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07 Oct, 2014 by Anonymous
Upon meeting Ms. Albaum you will hire her on the fact that she is an experienced attorney from a very reputable firm. Within two years of your never ending legal battle you realize that she loves to litigate, particularly in matters that can be easily settled with a phone call to the other party. After over $100,000 in legal fees and getting NO WHERE... I realized it's better to take matters in my own hands...relieved her of her duties and represented myself in court.
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29 Aug, 2013 by Anonymous
With hindsight being 20/20, I wish I would have researched Ms. Albaum as well as the reputation of her firm and their policies before retaining her as my divorce attorney. Unfortunately, I wrongly assumed they were effective and credible based on the high-profile clientele they represent. Once I dismissed Ms. Albaum in favor of new representation, I learned from several sources (including my new attorney) that both the firm and Ms. Albaum have earned a reputation for drawing a case out beyond what is necessary to reach a mutually acceptable settlement. Of course, this adds up to an increase in both fees and the emotional burden associated with the process of divorce. The advice I was given demonstrated the firm had zero interest in settling matters out of court, which is typically the less costly and time consuming route . Although Ms. Albaum is very aggressive, she provided what I would describe as counter-productive advice, which caused more drama for both me and my children in what was an already stressful situation. In hindsight, she seemed to leverage my emotional state, convincing me to make decisions that didn’t feel right.
Furthermore, I felt nickel and dimed. Ms. Albaum used associates at ridiculous hourly fees to accompany her to court when their presence added no value and was not necessary. I was billed for erroneous, unsolicited communications (emails/faxes) and on three occasions she recommended filings that were declined by the judge.
After several months, $80,000 in legal fees and no progress, I left the firm and hired another attorney. This was the best decision I could have made. My new attorney was appalled when he reviewed my case and the advice I was given. He offered facts, told me what I should and shouldn't expect financially through alimony and child support, and told me which actions would be a waste of money – even when it wasn’t necessarily what I wanted to hear. My divorce was settled in less than a few months in mediation. Shame on this firm and Ms. Albaum. It’s my opinion both thrive on and profit from people's pain, vulnerability and sorrow.
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28 Mar, 2017 by Anonymous
GARY FIDLER COMMITTED MALPRACTICE IN MY CASE 5 DIFFERENT TIMES.
DO NOT EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER IN YOUR LIFE USE THIS ATTORNEY. HE DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING AND WILL ONLY CHARGE YOU AND GIVE THE WORK TO HIS UNQUALIFIED ASSISTANTS WHO DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT LAW.
I retained him to do a simple unlawful detainer case. He completely ruined the case, failed to read any letters from opposing counsel, made me wait 3 MONTHS and then i had to dismiss my case due to his negligence.
He knew he messed up so bad he returned all my costs and fees.
THE ONLY THING I TOLD HIM WAS TO DISMISS MY CASE SO I CAN MOVE FORWARD WITH A DIFFERENT ATTORNEY.
One month later I find out that he couldn't even dismiss a case properly. My case was never dismissed. This ruined the second case I filed with a different attorney. I HAD TO DISMISS MY SECOND CASE BECAUSE OF GARY FIDLER'S NEGLIGENCE.
NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER USE HIM. HE SHOULD HAVE HIS BAR LICENSE REVOKED.
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30 Jul, 2014 by Anonymous
Most of my calls and e-mails to Mr. Fidler went unanswered for days, sometimes weeks. He promised to write a letter to the opposing party but never did. After weeks of waiting for him to write the letter and since time was running out in this case, I had to go and hire another lawyer to actually do the job that Mr Fidler took but never delivered.
To add insult to injury, when contacted to return the balance of the retainer payment I gave him, he sent a list of high-priced phone calls that somehow balanced out the payment. Stay away!
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19 May, 2017 by Anonymous
I wish I had read the reviews on AVVO before working with him. I concur with the previous review - Overcharges and Underdelivers. Takes advantage of clients. Charges you for Secretarial tasks at attorney rates. Never once stepped foot in the court system for me. Misguided me on case strategy. Could not produce the timesheets he was to use when billing me? Does not represent the practice of law in good faith. Poor example! Horrific experience!
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21 Feb, 2013 by Anonymous
He estimated it would cost a maximum $25K of his time to get a corrupt trustee removed from his position.
He ran up a bill of about $50K. He accomplished nothing.
We had informed him early in engaging him that our financial resources for pursuing our interests were very limited, yet he didn't even alert us to the fact that he was running up was way exceeding what he had estimated and give us the option of backing out before the bill got too high.
Of course no lawyer can guaranty results in an adversarial situation,
but he and/or his staff dropped the ball in at least these specific ways.
## He was impolite in responding to client emails, having been heard in the background to a call I was having to his staff making denigrating comments about me, the client, and complaining that I was making an inquiry.
## He filed a critical court response pleading just _barely_ short (hours short) of the absolute deadline for the judge's staff to receive it. As a result there is reason to believe that the judge did not really read it and as a result what should have been a slam dunk judgment in my favor it appears the judge was uninformed of the issues. And in court, when it became clear the judge had not really read our arguments McCullough did not verbally attempt to correct the judge's misunderstanding.
