Back in the mid nineties when DH and BM had their custody war, as an impoverished professional parasite and welfare queen, she was represented by a Legal Aid attorney. He didn't look like much (slovenly, unkempt, morbidly obese), but he was savvy enough to draw the proceedings out as much as he could knowing that we working folks don't have bottomless pockets.

So, I think it's luck of the draw. Our BM's attorney was older and seemed quite experienced at dirty pool.

My sister is currently going through a bad phase. She is separated from her ex and lives with us along with her son. Her ex has the legal rights to meet with their son on weekends. But he takes this opportunity to abuse my sister and to say false things about our family to their son. Finally, we decided to hire a legal aid lawyer (http://fr.linkedin.com/in/bechara-tarabay-550b7929) to stop this. Just hope everything falls in the right place and we get rid from my sister's husband soon!

We always engaged private representation. So did the SpermClan. Their tactic was to delay and draw out in order to bankrupt my bride into agreeing to their attempt at custody/etc.....

They came pretty close to succeeding.

A week after we married her attorney finally was able to get the case in front of the Judge though that also was a closely run thing. She had to get firm with the Judge reviewing the delay tactics and costs my new bride had experienced to that point traveling back and forth between her home state and where she was in University for eternally delayed and cancelled hearings.

When we married that flipped the financial big stick to your side where it has remained and grown every since.

We finally found an incredible shark of an attorney to foster our Blended Family cause a couple of years later and he kept them quaking in their boots for the next 15-ish years until the Skid aged out from under the CO.

They cycled through a series of cheap lawyers and cried poor in front of various Judges for the remainder of our CO duration and though the Judges always indicated sympathy for them and granted them the maximum allowable income reduction credit for the calculation of their CS obligation ("Due to the Step Father's significant income") we had and kept the advantage. We never failed to come out significantly on top of any legal action during the 16+ years of life we lived under the CO.

IMHO this could go either way for you. She may get a ton of sympathy due to her low income status and that may negate any advantage you may have in quality of representation. Regardless, I would recommend that you go with the best you can afford and go in loaded for bear. Then let the cards fall where they may.

Good luck.