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Golden State Law Group is the same company as Pacific Law Center.
Same attorneys, same advertising executive. Just a another scam lawfirm operating under a brand new name to avoid having to deal with all of the clients they abandoned when Kerry Steigerwalt (fall-guy for Pacific Law Center) closed its doors.
Golden State Law Group headed by Don Bokovoy (former supervising bankruptcy attorney) is just another SCAM created by Austin Majors (Former TRUE owner of the failed Pacific Law Center - Brother in Law to the former front man "puppet owner" Jeffrey Philips).
After Austin Majors' used car salesman tactics finally caught up with him over at Pacific Law Center, they jumped ship and found Kerry Steigerwalt "sucker" to take over the lawfirm and be their fall guy.
Pacific Law Center's horrible work product finally caught up with them. They would use hard closing tactics to manipulate people into paying fees for services they either did not qualify for or merely did not need. Pacific Law Center's business model was based upon tough hard sales in order to get as much money out of prospective clients as possible, yet once the fees were paid and the contract signed no real work was ever done and all clients were treated like cattle and driven through Pacific Law Center's mill of a firm.
Pacific Law Center has gone insolvant and Kerry Steigerwalt has announced the firm will be closing their doors, there has been stories of hundreds of unfortunate clients that Pacific Law Center has just abandoned.
Now that all of these poor clients have been completely abandon and Pacific Law Center is out of business, what does Austin Majors, Don Bokovoy, and David Weil do? They open up a brand new law firm "Golden State Law Group" and go on again ripping off clients as if nothing had happened.
There are hundreds of Pacific Law Center clients who have paid thousands of dollars to Don Bokovoy and the Pacific Law Center, yet cannot even recieve a telephone call.
Watch this video: www.nbcsandiego.com/news/localbeat/A_Bankruptcy_Attorney_Goes_Bankrupt_San_Diego.html
Countless clients of pacific law center have been left out in the cold without the money they paid nor the services they contracted to recieve. Now these same individuals who made millions off the San Diego Community by basically ripping them off through false promises, they go and open up a brand new lawfirm called the Golden State Law Group, www.goldenstatelawgroup.com and start up their same old cheezy television commericals under a new firm name as if nothing happened.
Speak out against these crooks. If you have been scammed by Pacific Law Center and have been unable to reach an attorney or get help on your case, call the Golden State Law Group at [protected] and ask Austin Majors where your money went, or call one of the local media outlets who were burned by the closing of Pacific Law Center. Maybe now they will finally have the guts to stick up to these guys, since they were ripped off too when Pacific Law Center defaulted on all of their advertising contracts.
WAKE UP SAN DIEGO...DON'T LET THE GOLDEN STATE LAW GROUP (AKA: PACIFIC LAW CENTER) OPERATE IN OUR COMMUNITY. Let's send these crooks back to their Used Care dealerships in Arizona
GOLDEN STATE LAW GROUP = PACIFIC LAW CENTER
SCAM! BEWARE SAN DIEGO!
SAN DIEGO'S PACIFIC LAW CENTER SALE CALLED A "FRONT"
FROM THE COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
http://www.courthousenews.com/2008/02/27/Attorney_Calls_Pacific_Law_Center_A_Front_For_Unauthorized_Practice_Of_Law.htm
Attorney Calls Pacific Law Center A Front For Unauthorized Practice Of Law
SAN DIEGO (CN) - A former attorney for the Pacific Law Center, a champion for conservative issues, says the center "routinely commits malpractice, " charges unearned fees and "takes legal action detrimental to clients."
Pacific Law Center "is an unlawful 'front' organization created by defendants Larry Majors, Austin Majors, and Jeffrey Phillips to permit them to engage in and profit from the unauthorized practice of law, " one of their former attorneys says in Superior Court.
Carl Hancock says the La Jolla-based defendants "routinely commit malpractice in the handling of legal matters, " churn legal fees, "take legal actions which are detrimental to the clients, " charge excessive and unearned fees, and that Larry Majors is a felon whose conviction bars him from practicing law in California, and who fled from Texas "when faced with prosecution for the unauthorized practice of law." Hancock says he worked for the defendants from March 11, 2007 until Jan. 19, 2008, and that he was fired for repeatedly protesting their unethical and illegal behavior.
