Attorney, Eggs, and Odd Behavior
by Lauren Reynolds ~ October 1st, 2008. Filed under: Consumer, investigative.
Of the more than dozen calls and emails that came into the I-Team regarding La Jolla attorney Steven R. Liss, one stuck out as particularly odd.
A woman wrote about an encounter she had with Liss in March of this year. She says she called him to find out about a prenuptial agreement. He asked for money immediately, in fact, over the phone before they ever met face to face.
When this woman went to his office, she says he barely talked about the pre-nup. Instead, Mr. Liss ”wanted to talk about my relationship with my fiancee and act as a pseudo-marriage counselor. He then got even more off subject and asked me if I would be interested in an egg-donation and that he could negotiate up to $25,000 for a ‘desparate Iranian couple who were looking for an attractive Iranian egg donor’”.
She says he went on to comment on her physical appearance several times, and also tried to convince her that the man she was going to marry was not right for her. She didn’t hire him for that pre-nup, or marriage counseling, or egg-donation. She wrote, “Thank you so much for this story, otherwise he would have botched my case, too.”
The I-Team sent Steven R. Liss a letter with the complaints from his former clients, and a deadline by which to respond to it. Click here to read the letter. This letter includes details from the various clients who say Liss took their money and ran. Mr. Liss responded through his attorney, David Cameron Carr, who wrote that Mr. Liss “cannot comment about these matters without risking a breach of his duty of confidentiality (see Business and Professions Code 6068(e))”.
One other note, I spoke to a local attorney who had worked for Liss several years ago. Liss did not pay her, so she took him to the Labor Board and won a judgement. (The Labor Board reports to the I Team that Liss has 16 complaints against him from employees who were not paid.) After winning the judgement against Liss, this attorney put a lien against his property. It took years, but he finally sold it. She told me he tried to convince the escrow company that the lien was a mistake and that they shouldn’t pay it from the proceeds of his sale. It didn’t work. She got her money, plus 10 % interest.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:12 pm
I also worked for this attorney after my first year of law school. This was my first law clerk position. I never filed a complaint but left after two weeks as a result of Mr. Liss’s unprofessional behavior. He never paid any of his “interns,” he said that we should be paying him for his time. He gave me and another classmate who worked for him, our own caseloads without any direction from him (and we had only completed one year of school). And he did not maintain a professional relationship in the office. He sent me inappropriate email messages at night, invited me to his son’s baseball games on the weekend and even drove me to his house during the work day after a trip to court so I could see where he lived. He let my classmate handle an entire adoption without his supervision or direction. She met with clients and prepared the paperwork. When he tried to file her papers, he discovered that she had made several errors. When we got back to the office, he proceeded to berate her and call her names such as “retarded.” I have never experienced such unprofessional behavior. After two weeks of work I sent Mr. Liss an email explaining that I would not be coming back. He sent me back several very distrubing emails. For a couple of months after I left, Mr. Liss would email me and tell me he missed me and asked how I am doing. I finally blocked his emails. To this day, I have kept the emails documenting his behavior. Mr. Liss is a disgrace to the profession and should be disbarred once and for all!
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Jessica, do you have any of his emails that you can post. It would be great to use as proof to show what a snake this guy is. Reading about what he has done makes me sick to my stomach. what a low life! i hope that 10 news continues to hound this guy and do whatever they can to expose all his dirty practices. If anything, he’ll at least lose a lot of potential business because of this stories and others about him being aired.
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Please post the e-mails for everyone to see.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:17 am
gosh what an unattractive looking man! what was he doing with the money he stole from these people?… obviously wasnt using it to enhance his apperance. Uggggh what a skum bag!!!!!!!!
October 4th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Hi, to all the victims including myself of this low scumbag Steven R. Liss.
