can definitely find cheaper attorneys. That said, you get what you pay for, & I feel I definitely got way more than I did pay for. The quality of service she provides is worth every penny, & she did not in any way nickel & dime me like she could have. There is a higher than average up front cost, but she ended up being worth way more than 2-4 times that. I’m not saying she is crazy expensive, just that there are cheaper options to start out with. But you’d end up paying more in the long run for less satisfying service. She knows her worth for a reason, & when results balance out, she provides extra bang for your buck.
#2 Her office is difficult to communicate with by phone. I did find it easier to stop by in person, but I think that is the nature of the business & is for the client’s benefit. She comes full force, & therefore has a busy office. She could potentially hire extra office staff, but that would increase clients’ costs, & she & her assistant are dream team the way they work together. The slight inconvenience of not having big box convenience at the beginning was worth it for the local business type attention our case received. Once things got going, she was so responsive over text & email. The tiny bit that felt like possible lack of communication at the beginning is really a wise allocation of resources. She gets things done bc she doesn’t waste time trying to please everyone who thinks they need immediate responses, she focuses her time & energy on doing everything she can for her client load. I think this has resulted in some negative reviews, but excellent results. I want my attorney to be focused on my case, not on making every Joe Blow happy. If you can get her to take your case, you can be sure that your best outcome is what she is focused on, instead of reviews or drumming up business. She is for real caring about her clients’ pressing needs. Once past that initial stage, she was extremely responsive to texts & emails, way more responsive than I would expect of anyone. She definitely lives this calling, this isn’t 9-5 for her.
Talking to other people, I have heard Donna Bolton described many times as a bull dog, but I would describe her as a Fire Work. She is intense, brilliant, & beyond the scope of anything that can be handled. She took the time to not only understand how our situation applied to the law (and trust me, she went above & beyond in that area), but she also had an understanding of my goals as well as the ins & outs of our local court system & the delicate intracacies of how families work, to get me an outcome beyond what I could have dreamed to desire.
Donna obviously thinks & feels deeply. She has the unique ability to not only see things from the black & white & realistic side, which I needed, as my case was Juvenile Court & came with a lot of emotions for me, but she also is extremely energetic and creative as a person, & can somehow, I guess from experience, see how things have the potential to play out relationally, & she strives for way beyond the best possible outcome in all of those areas.

If you are looking for a bull dog to win for you, Donna is your best bet. If you are looking for like a wizard that can see more sides or the situation than even you can imagine, Donna Bolton is that wizard.

I feel this review should end here, but still, there is more. She knows the best outcome & how to get it, she IS total wizard, but also, she works for what you tell her you hired her to work for, if you are lucky enough to hire her. She won’t chose your path for you, she will make sure you are fully informed to chose your own path, & will come alongside you to guarantee your journey is successful.

Donna was a great attorney. She helped my fiancé get primary custody of his daughter when his baby mama went psycho. She was a bulldog who knew her stuff. She was great. Yes it is hard to get in contact with her and her secretary because they are really busy. She has a lot of clients and kids of her own.

Very unprofessional. We overheard her say to an ex-spouse in a custody hearing "keep milking that cow". These are people's lives in a stressful situation. No regard for the damage to young children.

Donna was recommended to me by another attorney at her firm because she thought Donna was best equipped to handle the complexities of my divorce. I am so grateful she did! Donna is smart, quick, knowledgeable, easy to talk to, and ferocious in court! I couldn't recommend her more highly.

SCAM! I scheduled a consult with them for 10am on a Monday. The receptionist called me that Monday to reschedule for 11am. I had to drive an hour to her office from NC, so I was already on the road and couldn't readjust my schedule. I gave her all the details of my case, and she told me she'd get back to me after some research, and asked me for a 1700$ retainer. I paid 100$ right off the bat for the consult, and then waited. I called back two days later to say I'd gotten together the 1700$, and to confirm that she could take my case. I left numerous messages. I finally got the receptionist to answer the following week, and she said that Donna was in a conference call and would call me back. I never got a call. Finally, the two weeks from the original consult, with no reply from her, my wife was able to finally get through to the receptionist again, who was very rude to her, and basically told us to go find another lawyer. This is just unprofessional all around. She didn't even have the common decency to return my call and let me know if she was too busy or whatever to take my case, instead of playing stupid high school games like ignore the phone. DO NOT PAY THIS WOMAN A DIME! I wish I could give negative stars. She doesn't even deserve one.

Scam! My husband took half a day off from work to go meet with her. After that, we couldn't get in touch with her. When the secretary felt like picking up the phone which was twice in three weeks after numerous attempts at different times of day, she was of no help and rude. This morning she told me to find someone else. They were quick to get our money for the 30min consult and that was it.

HORRIBLE! RUDE! SCAM!

I hired Donna when I first started my divorce case because she came highly recommended. Well, she lived up to all the hype! She successfully handled the complexities of my case. She was tough, smart, and affordable. If you are looking for a good divorce lawyer in Washington County, you've found her!