He describes the PLC as a fraudulent conspiracy that defrauds clients to unjustly enrich themselves, that the Majorses and Phillips, oversee the work of defendant "front" attorneys Alan E. Spears, Thomas Slattery and Kerry Steigerwalt, and that they fraudulently conveyed assets of the PLC to Steigerwalt, to duck liability.
[Neither Larry Majors, Austin Majors or Jeffrey Phillips is an attorney, Hancock says. Austin Majors is Larry Majors' son, and Phillips is Larry Majors' son in law, he says.
The complaint continues: "Larry Majors suffered a felony conviction in the State of Arizona and which precludes him from becoming eligible to practice of law in the State of California. Plaintiff is informed and believes that Larry Majors, while residing in the State of Texas, engaged in schemes similar to those described herein and fled the jurisdiction when faced with prosecution for the unlawful practice of law."
Hancock describes Spears as "one of the 'front' attorneys who permit the other non-attorney Defendants to control the firm. Spears has actual knowledge of the firm's true ownership and control yet, in violation of the legal and ethical duties imposed on him by his membership in the Bar, continues to permit the non-attorney to make client decisions and profit from the unauthorized practice of law."
Hancock describes Slattery in similar or identical terms, and adds, "Defendant Slattery boasts privately of having 18 State Bar complaints filed against him, however, the firm has never disciplined Slattery for any complaint."
He claims defendant Christopher Castle is not an attorney authorized to practice in California, and that "Castle's role in the conspiracy is to manage and supervise the 'Intake Coordinators, ' the firm's legal salesmen, who are instructed to extract as high an amount of attorney fees as the client will agree to bear. Castle's actions are controlled, directly and indirectly, by Defendants Larry Majors, Austin Majors, and Jeffery Phillips. The attorney 'front-men, ' Spears and Slattery, operate under specific instruction from Defendant Phillips to exert no control or authority over Castle or the salesmen."
Hancock says defendant Michael Wilkes is not an attorney authorized to practice in California, and that "Wilkes' role in the conspiracy is to act as one of the firm's salesmen. Clients have repeatedly complained that Wilkes holds himself out to be an attorney and gives legal advice, yet the firm has never disciplined him for such activities."
And he says Stiegerwalt is an attorney who "knew or reasonably should have known of the unlawful and ethical activities undertaken by each of Defendant (sic). Steigerwalt's role in the conspiracy consisted of entering into a sham sales transaction for the purpose of protecting the assets of each other Defendant in the event of liability under this complaint."
He claims that the Pacific Law Center "is controlled by Defendants, and each of them, for the purpose of avoiding California state laws prohibiting fraud, theft, and the unauthorized practice of law." He claims they "routinely engages in fraud in the solicitation and retention of prospective clients." He claims the "non-attorney 'Intake Coordinators' ... routinely provide unauthorized legal advice and use 'high-pressure' and 'scare' tactics to induce clients to retain the firm."
He claims, "The actions and tactics of the non-attorney 'Intake Coordinators' are controlled, directly and indirectly, by Defendants Larry Majors, Austin Majors, and Jeffrey Phillips, who employ unskilled attorneys to act as 'front-men' for the firm. These 'front' attorney have no authority to act on their own." He claims they "extract excessive and unconscionable fees and that clients are not informed about the work to be undertaken until after their retention." He claims that "Although the firm publishes an in-house 'fee schedule' for the benefit of State Bar investigators, the firms' salesmen quote excessively inflates fees dictated only by the client's assent. ... In many case, the salesmen obtain and hold the prospective client's driver's license or identification card to prevent the client from leaving the premises."
He claims "that Defendants and their agents routinely make misrepresentations to the State bar and other public and non-public entities for the purpose of hiding or 'covering-up' Defendants' illegal activities."
He claims that he witnessed this while he worked for the Pacific Law Center, and that his bosses there "directed Plaintiff to perform frivolous and unnecessary legal work for the purpose of obtaining unearned legal fees in violation of the public policies prohibiting fraud and theft, " and that "as a result of Defendants' repeated demands to engage in activities in violation of public policy, Plaintiff was constructively terminated from his employment."