## When the party we were opposing made to the judge an out rightly false statement about an action he had taken, even though McCullough had in his papers documentary proof that this was false he said nothing and produced no counter evidence.
It is extremely disappointing to do all the hours of background research and provide one's lawyer with the ammunition he needs in a hearing, have him standing there earning $400+ per hour and then have him stand there like a dummy and say nothing while events unfold against your interests.
I could likely have represented myself more effectively in that court than he did.
## Mr. McCullough's billing policies are draconian and unreasonable.
Specifically: I would send and email with information he requested.
I would be billed a minimal period of time (about $100) for him sending me that one line email.
When I supplied via email the information he requested I would again be bill that minimal charge when he received that email from me.
It is important to understand the information he requested was already available in papers I had supplied earlier, and essentially I was being asked to catch the ball for him not finding the info he already had AND being double charged for his or his staff's failure to do their own clerical work and filing properly.
# He also made a bad judgment call by counseling us to not make a reasonable/palatable settlement offer to the other party involved. Any lawyer can make a bad judgment call, but when he does it should be duly noted.
Mr. McCullough is not unknowledgeable of estate law. And he or his staff did clearly put in substantual time on the case. That was not the problem.
He just didn't seem motivated or interested enough or alert enough to do what he needed to do to represent me well, and interms of cost/benefit ratio I could not recommend him as a good bet.
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28 Feb, 2024 by Anonymous
The review submitted by "Anonymous" is accurate, although 10 years old. I am not very good at what I do because I suffer from treatment resistant clinical depression. I am, however, very inexpensive.
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22 Oct, 2013 by Anonymous
This Lawyer/tax preparer is not responsive and doesn't do what he says he is going to do. I would recommend using someone that can be reached and does what he is supposed to do and when he is supposed to do it. He should not be practicing law or doing taxes for people. He is not professional at all.
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18 May, 2017 by Anonymous
Mr. Yacoubian was hired to represent me in a divorce. I found him in the Department Newsletter advertisement. Upon meeting him, he misleads me by saying how he knows how to help Officers since he's a retired Lieutenant. However, I believe he helped himself by increasingly adding charges that were not verifiable and excessive. Whenever I asked him a question he would always "get back" to me but really doesn't answer the question. He failed to get me custody time as I hired him for. Also, I was forced to fire him after not getting much done except making the situation worse. My new attorney even complained to me about Mr. Yacoubian calling him several times when he was no longer part of my case wasting his time.
I had a horrible experience with Mr. Yacoubian and filed a complaint with the California State Bar.
Be careful and question all of his charges.
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13 Nov, 2016 by Anonymous
Our experience working with Mr. Yacoubian was a nightmare. We hired him to represent us in a civil case and we were forced to fire him after only 4 weeks. Mr. Yacoubian was very difficult to work with due to his poor interpersonal skills.
Specially, we found him to be confrontational, argumentative and listening to us was not something he was capable of doing. Other attorneys on our case also expressed their concerns with his legal knowledge and their difficulty in interacting with him. This resulted in one attorney refusing to have any further direct contact with him.
We believe Mr. Yacoubian’s billing practices are unethical and excessive. We were issued a final statement and refund from Mr. Yacoubian. Only to later receive an additional statement covering the same time period where the times and charges were entirely different from his original statement. Mr. Yacoubian also had confidential conversations with our new attorney after he was removed from our case by the judge, and against our stated wishes. His behavior led to us filing a complaint with the California State Bar.
We do not recommend Mr. Yacoubian.
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10 Oct, 2019 by Ann
Hi,
I hired as immigration attorny while I was working for a company in Pasadena, forgot to submit financial statement until a reference letter was sent to her, I paid her extra $1000, but never get it proved or sent me a copy.
She pissed me and my family off entirely till this day, I've suffered so much for her representation and lost everything, she didn't even give me a copy of her filing or the records after! We are new in this country, trusted her, but
she's a irresponsibile, poorly experienced, kept asking for pay and not good at filing it properly which result in me lost everything in my life and my son couldn't pursue higher education.
Ann
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11 Jan, 2013 by John
THE RED FLAG ON THIS LAWYER IS THERE TO ALERT YOU TO HER CHARACTER. BELIEVE ME, I KNOW, AS IT WAS MY COMPLAINT THAT BROUGHT THE STATE BAR TO PUNISH HER.
SHE ALSO HAS GONE UNDERGROUND MORE THAN ONCE TO AVOID COLLECTIONS WHICH INCLUDE A SMALL CLAIMS ISSUE IN WHICH SHE SIGNED AN AGREEMENT TO PAY ME THE JUDGEMENT WITH MONTHLY PAYMENTS AND QUICKLY STOPPED PAYING AND WENT UNDERGROUND.