I just saw the news report right now and I cannot believe this man is has not been brought to justice yet, unbelievable. This Rat, hired me in February 2007, made me leave my steady job I had with an Attorney service and promised to train me as Paralegal since I had just graduated from a Paralegal school with an Associates Degree. He is soo unproffesional, and a RAT…he had me working for that first day and never paid me for it. I found an email during that horrible first day with him where a Paralegal that worked for him was begging for him to pay her, because she was late in rent….That Was the RED flag for me. He convinced me to leave my prior job, before my 2 weeks were up and knew I was a single mom who was struggling. Well needless to say after 3 months he finally sent me what he owed me for that day, breaking the rule of 72 hours where an employee needs to be paid, after he or she quits or is terminated. To top it off he gave me a check with no funds and the check overdrew my account. Well i took him to the State labor commisions and sued him, he never showed up, I won the case. The problem now is that the judgement order went into effect last December and I still have not seen any of my judgement. For 96 dollars this prick will end up paying 3 G’s for not paying me within 72 hours and a penalty of 3 G’sfor giving me a bad check…It is already in the State board but so unfair that it’s taking such a long time for my compensation, after almost being out of work for a month and a half because of him, my car almost got repoad, my rent was late, my credit cards were late, and being a single parent paying so many bills he got me behind so much that I struggled and stressed for a year in debt….He has a suspended business license from the Ca state board, he is a corrupt, money hungry dirty scumbag RAT that will sell his soul to the devil if he could for money, to feed off innocent, honorable, honest hardworking people like ourselves. I am truly sorry for not only the victims like myself that worked for him but also his innocent clients that got ripped off from him… This RAt WILL be brought to justice and does not deserve to be running a business to continue ripping off honest citizens…If we could reunite, and get together to bring him down and for the law to compensate each and one of us who he owes money to, and get this RAT locked up…. I am sick to my stomach with this story and I am willing to also be included in the campaign to watch his fall, and to be brought to justice…
November 5th, 2008 at 10:34 pm
I am soooooo glad I just googled Steven R. Liss and found these complaints online. He is hiring right now and posting ads on craigslist. He offered me a job OVER THE PHONE without interviewing me first!! He offered to pay me under the table?? I thought it was a little fishy at first, but now that I’m reading about all the judgments against him I see why he would do this for his own benefit rather than mine. Let me just say I am now a firm believer of the saying, “If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it is”. He solicitated me for an egg donation and surrogacy right off the bat OVER THE PHONE as well. I only wanted this job because I am active in the open adoption community and thought I would enjoy working with surrogates. I did NOT think I would be recruited for surrogacy!! I am so sick, but relieved that I found out about his true nature now instead of too late (after working for him and not receiving payment). All I can say is Thank you God Thank you God!!!This is the link to the ad for his job posting on Craig’s List: http://sandiego.craigslist.org.....41240.html
December 5th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I have paid Steven Liss more than a year ago for surrogacy services, but to date no results. How do I go about getting my substantial amount of money back?
December 8th, 2008 at 10:41 am
We cannot give legal advice, and you may want to contact an attorney to protect your rights. However, we did learn that most former clients did report Mr. Liss to the CA State Bar. Additionally, some took him to artibration and won judgements. That said, a few former clients said Mr. Liss never paid on the judgements. One former employee used the judgement she won to put a lien on some property Mr. Liss owned. It took 15 years, but when Mr. Liss sold the property she was paid, including interest. I hope this answers your question.