Hancock, who filed the complaint pro se, demands an injunction and punitive damages for conspiracy to engage in unauthorized practice of law, constructive discharge, fraud in the inducement, unjust enrichment, and asks the court to set aside fraudulent conveyance
I was a former client. I hired them for criminal defense. I school teacher hit me so I hit him back. They switched me around from lawyer to lawyer. When I complained that I didn't have a lawyer again, they said they had another one. He didn't even work for them yet. They never mentioned self defense at my trial, fed me to the wolves, worked with the prosecution to send me down the river, and the attorney that represent me at trial signed his name wrong so it would not go on his record. They delayed my trial for over a year, so there were no witnesses that could recall the situation. They would not call any of the witnesses I requested. The list goes on and on. Basically they took my money, did not honor the contract, and told me I could take them to court while I was trying to deal with the current issue of a teacher hitting me, because he was mistreating my diabetic daughter in 5th grade. The school was mistreating her for years and left her in dire circumstances several times. The school set me up by not answering phone calls, so I had to go to the school to talk to anyone. Once I was alone I was hit, almost hit again and felt I had to defend myself. I still can't believe my attorney did not object in court when the teacher said I levitated and punched him. It was like a witch trial. This ruined my life. The teacher was a bully, then bullied me, the mother of a diabetic 5th grade girl, the police then bullied me and said they turned off all their cameras for the day. Pacific Law Center should have to pay people back. Our countries lovely statute of limitations makes this difficult. Especially when you go up a government agency. They keep you on probation and can lock you up and set you up for anything during that time frame. For the lawyer that thinks this is anther firm bashing him beacause people do not want to state their names... Mine is Tracy Lyons. I currently live in Phoenix, AZ and was referred to PLC by Jeffery Phillips Law Firm. I was a client in 2005. Richard Berkon or Berkow as he likes to sign it on certain papers was my attorney at trial. He was my 4th or 5th lawyer over 3 months. The first one quit the firm to move to Wyoming to be a vet. The second couldn't travel up to Riverside County, The third had a husband shipping off in the service and was mentally distressed, the next one wasn't even a practicing lawyer, and Berkon was working at another firm when I was assigned to him. I couldn't contact him because he didn't even work there yet. My first lawyer was not affiliated with Pacific Law Center but dumped me as a client after I recorded his shady dealings. I represent myself and my family after this horrible ordeal. It's a lot cheaper and more effective when dealing with court matters. I won't make deals with the other side! CROOKS!
I'm one of the client of Pacific law center and they ripped me off on my BK 13. Paying a lot of money and when tried to contact Don Bokovoy he's in hiding, never return call or reply to email. Pacific law center and Golden state are still out there to fool people of their tactics and scam.
GOLDEN STATE LAW GROUP CAN GO F#CK THEMSELVES!
On March 24, San Diegan Laura Perry received a letter from Kerry Steigerwalt’s Pacific Law Center, once San Diego’s best known, most notorious, and most aggressively advertised law firm. Perry, 73, had paid $2000 to the firm to handle a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for her. She had received no service — one of thousands who allegedly paid money up front but got little or no legal help.
The Steigerwalt law firm, which went out of business last year, offered her a refund amount of $252, to be paid in installments. “The agreed amount will be paid, but [the firm] is financially unable to pay it ‘today, ’” lamented the letter, which included a check for $42 signed by Steigerwalt. Perry’s attorney Gary Sehnert, who successfully handled her bankruptcy after Steigerwalt’s lawyers failed to act, advised her not to cash the check. “Once you do that, then they can argue that you agreed to the settlement, ” says Sehnert, who did not charge her for any of his work.
On April 18, Perry got a second letter, fretting that the law firm’s “financial condition has worsened.” She would not get the promised April check. She also got a solicitation phone call from one Joe Rivera, representing the law firm, who wanted her to take a lowball settlement of $105. “I said that is a rip-off, ” says Perry. “Every time I think of [this] it makes my blood pressure rise.” Rivera would not reply to my questions.
