Too Many Greedy Incompetant Attorneys Like Pamela Lauser

My 50th Birthday will be spent pleading before a Small Claims Court Judge over a greedy attorney's attempt to steal my money.

I'm going to take this opportunity to complain here about a greedy attorney, M. Pamela Lauser in Martinez, California, who has attempted to steal a lot of money from me for non-representation. I paid a $2,500 retainer for representation at two hearings, one in Walnut Creek and the other in Concord. (I had one case transferred to Concord originally from Walnut Creek.) I'm writing this after having asked for a partial refund only to receive a rude letter from Ms. Lauser full of lies and misrepresentations to justify her stealing my money.

This case was initially about someone from Vancouver Washington sending a note to Cyber #2 letting him know he had his name change legal document and was going to take appropriate action for their on-going dispute. I was summoned to court over their dispute for the convenience of Cyber #2 who could not do so for someone out of state. Here is the basis for the nature of the dispute I was summoned to a Court out of my jurisdiction for:

This lazy in pro per (self represented) individual scribbled some note submitting it to his small community judge about something post marked from Vancouver Washington he accused me of sending. He had no police reports, no evidence whatsoever to justify his claims I harassed him. I have never contacted this man nor emailed him but once in 2006! Since he couldn't file it against that man due to out of state jurisdiction, he chose to make me a scape goat costing me $2,500 in attorneys fees among many other fees.

Ms. Lauser failed to represent at either of the hearings, didn't perform any litigation, nor did she or her assistants fill out any forms on my behalf, except a substitute attorney form over someone who didn't represent me. I submitted all the paper work and pleadings to the Court. One day I will upload the pleadings with redacted names but I'm not quite ready to disclose the information yet.

I had asked for a partial refund for non-representation and Ms. Lauser responded she wrote off $4,000 in her attorney fees for simply reading through my pleadings and evidentiary materials! Before my full disclosure of this matter, I'd like to point out what went wrong to allow this mishap to occur so others might learn from my errors:

ATTORNEY CHOOSING TIP: Prior to choosing an attorney, don't just assume because they have a State Bar Number that gives them a stamp of approval for ethics or that they are automatically good attorneys. It simply means they are good at passing law exams and nothing more. Neither should their having no complaints against them posted on the California Bar Association's site be any reliable confirmation of their being good attorneys.

ERROR NUMBER ONE: During her initial consultation, Ms. Lauser told me there were prejudiced postings about her on the Internet due to her being a kick ass take no prisoners attorney who stood up for her clients. As a result of her claim, I didn't bother to check the complaints. I do not generally take what's been written on the Internet about someone as genuine in this day and age after having suffered at the hands of cyberstalkers myself. However, had I read what appear to be genuine complaints on LawyerRatingz.com, I would have reconsidered retaining her services.

Here are just a few of the comments on a lawyer's complaint site:

Ms. Lauser has no range in court. She rubs the Judge the wrong way and ends up getting scolded which is painful to watch. As a result she lost a crucial and costly case for her client that should have been a slam dunk. I can only assume that she went in assuming she would win and thus didn't prepare. The other lawyer ended up walking all over her. It's basically the lawyers who win or lose a case for you. Just ask O.J.

I have read all of the comments on this site even the ones that were written by her staff to counter the honest ones....take it from someone who knows her intimately, if she likes you she will be tenacious but there has to be something in it for her ..... she trained with albert turnbaugh who is a major billing machine .... pam charges as much as gloria alred neither are worth that rate .... well pam isn't worth that billing rate .... judges do not like like her because she is pushy ..... be all things to all people pam and leave your ego at the door, the far door.... ego (edging God out) .... lastly her paralegal is a wiccan (pagan) and pam is a christian? .... that in and of itself is enough to hire elsewhere, hypocrisy before God means bad fruit for the client .... this the truth ... can a tree bring forth good and bad fruit and be good, no way ....

I would NOT recommend having Ms. Lauser represent you in a court of law. Her lack of experience mainly works against her!

Highly recommend to NOT use this lawyer. It cost me $400.00 for 1 hearing, she was schooled by the judge and court clerk how to fill out an after hearing judgement, used the wrong date on the form and put down the wrong name for my soon to be ex-wife. I have left a message everyday this week for her and she got back to me today and told me it is a little error and I should appreciate the work she has done and just look over these small facts. I think it might be time to go back to law school for her.

This poor woman does not understand the legal system and can cause a client great grief. She attempts to compensate for her lack of skills with a obnoxious loud performance in court. It doesn't go over well with the Judge. Do yourself a huge favor by not putting your legal problems in her hands.

She took a lot of time to understand the case, but brought witnesses to testify at a case managemet conference!!! The judge would not allow the testimony. She seems to not understand the legal process.

In over her head. Her case was dismissed because it was filed in the wrong court. She was scolded by the Judge. That's not good at all.

