"Some months ago I found myself in a very scary situation. I was stopped by a State Police driving without a license and receive a summons to appear in Court. Even though it was a scary situation everyone thought it was just a traffic violation and I went to court alone. At this preliminary hearing I was harassed very badly and intimidated by a woman State Police who threatened over and over to deliver me to immigration authorities. That was the most scary and worst day of my life! I felt threatened, scared, totally at the mercy of this abusive lady who was overstepping her duties just to intimidate and make me feel awful simply because she could! That day I was given another date to appear in court. I was sure at this next meeting they'd already have immigration officers there so I decided to look for help and be represented. The last thing I wanted was to go alone! A friend of mine who was trying to help made some calls to some good friends of hers looking for a good lawyer, and one of them, a University of Law Professor recommended Sarah Vitelli. He had known her as a student in law school, and had also seen her performance in all kinds of court situations and highly recommended her. His exact words were "if I were in trouble I would want no one else to represent me!" That meant a lot to my friend and to me and I decided to hire her. Sarah was not only knowledgeable of all my situation, she explained all the possible outcomes should CIS be there to detain me or serve me with a notice to appear. She had a detailed plan of action should this or happen. From the beginning I felt she knew what she was doing, and felt confident in her plan. When we went to court she represented me well, and got the prosecutor to dismiss all the charges and I was released from all charges having only to pay court fees. As it turned out CIS wasn't there but I still felt much better to have gone with a competent lawyer to take care of me and be with me every step of the way than to have gone alone! Since then we've also hired Sarah to help us sort out everything needed for my step-daughter to petition her father and this has been an awesome help too. We couldn't on our own have sorted out all the different forms that are needed to adjust status and prove family relationship. For us having found Sarah has been great, she's capable, humane, sincere, and most of all she knows what she is doing! I feel very confident with her and I know my husband feels the same way too. If you are in need of help, don't wait until you're in deep trouble to get it! Get the legal counseling you need, because it's safer, and because it's totally worth it to know your options and rights, and to have someone there to stand by you and represent you well!"