Pacific Law Center was founded by Larry Majors, a nonlawyer convicted felon who vamoosed from Texas after a judge called a law firm he operated “a borderline criminal enterprise, ” according to a 2009 San Diego lawsuit, since dismissed. After getting into trouble running several law firms, Majors set up Pacific Law Center in 1993 with his son Austin Majors, also a nonlawyer, as executive director, according to the lawsuit. Steigerwalt, who had been with the public defender’s office for 6 years and in private practice for 18 years, took over the firm in 2008 and attached his name to the front. The firm specialized in drunk driving, personal injury, defective product, loan modification, and bankruptcy cases. Taking over the Pacific Law Center “was the worst decision of my life, ” says Steigerwalt, who once again has his own firm. “It cost me millions.”
That April 18 letter to Laura Perry stated, “Vendors and creditors of [the defunct legal institution] claim the firm owes them more than $3 million.”
The sum could be larger than that. Steigerwalt hired the Chicago law office of J. Kevin Benjamin, who set up a Mission Valley office. Steigerwalt pays Benjamin $250 to take over each client who has not been provided service. Benjamin explains to the people that he is not replacing the shuttered law firm. He will take the case himself for a very low fee of, say, $395 for a Chapter 7.
Benjamin says he saw the closed law firm’s records: there were more than 6000 people who had paid some money and not received their service — a number that Steigerwalt, although conceding the firm is insolvent, says is too high. “Some had paid in full, some had not, ” Benjamin says. Depending on the average amount shelled out, the money owed to nonserviced clients could exceed $3 million, he says. And that doesn’t include vendors and other creditors.
San Diego attorney Scott Harris feels sorry for “all the people that got screwed, that paid $1500 to $3000 and never got service. Lawyers at [the law firm] had retainer agreements that permitted them to get out of the liability responsibility on the cases they were handling.”
In his frequent trips to San Diego, Benjamin and an assistant handle “70 to 100 people a week who had paid and not gotten services, ” he says, asserting that he is losing money on the arrangement. Initially, “people were calling every five minutes. I had to get a separate receptionist and a different line. Some were saying I was a crook. I said, ‘I don’t have your money.’” Clients thought that the up-front fees paid to Kerry Steigerwalt’s Pacific Law Center were paid to Benjamin, and that wasn’t so. He must stress to each cuckolded client that he is not taking over the Steigerwalt firm or the clients’ files. He has to begin every case anew. “This has been going on for a year, and I am debating if I will do it anymore.”
Benjamin says that investigators from the U.S. trustee’s office in San Diego, which oversees bankruptcy cases, have been looking into Steigerwalt customers who did not get served. The probers went over Benjamin’s files and interviewed one of his assistants. “They have their own investigation going of Kerry Steigerwalt, ” Benjamin says. “They were asking us about Kerry and about our own operations.” Also, Benjamin says he talked briefly with an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation who later checked with Benjamin’s lawyer. But the subject of those inquiries was loan modifications, in which Benjamin is not involved. Steigerwalt’s firm got into the controversial loan modification business.
Steigerwalt says he is not aware of any Federal Bureau of Investigation probe. As is traditional, the agency will not confirm or deny the existence of a probe. The U.S. trustee’s office, while not confirming a formal investigation, did reveal that it has been actively involved, stating: “The U.S. Trustee’s office responded to inquiries from individuals who had concerns about their legal representation in bankruptcy cases after the closure of Kerry Steigerwalt’s Pacific Law Center.”
“Benjamin is making a grand effort to do what is right, ” says Sehnert. However, “It would be really nice to have an accounting of that $3 million.” He notes that the check that Laura Perry received was from “Kerry Steigerwalt’s Pacific Law Center Client Trust Account.” Money in client trust accounts belongs to clients, not to the lawyers, who should follow strict accounting procedures, he says. However, a former member of the firm says that in this instance the money paid up front did not have to go into client trust accounts.
