Reviews

Worst experience ever with an attorney. David is great and very transparent while Steven the main attorney is the complete opposite he has made up extra fees claiming to have worked enormously more hours then task would have taken essentially overcharging me when I asked for a audit to show he actually worked said extra hours all he shows is the invoice with the inflated hours. First court date he was extremely unprepared the judge called it out which in turn lost my whole case as I was trying to prevent my daughter from being moved out of state, judge asked Steven for proof of that my daughter’s mom was actually living here in California where I provided multiple documents of evidence proving that but he could not show any to where the judge allowed the move away. I was told for Steven to travel to represent me in alameda county I would only pay travel fee for time going to court date not back court was only a hour and a half as to where Steven charged me for 5 hours which amounted to 1600 for one day that he barely even spoke on any subjects i requested. I had to travel to retrieve records from a previous case as evidence I was charged $160 for me bringing said documents to him as I did all the work. He would charge me almost $100 each time for him to email me or call me which most conversations were him trying to argue with me because of his incompetence. I would recommend anyone to ever retain him as representation. Be sure if you retain David as you attorney that Steven will not touch your case as you are sure to lose and pay greatly more then discuss. My initial quote of fee was 5,000 as to how I was charged 15,000 for a matter that only was 2 court appearance and all evidence was gathered by me I still have no explanation

Great firm

Your best choice for a divorce attorney. He helped me out tremendously. Got me custody of my Son again and got me a fair divorce terms. Great people and very organized.

What an amazing team of legal professionals. I was so nervous going through my child support hearings but they walked me through each step of the way. Hiring an attorney can be really expensive but I don't want to even think about how much it would cost me to have gone it alone. Even after I had used my retainer they worked with me to make sure I could afford having them see me through to the end. When it was over I was able to be reunited with my two children and got a child support rate that didn't leave me destitute. I will be forever grateful, THANK YOU!

David L. Pfaff is so professional and positive and stays calm, and helps you win your case. I recommend him to any one that is dear to my heart, he will help you your in good hands with him. At the toughest times trust me.

David Pfaff got the job done!

If I could give Steven minus five stars I would, Steven has represented me since 2/15/18. In the beginning I thought he was a pretty good attorney, but it soon became very obvious he either had drug problem or some sort of memory issues that prevented him from being able to grasp the argument he needed to make when speaking to the judge. Even when my husband and I had provided him with evidence that proved my allegations about my ex-husband, he either didn't bother to bring that evidence to court or forgot to make the argument that evidence proved, which irrevocably damaged my reputation with the court, and once that's done you will be forced to spend thousands of dollars to clear up his mistakes and rebuild your reputation with the court and by that time it will be too late and the damage will be done and you'll have lost time with your child. Steven has filed documents late and under the code of civil procedure 1005(b) if the court doesn't want to consider them they don't have to and that can ruin your entire case. He has misspelled attorneys names and the opposing parties address and when told that they were spelled wrong, he says I'll have that fixed, but he doesn't and the document goes out with the wrong names and or addresses. He could not even remember the names of my two daughters for 6 months after hiring him. He was late to court and it cost me four hours at $225 an hour and worst of all the judge took it out on me. He had a trial scheduled for a court in Woodland and had to leave early from El Dorado County court, so I had to get a continuance, and once again the judge took it out on me. When I told Steven that he had made several mistakes when drafting the both RFO's, he argued with me for ten days until he finally agreed and drafted the documents correctly but on the very last day they could be filed with the court or they would be late. My current husband filed them at the Placerville courthouse drop box 8 minutes before they emptied the box. He tried to wrap a judicial notice in an RFO, which cannot be legally done, a Judicial notice must be filed separately. I then told him it could not be done and he agreed and charged me for filing it separately, but also went ahead and wrapped it in the RFO even after acknowledging that it could not be done that way. HE DID THIS AGAIN AFTER BEING TOLD AND AGREEING THAT I WAS RIGHT. He has made so many mistakes that have cost me time with my daughter and money that I should not have had to spend, I am now having to take him to fee arbitration to be credited for much of his billing for inaccurate and incompetent work product. For 16 months he has interrupted me because he thinks he knows what I'm going to say. Every client has an absolute right to point out any mistakes their attorney makes. Steven doesn't think so and if you point out to many, he will start sending you emails saying "You have lost faith in me" please consider signing a substitution of attorney. After many months of me and my husband pointing out his mistakes and him making the process as stressful as possible, he emailed me an order shortening time and ex parte motion to be relieved as counsel today. The hearing is tomorrow in El Dorado County at 8:30 am. He is simply doing this to protect himself from further liability if he was to move forward with the case, because he knows he will make more mistakes and damage my reputation with the court even more than he already has. There is so much more I could tell you about the other mistakes he has made but there are only so many characters available. DO NOT TRUST STEVEN OR HIS ASSOCIATE MATHEW OR ANYONE IN THE LAW OFFICES OF STEVEN BERNIKER. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!!

Steven is awesome gum and Tim worked hard on my SSI case they kept in contact with me informed me of all details. Even meeting with me prior to the hearing to go over last min details. I'm very pleased with his new office id recommend him to anyone seeking help.. no upfront fees they don't get paid if you don't win.. so not all cases will be expected