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29 Sep, 2015 by Anonymous
Daniel didn't know anything when it came down to my case and the laws that applied.I was the one doing all the research and work. Aren't lawyers supposed to know the law? Well this one hadn't the slightest clue. The work he put in was nothing more than emails and emails and maybe more emails. back and forth between him and my new landlords lawyer. My case wasn't even with my new landlord. I hired him to sue my old landlord for harassment. So when i found out he was emailing the new landlords lawyer asking for the relocating money in escrow, which he played no part with me getting, in order to keep 30 percent of it before handing me the rest.I felt completely betrayed and when i asked him about it, he quit. So, obviously Daniel isn't too concerned with practicing law in an ethical kind of way. If you choose him to represent you, all i can say is watch your back.
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15 Apr, 2024 by Anonymous
Incompetent and rude. We were looking forward to get a consultation referred by a colleague, however, we regret it. We cannot comprehend why someone like him with such an unprofessional mannerism can be in business. Avoid.
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20 Nov, 2023 by Anonymous
Retaining Scott F. Pomerantz to represent me was the worst decision I’ve ever made. Before retaining Pomerantz do your research! If I had researched Scott Pomerantz I would never have allowed him anywhere near my case. The more research I did, the more I discovered both in terms of his alleged outrageous misconduct & his lack of jury trial success. How Pomerantz even has a license to practice law is beyond me, especially after what he did to an 8-month pregnant doctor in the middle of her deposition. Before retaining him ask: “How many jury trials have you won?” & “How much money did you win? & “What’s your largest verdict?” I was shocked to learn how he had had almost no jury trials & had won such a negligible amount of money. He didn’t even carry malpractice insurance so I couldn’t even submit a claim for his alleged malpractice! I researched Pomerantz’s record as an attorney and learned Pomerantz was, in my opinion, an unsuccessful attorney where many of his cases were his own personal cases, many of which were suing his own clients and he engaged in conduct documented in court records I found morally repugnant. In LA case # SC119009 Court records include 2 Declarations, one by attorney Shauna Frasier the other by an 8-month pregnant Dr. Heather Oxford where they describe how Pomerantz started screaming profanities at Dr. Oxford in the midst of her deposition & how he grabbed the table & thrust it into Dr. Oxford’s pregnant belly! She states in her Declaration, “I could feel the force of the table press against my belly” & how “the videographer said ‘he is crazy’” & “I was very scared & stressed out…I could feel the baby acting differently due to my stress….I cannot go forward with another tense & terrifying experience such as this prior to the birth of my baby.” Fraser declared “I am very fearful & upset over what occurred” & that she “genuinely believed that Mr. Pomerantz was going to come across the table towards Dr. Oxford.” The Declarations outline their terrifying ordeal with Pomerantz.
I discovered court records involving a psychiatrist, Dr. Carlotta Freeman, the 1st African American President of LA County Medical Assoc. She filed for an Order to Stop Harassment against Pomerantz, Case SS017047. She too describes a terrifying ordeal & states “I thought he was going to assault me…his rage shook me & I trembled with fear for my life. I called the LAPD.” Dr. Freeman indicates she believed Pomerantz vandalized her car. Given the Declarations of an attorney & 2 doctors it’s unfathomable how the California State Bar has failed to take action against Pomerantz.
Court records show Pomerantz sued his landlord Sandy Berens over a dispute concerning his security deposit. Berens kept ~$1300 claiming Pomerantz damaged her property. Beren’s Trial Brief in case 09C01807 states she didn’t deduct the full amount of the damages “due to his intimidation.” She states she was afraid of Pomerantz & in court documents states he was “abusing his position as an officer of the court to try & extort money from his former landlord.”
All of this is consistent with what I experienced with Pomerantz in my case. He was abusive & even threatened to kill me! In my opinion he ruined my case costing me a substantial sum of money. When I refused his demand for payment that I believe was totally unreasonable he sued me. He appeared in my case for three weeks then spent six years suing me over a relatively small sum of money. Apparently he didn’t have more productive things to do with his time.
Pomerantz’s client Sandra Embrey sued him for fraud in Orange County case #30-2015-00791635, alleging he fraudulently induced her to sign his Fee Agreement which is what happened in my case as well!
When my settlement check came from which I have yet to receive a penny Pomerantz emailed me stating he needed the funds from my check to pay his rent! Do your homework. I wish I had & avoided the nightmare of having Pomerantz as my attorney
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29 Jun, 2018 by Anonymous
I tried to have Gafni hear my case out and he kept pushing me to back. Every other lawyer was willing to take my case afterward yet Gafni seemed to think I wasn’t prepared to show evidence and told me he’d refer me for something in his specialty list. Don’t waste your time with the guy as the rest of googles results show you, he won’t get you very far.
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01 May, 2013 by Clare
Got no help from Devermont & Devermont for my disability case. The office staff was extremely rude and abrupt with me if I called with a question. I never once got to speak to the lawyer, only the extremely rude woman who answered the phone. I never received an update on my case and was made to feel bad if I wanted information. I do not recommend this firm. Very unprofessional.
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