Meanwhile, a firm named Golden State Law Group is now advertising heavily, à la Steigerwalt’s deceased enterprise. Golden State’s marketing director is Austin Majors, former executive director of Pacific Law Center. After Steigerwalt’s firm closed, Golden State was launched by two former members of that concern, Don Bokovoy, who is going into semiretirement, and David Weil. On its website, Golden State says it is responding to “unanswered complaints with Kerry Steigerwalt’s Pacific Law Center. Many of Mr. Steigerwalt’s clients have called Golden State Law Group seeking help with their bankruptcy case after complaining to Mr. Steigerwalt that they paid him a retainer to file their bankruptcies and he has, in many cases, failed to do so.” Those who unsuccessfully went to Benjamin’s Chicago law firm “felt cheated and scammed, ” says the website.
Steigerwalt says he is disappointed by the criticism, given Weil’s and Bokovoy’s “involvement in the bankruptcy department at [Kerry Steigerwalt’s Pacific Law Center].”
Benjamin is more succinct: Golden State “can go fk themselves, ” he says.
DO YOU SEE ANY OF THE SAME FAMILIAR FACES IN THIS PHOTO?
As a former employee of Pacific Law Center and now current employee of Golden State Law Group, I found these comments a bit disturbing and offensive; for starters the people making negative comments don't expose their names as if they would have something to hide? And then yes they each expose a story, but none accurate to what really happen with Pacific Law Center when PLC became KSPLC under the guidance of Kerry Steigerwalt (Criminal Defense Attorney). So people PLEASE Make sure to ask, do your research as they say "do your homework" when it comes to making a decision on to who you hire for representation, the people at GSLG have NOTHING to hide. We back up our practices and we explain thoroughly the entire process and its responsibilities pros and cons of each BK 7 or 13.
So in conclusion if you have questions about who is Golden State Law Group come to the source and ASK!
As for the people who has made negative comments in this site I happily invite you to come and ask us about what really happen, how it was handled and what was and is the outcome of both firms. PLEASE people remember just because you had a job meaning you were a employee with a company that went out of business doesn’t make you the company get your facts right! Remember what they say about people that Assume!
This has to be Bill Simon or Kerry Steigerwalt posting this...they both are the ex Pacific Law Center...look up the business records...Bill Simon is the CEO of Pacific Law Center and Kerry Steigerwalt is the managing partner...now that Golden State is doing well, they are resorting to defamatory comments to try and salvage the mill they both run which is San Diego law Firm and Steigerwalt Law Firm. Bill and Kerry are the ones who left 1000's of San Diegans in financial ruin...DO NOT TRUST THESE GUYS! OR these posts...DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
SCAM COMPANY - BEWARE! These guys are the same people who opened and then closed pacific law center and ripped off and abandoned thousands of clients. Do not give these guys a dime. Golden State Law Group is just another scam company started by the Majors family to steal people's money.
Check out Pacific Law Center, then look at the attorneys and more importantly non-attorneys who run Golden State Law Group. Pacific Law Center = Golden State Law Group.
DO NOT TRUST GOLDEN STATE LAW GROUP!
ALL CROOKS GOLDEN STATE IS AKA :PACIFIC LAW CENTER >>STEALN FROM THE POOR . WHAT A JOKE THE STATE HAS DONE NOTHING TO STOP THEM YET.
The Return of Pacific Law Center
12
OCT
If you have heard of San Diego’s infamous Pacific Law Center, you may have heard the name Larry Majors associated with it. After all, it was Majors who brought Philips and Associates to Phoenix, and eventually Pacific Law Center to San Diego in 2003. For those unfamiliar with the story, here is a brief history.
Way back in 1990, Larry Austin Majors, Sr. was arrested on 16 felony counts for collecting sales taxes illegally charged to Indians while he was the manager of a Payson, Arizona car dealership. Majors, was pocketing the money and, despite the best efforts of his attorney, Duane Varbel, was ultimately sentenced to a year in prison and 7 years probation in 1991 for his actions.
As if the arrest itself was not dramatic enough, Majors was taken into custody while attending a baseball game in which his son, Austin Majors, was playing.
Not having learned much about making an honest living during his stint in the penitentiary, Larry joined his brother, Wayne, in the fraternity of convicted felons who graduate to running law firms. Wayne Majors, who had served time in federal prison in the late 1980s for mail fraud, was running the Dallas/Ft. Worth law firm Paternostro and Associates, when his brother Larry arrived. Wayne, as the executive director and office manager, hired Larry and made him an employee.
