Hello again loyal readers. The Old Cynic is back with Boobus
Americanus and California attorneys.
This blog post discusses California attorney who have that fancy law
degree but not much gray matter between their ears. In other words they are either a a
chickens*** attorney themselves or the cases they have are a chickens***
cases. I should say chicken manure but I
cannot help myself.
As long time readers are aware, I have worked for many years
in the legal field in California and
worked with quite a few attorneys and other legal
professionals. This blog post discusses
my
recent experience with two licensed California attorneys.
The first attorney e-mailed me and requested a quote from me
to work on a probate cases. The
signature at the bottom of their e-mail stated that they are
not only a licensed attorney in
California, they are also licensed as an architect in both
California and Texas. They are also a
licensed California real estate broker as well as a
California notary public. Sounds
impressive
does it not?
I should have known this attorney was not the type that I
would want to work with when they
asked me if I would agree to take a percentage of their fee
once the Court approves their fee. That
is not legal and is specifically prohibited by the Rules of
Professional Conduct that govern
California attorneys.
But as I could use the business I responded to their e-mail.
The estate was rather small so I quoted them two prices, the
first for an easy probate for small
estates and a higher price for a standard probate. I also informed them that a probate referee
would have to appraise the estate property and would charge
a fee for that. Their response was,
"How much does this probate referee charge? How long will this take? Does he get paid up
front or at the end?
The estate has little cash and no income."
Jeez talk out a chicken**** case! This person has all these
degrees and is taking on a case from the “bottom of the barrel”.
I e-mailed them back and told them that based on their
latest e-mail that I was not interested in
working on the probate case and suggested that they find
someone else. I never heard back.
The second attorney was the latest one. They stated that they wanted to respond to a
petition for
confirming a biding arbitration award that their company
received the day before. The attorney
who studied law at Pepperdine University School of Law in
Malibu, California (Yes folks I do
some checking on every attorney I work with. I learned the
hard way what happens when you
don't) informed me that they did not want to spend their
time on it. They also stated that while
they were “ licensed to practice in California, but really I
manage a boutique residential real estate brokerage so I should not be litigating”.
They added that they wanted to “petition to vacate or
correct the arbitration award and also wanted to cross-complain for libel and
slander, tortious interference with contractual relations, etc .”
They further stated that, “There are several
"issues" with the Petition
most notably, that it names "_________________ , LLC, a California
limited liability company" when in actuality we are _________________, a
California Corporation I read your blog about specific demurrer and still don't
know if that mistake is grounds for anything.”
They stated at the end of the e-mail, “Thoughts, pricing,
timing.”
I e-mailed them back and told them that without more
information I could not quote them a price and asked them when and where the
arbitration hearing was held, the amount of the award and did they attend the
hearing. I received no response at all.
My God give me a break. This person has been a licensed
attorney in California for over 15 years and went to a big name law school. And
they are stating things that a layperson would be stating. And they expect me to respond in some way
with such little information.
Talk about a chickens*** attorney. For the life of me I
still cannot say which one of these attorneys is the bigger chickens*** ! And
believe me folks when I tell you that there are many attorneys out there just
like these two examples. That is the
scary part!!
Stay tuned. More to come on Boobus American, not only as
attorneys but in all aspects as well.