Lauren Reynolds, 10 News
January 9th, 2009 at 8:36 am
I hired Liss back in 2004, he said just send him the documents and he would file for child support. After waiting almost 2 months, thinking he had filed and it a court date should be occurring soon, I called to see if he had done what he said he would do and file for my child support. He said he had never got my documents. I said, I sent them signature required so I know he did. He called me later and said. Oh, I did not know they were yours, the name was different. That was untrue he had listed me as Caldwell on the documents. This raised a flag but I could not afford to pay a retainer to a new attorney. So I made sure he was getting things done. Over the next few months was bizarre. He had a different secretary each week. They kept calling me with the same questions and I kept answering. I finally asked why they were all calling with the same questions over and over. They stated that they were just double checking. Except 1 nice lady who said that there was some mix ups at the office. I finally got a court date and the day before this date, The secretary said I had to sign a substitution of attorney in order to go to court. Liss quit. I was shocked. They would not let me speak to Liss. So the next day I show up at court 10 minutes late due to the worst rainstorm I have ever tried to drive in. I had left 1 hour early as I wished to get there very early to try and prepare. I called the secretary at Liss office and read him what was posted ont he door and he said “the case has been cancelled”. I said what do I do now? He said you can go home. So I waited to hear whent he new court date was. I tried calling Liss but he refused to talk to me. After 2 months I found out that the case was considered done and I defaulted because it was not cancelled. Now I am out over $220,000 of child support and it is hurting my 4 kids. I finally got a new attorney once I saved up another retainer. So I have no idea if I will ever see this money. I am living in a small home and my ex still has my half, my house, and has not paid a dime of child support. It looks like I will never see my money. Does anyone know if I can sue for monies he lost by his lying and things? I did report him to the state bar in 2004, I included all paperwork I had proving things. The State Bar responded as no action will be taken. It is too bad others have suffered since. If the State Bar did their job people would not have to suffer from this. No wonder people are utilizing State funds and California is broke. The amount of legal fraud is amazing. As antoher note, I also have same type issue with Joshua Mason attorney. This I have fully documented as I required all correspondence to be in writing. He lied to me many times in writing, he has been to 4 court dates but never notified me of them and yesterday I found out my ex was at those 4 court dates. I hired him in April 2007 and yet I Have never had a court date. I have now left him and am suing him civilly for malpractice.
January 19th, 2009 at 12:34 am
Hiring this guy was the worst mistake ever! My first attorney failed to do anything so I searched for another who could help in my divorce/ Child custody. I found Liss in 2006 and even looked him up on the bar which showed a clean record so I thought I was safe. Boy was I wrong.
Just like the woman in the article he tried to act like a counselor, keeping me in his lobby while I was repeating that I had to go so that I could pick up my kids from school. 1 year after I fired him i get a bill where he is actually charging me for holding me hostage for the meeting that was supposed to be me dropping off the check only. When I gave him the $6000 as a retainer I found out he left the next day for a 6 week vacation in Hawaii. Nothing was done on his end and I had a court date set by my ex’s attorney during the same time. It did not go well. I had to borrow that retainer money and to this day i still owe it. He preys on insecurities and will not do anything on your case.
WHY IS THIS GUY STILL PRACTICING LAW AND FURTHER ABUSING WOMEN WHO WERE VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE???
January 26th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I have documentation that shows he has double billed clients, billed them for services never recieved as well as charging them rates hundreds of dollars higher then stated in their contracts. I was put to work in his office on my own case and then he tried to charge me for the same work I did. I had started the process for filing a massive claim against him but life stepped in and I had to set it aside for the time being.
Does anyone have a separate site set up so that all the victims of this scum bag can get together and go after him as a group? I have some billing statements from other clients that he sent me in my “supposed” bill as well as proven unethical behavior. I’d rather do this with others as we will have a better chance at getting our money back.
January 27th, 2009 at 11:08 am
To those of you that have documentation, like “anonymous”, please email me directly at lauren_reynolds@10news.com.
I have contact with someone who is collecting all of this information, but I don’t want to post it publicly.
Thank you,
Lauren Reynolds
10 News
February 1st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Many of the grievances I’ve read about Liss on the web seem to be from legal professionals who’ve worked for him at some point. So this is a warning to those individuals: beware, he is soliciting paralegals via craigslist again: http://sandiego.craigslist.org.....23438.html. Thank god i decided to do some research on him!
February 8th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
I would like to comment on the Lois King case. She had the case file for her Grandson and I found that the social worker lied to remove the children from her care, but the problem was that the case was far along where the mother was going to have her parentship taken away, navigating the complex juvenile justice system and getting results in time was next to impossible.
The Juvenile law was under the Welfare and Institutions Code which is not grandparent friendly at all. It is also very CPS worker friendly, the CPS worker guides the case and the judge never reads nor questions the documents submitted. The lawyers for the CPS workers have a few cases while the lawyers that represent the children change often and have hundreds in their caseload making reading what the CPS worker submits impossible in an 8-hour day.
The mother had not done the things required to keep her children, the grandmother didn’t help things by calling the CPS worker over and over again complaining about her grandchildren while they were in her care.