She is new and does not know what she is doing. Judges cannot stand her

ERROR NUMBER TWO: I assumed Ms. Lauser was a seasoned attorney since she was a partner at her own law firm, had a nice office and several employees. She had also mentioned wanting to be a judge one day. This was an "illusion" since I later learned Ms. Lauser as a 50+ woman had only been an attorney since 2006 making her very inexperienced.

Here's another attorney tip: Law schools don't teach attorneys how to deal with the real world in their practices, only how to pass law exams. Most good attorneys are trained and seasoned at major law firms who learn from seasoned veterans. Ms. Lauser appears to have went from law school directly to her own law practice thus missing early apprenticeship from veterans. What Ms. Lauser charges and expects for non-representation/non-production is indicative of her being delusional about her status as a three year attorney.

ERROR NUMBER THREE: I neglected to check on the nature of Ms. Lauser's education, which was at relatively low level university and law school for her field.

ERROR NUMBER FOUR: I believed Ms. Lauser was bound by the terms of her retainer agreement. Ms. Lauser did not follow her own retainer agreement to notify me of any major expenses, such as her claim of spending $4,000 worth of her time reading through my submitted litigation materials and evidentiary information. In her not following the terms of her retainer agreement, I have to take Ms. Lauser to Small Claims Court to prove she violated its terms.

ERROR NUMBER FIVE: Ms. Lauser initially introduced herself as someone who a particular judge hated and initially declined to take my case. I did not follow through to check other's on-line comments that it wasn't an issue with just one judge but others as well. After the case was transferred to a new jurisdiction, Ms. Lauser accepted the case and a month later failed to appear leaving me to represent myself with two witnesses, one who had flown out all the way from Vancouver Washington.

Here's the problem. Ms. Lauser's short notice of her forthcoming non-appearance gave me no real choice but to represent myself. Because she wanted to charge me, Ms. Lauser had an associate attorney call me with 24 hours notice prior to the hearing. This was unacceptable as I did not feel comfortable, nor did I believe the attorney was competent or knowledgeable to represent me after I spoke with him on the phone. I only agreed for him to attend the hearing in case there were any technical law issues and as moral support.

One Hearing - Non Legal Representation

The associate attorney showed up one hour prior to the hearing and sat for 1.5 hours awaiting other cases to finish, then spent another hour standing next to me in court with my witnesses, but he did not represent me or present my case! I agreed to pay him for his time, but later learned Ms. Lauser still wanted $300/per hour. He didn't have the answers to some of my questions, including a particular statute I requested that governed my case. As he sat for 1.5 hours, the associate attorney didn't bother to call the home office to provide me with the language in the statute.

When this associate attorney spoke at the hearing to the judge to claim Ms. Lauser had an emergency and couldn't attend, he introduced me as a self-represented person. When the judge said something to him, his response was "that's news to me" about a particular statute governing another issue. For the rest of the hearing this associate just stood silent before the judge the entire time as nothing more than silent moral support. Ms. Lauser's law firm wants $300 an hour for that?

Maxed Out Retainer After One Non-Represented Hearing

After this associate attorney hinted my retainer had been maxed out prior to the second hearing, I terminated Ms. Lauser's law firm's representation. Ms. Lauser hadn't even bothered to arrange for a meeting to discuss my case. I had only a 20 minute initial consultation with her and a few minutes with her on the phone of her arranging for me to pay her and sign her agreement.

In my Small Claims Court case, I agreed to pay this attorney $200/hour (6 hours), as well as to read through my case even though he didn't represent me. I agreed to pay for the copying and case management costs, etc. I believe I was very generous in offering to pay $1,500 for non-representation, non-production to this law firm at one hearing. This wasn't enough for Ms. Lauser, she wanted to keep my entire retainer.

After I terminated her law firm, Ms. Lauser had the audacity to send me a rude letter claiming she was kind in waiving $4,000 in her fees. She didn't even bother to formerly apologize for overbooking her schedule causing me the emotional trauma of being without representation.

My 50th Birthday To Be Spent in Small Claims Court Pleading My Case Against Attorney Pamela Lauser Before a Judge

A Small Claims Court case has been filed in Concord against Ms. Lauser I have to appear to plead before a judge on my birthday in February.

So you might wonder, what is this all really about? To reiterate, my being chosen as a scapegoat for Cyber #2's mental problems and dispute with an out of state person. He admitted at a deposition to be on medication, to having memory issues due to being a diabetic who was once in a coma. He was obviously just looking for anyone to blame for the problems he believes he's had on the Internet.

The restraining order was issued against Cyber #2 in Concord, California after pure hell of what Ms. Lauser put me through to only steal my money. This is an example of how greedy attorneys work with a corrupt court system to make money for the local legal community over extremely petty non-case First Amendment Rights issues.

www.LaywerRatingz.com (Pamela Lauser Page)