MidPenn Legal Services

Nice and kind
Helpful

Attorney Robert Hamilton is a rockstar! Very knowledgeable, friendly, patient, and knows his stuff. I highly recommend Robert, he was great.

I could not be more satisfied with or more grateful for MidPenn Legal's services. The York office was so helpful in my PFA process. My attorney was transparent about the office's services, everything the PFA process involved, my rights, as well as the defendant's rights.

I see some fellow survivors disappointed in the reviews (I'm sending you so much love and hope you are in a better situation now btw), and I just want to point out one thing: the PFA itself is considered an urgent, "no-fault" legal protection from further abuse. That means that the law does not view it as one party bearing fault; as my temporary PFA judge put it, the PFA is intended to put out the "fire" in a dangerous situation as quickly as possible. In this light, I can see how the law itself might leave survivors wanting more from their protection status.

Fortunately, MidPenn's attorney made this clear to me from the beginning so that I wouldn't walk away disappointed. I agreed to the terms of the PFA and of the office, and ultimately it worked out well. I feel safer now.

Please remember that this office deals with low income individuals and needs to accommodate many of our cases in relatively short time frames. You will have the best experience and outcome if you reply to emails and phone calls right away, fill out all of the paperwork, and are open with your attorney about your concerns. Also, keep in mind that as much as it might hurt us survivors to recognize, the defendant has certain rights too, and all attorneys in the PFA process (regardless of firm) are required to respect those rights. Thankfully, we as the plaintiffs also have rights, and MidPenn Legal DOES know how to represent them well, in my experience.

I was a FAILED victim of sexual assault looking to get a protection from abuse order as my assailant likes coming into my job for whatever reason. Instead I was dismissed, humiliated in court, had to listen to my molester lie on the stand after being sworn in, and my attorney did not cross examine the defendant. Once again I walk away with nothing but MORE trauma and depression, and the defendant walks away freely. I see why so many sexual assault and rape cases remain unreported because of constant outcomes like mine. I should have just kept quiet after it happened to me.

Posting for public awareness and survivor education.

I want to ask a serious and necessary question, especially for survivors of domestic abuse and displacement:

Why do licensed professionals working in institutions that receive state and federal funding believe they can selectively apply the law?

Over the past ten months, I experienced displacement from my marital home while the financially resourced spouse remained fully housed and protected. During this time, I repeatedly sought legal assistance. What I encountered was not advocacy, negotiation, or stabilization, but silence, delay, and redirection away from hearings and remedies I was legally entitled to pursue.

This raises a deeper concern:

If an attorney, legal aid organization, or licensed professional does not intend to follow state and federal law, ethical guidelines, or nondiscrimination requirements, why work at an institution that accepts public funding?

Public funding exists to ensure:
• equal access
• due process
• nondiscriminatory treatment
• protection of vulnerable populations

These obligations are not optional.
They are not discretionary.
They are not dependent on personal bias, comfort, or cultural alignment.

Survivors deserve clarity around:
• why some cases are pursued aggressively while others are stalled
• why certain clients are advised against hearings that would protect them
• why “negotiation” is claimed but not executed
• why displacement is normalized for some, but not others

This is not about personal feelings.
This is about professional responsibility, ethical conduct, and public accountability.

If a professional or organization does not wish to follow the laws tied to public funding, the ethical choice is simple: do not work at publicly funded institutions.

For survivors reading this:
You are not imagining the imbalance.
Your experience matters.
Patterns deserve to be named.

Accountability begins by asking the question.

To others reading this who are experiencing similar treatment, especially non-white women and survivors of domestic abuse:

Google reviews help with visibility, but they do not create accountability on their own. If you want patterns to be taken seriously, documented, and investigated, your voice needs to reach the appropriate oversight bodies.

If you believe a licensed attorney or publicly funded legal aid organization failed to follow ethical standards, engaged in discrimination, or obstructed your access to due process, you can file formal complaints with the following entities:

• Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board (attorney misconduct and ethics violations)

• Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania (judicial misconduct, if applicable)

• Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General (civil rights and misuse of public funding)

• U.S. Department of Justice – Civil Rights Division (when federal funding and nondiscrimination requirements are implicated)

These processes exist so patterns can be tracked and addressed. Publicly funded institutions are not exempt from oversight.

Use your voice. Use your pen. Documentation is how change happens.