I took over his law office for 3 weeks and in the 4th week I just gave up. I was spending 10 hour days filing new cases, keeping up with old ones, trying to manage mostly useless law students, the whole thing was an impossible task.
I did find one thing particularly interesting, in one of the cases a fellow named Brian was divorcing a stripper who said she was a waitress. I subpoenaed her work records to try to prove she was making more money then what she said she was and amazingly Deja Vu said she makes $1,200 a month and $20 a month in tips. If that is true I am about to sprout wings and fly. I wanted to go down their and count the times she danced and how much she collected while walking around getting tips but it was to much and to close to the end, family law cases require amazing dedication.
March 20th, 2009 at 11:07 am
LOONNNGGGG story short~ he is/was our attorney for the guardianship for the kids. We gave him a $5000 retainer to start with, and our case took a full year to complete. In that year, it was continued several times due to his mistakes. We never were billed AT ALL during that whole year. Leaving us to believe that we had not yet ran out of our retainer. The day after our final court date, we got a bill for $21000! Our retainer apparently had ran out 10 days after our first meeting with him, which BTW was suppose to be free and was 10 minutes but was charged for 1.5 hours. It took forever to get a detailed billing statement, which was thrown together and hard to make sense of. He has threatened us with wage attachments, etc….It has just been a nightmare that has been hanging over us. Our was a VERY easy and straight forward case with no one contesting it, and he made it drag out for over a year. There is just sooo soooo many issues that have led us to feel we were getting screwed. But since we didn’t want any problems and didn’t know what to do, I have been giving him every ounce of money that I can each month, even though we didn’t really have it. Besides feeling like a fool, we have no idea what we can or should do. He randomly and sporadically sends us bills, which includes outrageous interest, that shows our minimal payments have done nothing to the balance. Now what???? His billing is suspicious. He never provided us with a copy of our retainer agreement. There is just sooo much stuff to sort through. If we stop paying himwill he just go away or what?
The way this all came to light for us? A friend was contacted by him via craigslist to join his “apprenticeship” to becomes an assistant. He offered to hire and pay her after a 60-90 day NONE PAID apprenticeship. Her duties would be answering phones, taking notes and filing. When she told me about it and I asked his name, I just had to laugh. More BS from him!
May 3rd, 2009 at 5:12 am
Please contact me directly if you are interested in discussing your situation with Mr. Liss. I am a licensed California attorney. Please call me at 619-559-6333.
Tanya Robinson
Attorney at Law
June 21st, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I am the latest of Liss’ contract paralegal who was demeaned by him and called many names. However, I am former Marine and he found out quickly that I won’t take his BS.
What I have also learned and saw is that he locked in one of the law student’s he was paying about $10.00 per hour and working her like a horse. He also called her so many names, I just couldn’t take it any longer. He did pay me cause I would have, well you know; but when I left I can’t get hold of him and he still owes me money [a lot]
He is also going through a divorce and I have contacted his wife’s attorney because things he was telling me were criminal and I felt an obligation to say something.
Thank you for listening.
July 1st, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Steven Liss is a horrible man with no business having a law license. I also worked for him briefly in 2006 after graduating from law school but before I was sworn in as an attorney. My experience was similar to what others have discribed. In addition, a co-worker of my husband tried to use Liss as his attorney for an adoption and it did not go well and he had to hire a new attorney after losing money and getting nothing for it. Stay away from Liss if you are looking for an attorney or a job.
July 18th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I was sent an email from a family court attorney saying that Liss was arrested on July 17th for soicitation of murder, false imprisonment and spousal battery. Can anyone confirm this? I haven’t been able to find anything in the papers or on the web.
July 19th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Stacy, yes, I can confirm that the RAT has been trapped. He now sits in our Hotel California in downtown San Diego on a $1,060,000.00 bail. Only problem I can see is that he still has many friends back East who still believe in him so I hope our DA goes for no bail on July 21, 2009 at Felony arrignment.
Maybe we should all be there to see if the RAT does another great escape.
