Mai Vang - Salem, OR

1-Star Review Our experience with Mai Vang at Johnson & Taylor in Salem, Oregon was extremely disappointing and, in my opinion, deeply unprofessional. I would not recommend her as an attorney. I was a young single mother for 8 years, and Ms. Vang represented me for approximately ten months in a case involving custody, parenting time, and child support. During this time, the children's father had gone as long as eight months without seeing the children, and prior to that his involvement was extremely limited--at most two hours per week. Despite this history, I was repeatedly told that I had no realistic options other than agreeing to a 50/50 parenting plan by Ms. Vang. She was a big push over during hearings allowing opposing counsel to make the narrative they wanted without objection. Given the significant history of abuse that both my child and I experienced, I requested multiple safety provisions to be included in the temporary parenting plan. I knew Ms. Vang is fresh out of college and chose to give her an opportunity as she assured that she had significant experience with high conflict cases and cases involving narcissistic counterparts. None of those requests were meaningfully considered or incorporated into the temporary parenting plan. I did not feel advocated for, supported, or protected. I felt pressured into agreements that did not reflect the reality of our situation or prioritize my child's safety. Without consulting me, Mai Vang scheduled a trial date after a hearing with the judge and opposing counsel. Then, just four weeks before trial, she chose to withdraw from my case after I expressed a desire to work with a professional experienced in creating parenting plans for high-conflict cases in preparation of the trial she scheduled after my disappointed with her work in the past 10 months. I was left completely on my own, four weeks before trial, to navigate an extremely complex and emotionally charged situation. In my opinion, this was highly unprofessional. I spent thousands of dollars on retaining her and keeping her as my attorney for her to leave me hanging even after providing the worst service ever. She also proceeded with hearings she was unprepared for. She showed up to the court room with ungroomed hair and an unprofessional look with three natural grocers totes full of paperwork. She didn't measure up to opposing counsel. Evidence I had provided was either not submitted correctly or dismissed because it did not meet evidentiary requirements. I was never informed that the evidence I submitted needed to be in certain formats to be accepted she should have done her due diligence and requested the correct court accepted formats. Nor were my witnesses adequately contacted or prepared. In one instance, the judge indicated he would likely approve a no-contact order but not the stalking order as submitted. Despite this guidance, Ms. Vang proceeded in a manner that did not reflect the judge's feedback and failed to present critical evidence effectively. After later consulting with another law firm, I was told that going from zero parenting time to 50/50 parenting time is unheard of. Then withdrawing from a case so close to trial and failing to prepare evidence in this way was highly unprofessional. Overall, I felt misled, unsupported, and poorly represented. Based on my experience, I would not recommend this attorney to anyone involved in a high-conflict custody case or who needs strong, prepared, and proactive advocacy.