In April of 1992, Larry left Dallas for San Antonio where he partnered with Attorney Marvin Davis in the law firm Davis and Associates. Majors was the money and the brains behind the operation. He designed and implemented the advertising campaign, and within several months, Davis and Associates had made a huge dent in the bankruptcy market in San Antonio. For his part, Majors paid himself a salary of $8000 per month.
Even in Texas, Majors seemingly made too big a splash, too fast. Less than a year after opening Davis and Associates, Majors left abruptly in October after a bankruptcy judge in San Antonio put an end to the operation, finding on the record that Majors had started the firm, funded it, and controlled its operations. He also forbade Larry Majors from ever engaging in the unauthorized practice of law again. In other words, Larry Majors was never to have anything to do with the operation of a law firm ever again.
Majors, however, was not about to ride off quietly into the sunset. In fact, in May of 1992, a month after he opened Davis and Associates, Majors partnered with his former criminal attorney, Duane Varbel, in the Phoenix bankruptcy firm, Varbel and Associates.
Shortly thereafter, Larry Majors made his first splash in the San Diego market when he opened Gordon and Associates in San Diego. True to form, the firm quickly became the highest volume bankruptcy law firm in the county, but was gone roughly a year later. Gordon was eventually disbarred for his role in the opertation.
Not one to mess with a streak, Majors went on to fund Phillips and Associates in Phoenix with his future son-in-law, Jeffrey Phillips. Philips and Associates, of course, eventually opened shop in San Diego under the name Pacific Law Center.
Larry’s son, Austin Majors, was the Director of Marketing at PLC. Larry Majors, who was once described as a cross between Wayne Newton and John Gotti, would appear occasionally at Pacific Law Center functions and was a regular at the strip club, Pure Platinum, where he would throw extravagant “all expenses paid” firm happy hours for the sales team after a good month.
Keeping up the family tradition of operating law firms illegally, Austin continued in his role at PLC even after the firm was sold to Kerry Steigerwalt in 2008. Steigerwalt and Larry Majors had a strategy meeting at a San Diego hotel around the time the deal went through. Apparently Larry wanted to keep a family connection, so Austin stayed on until early 2009.
Fast forward to the present day. Steigerwalt announced several months ago that Pacific Law Center would be closing its doors and may well be on his way to joining Varbel, Gordon, and Davis in facing suspension or disbarment after having gotten involved with Larry Majors.
The thing about temptation, though, is there always someone willing to succumb to it. Two former PLC bankruptcy attorneys, Don Bokovoy and David Weil, recently opened Golden State Law Group (http://www.goldenstatelawgroup.com/). A former colleague of Bokovoy and Weil confirmed that, you guessed it, Larry Majors is indeed the financial backer behind Golden State Law Group, and Austin Majors, once again, is handling the marketing for the firm.
A recent post on the Facebook Page for Golden State Law Group showed a comment from a follower which read “Glad to see you are back in the game guys . . . “ Right below that is a reply from Austin Majors, which reads “Thanks!”
The cast of characters makes anything in a John Grisham novel appear pedestrian. Bokovoy was heavily involved in the long defunct law firm of Gordon and Associates. The disgraced attorney Gordon eked out a living for years doing side work for PLC’s bankruptcy department. Bokovoy was recently in the news after he was tracked down at bankruptcy court by a disgruntled client and confronted on camera about questionable business practices.
If history has anything to say about it, we will probably start to see ads for Golden State Law Group all over television, billboards, and bus stops throughout San Diego County, and they will likely grab a substantial share of the bankruptcy market in fairly short order. Unfortunately, history also teaches us that consumers in San Diego should tread with great caution if they are considering hiring Golden State Law Group to handle their bankruptcy case.
Tags: Kerry Steigerwalt's Pacific Law Center, San Diego Attorney, San Diego Bankruptcy Attorney, San Diego Criminal Defense Attorney, San Diego Criminal Defense Lawyer, San Diego Criminal Lawyer, San Diego Law Firms, San Diego Lawyer
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AUTHOR
Martin J. Galt
This complaint is false and misleading and is basically defamatory. Most likely written by someone who doesn't want the competition. Mr Weil and Mr Bokovoy are two of the best BK attorneys around.