Thanks
July 20th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
It appears that every part of judicial system in CA is corrupt. You have all probably been following the Dr. Stephen Doyne story-a court-appointed evaluator with fake credentials. In these comments several people have told their stories about how they were abused by the Family Court with the help of the court-appointed evaluators and minors attorneys. We want to do a class action suit against family court. Any honest lawyers out there willing to step up to the bat? If you have lost your child through court-appointed child abuse–because an evaluator or minor’s attorney told lies about one of the parents or if the MA failed to support the child’s wishes then join us tomorrow, July 21 at 1:00 p.m. as we picket once again in front of the Family Court–this time in Vista. San Diego Family Court covers up child abuse! Demand reform!
July 21st, 2009 at 4:37 pm
I’ve sat here for months, quietly reading and researching complaints against Steven Liss. I too am a victim of Liss, I hired him for simple custody/support case…it took 2 1/2 yrs until I ended up firing him. He has sent me bills that have charges on it that I have no idea what they are and after the date I fired him. I paid him a large amount of money and from my calculations he owes me. I never received monthly invoices as stated on his contract. I asked several times but received nothing! Now he wants over 5 grand more. I think not!
Words can’t explain the how much I despise this man. I was hoping the charges filed against him for the passing bad checks at his bank would put him behind bars. What happened with that? Now, he is being freed for trying to hire people to kill his wife. What?! What is it going to take to bring this man down?
I have serious doubts about Bonnie Dumanis!
Does anyone know anything about the attorney, Tanya Robinson, who posted a previous message? I she legit?
Somehow we, his victims, need to unite and chase this scumbag out of San Diego!
July 21st, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Steven Liss is released!
I cannot believe it. How will his wife be protected?
What did Family Court do about the Domestic Violence charges? Family Court will not protect this woman and now he is very angry
Doyne will probably do the Custody Evaluations for his buddy and give him 100% custody of their kids.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:03 am
Mr. Liss is a criminal. I filed charges against him today for his multiple fraud activities dealing with family law cases.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:06 am
Paul Pfingst wasn’t a very likeable personality, but he sure kicked ass as the DA…..
Mike Aguirre was hated by many in the CA’s office, but he’d be all over Liss like cheap suit….Liss would want no part of Iron Mike…
Goldstein, Goldman, Goldberg (or whatever his name is) now in CA’s office brought status quo back to that office and is too busy screwing around with the dumb Children’s Pool / seals issue where he can continue to secure the hearts and minds of the warm and fuzzy tree huggers that put him in the office in the first place…and his screwy dead animal wig that he wears…
Dumanis is a JOKE and has NO business trying serious criminals in court. She needs to get back to her GLBT issues and agenda with the wishy-washy mayor (and his GLBT daughter) and the chief of police.
The only crime Dumanis be good at prosecuting is drive-by slappings in Hillcrest by the Gay Mafia.
…meanwhile people are getting RIPPED OFF and BEAT DOWN in this town left and right.
People don’t like ass-kickers ” ’cause they don’t play well with others…” but Paul and Iron Mike are EXACTLY what this town needs in during times like these…
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:26 am
Angel,
I am karens nephew, and a vet as well. Please contact me at darkfacit@gmail.com. I will provide info so that you know I am who I say; just not on this public forum. I am in NorCal and am having a hard time understanding. If you could help we would really appreciate it.
thank You
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:53 am
Why is this so typical of San Diego? A man like Liss who has so many strikes against him and once again the DA is ineffectual. Is it because he is a lawyer and lawyers protect their own? Is that why Family Court is so corrupt? Let’s face it…they don’t care about the children whose lives they are ruining–they only care about themselves and the money they make.
July 22nd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
By now everybody knows that I am involved. What I don’t understand is that there is another person who also was solicted by Liss yet no mention of that person in any article. So now all my skeltons are coming out of the closet and believe me like everyone, I have many. But, I stand by what I said and I will stand by that no matter what; I told the truth and if the truth brings me down, in the San Diego community and I never get a job within it again, so be it and, I repeat, I told the truth.
Thank you all for your support.
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
First, I’d like to say…Thank you Angel! I saw Liss’ statement regarding you and his wife on the news last night. It made me nauseous! Anyone who has ever dealt with Liss knows what a scumbag, liar he is. You admitted your faults and that, my friend, takes courage! Where as Liss blames others for his behavior. Hmmm…reminds me of the controlling, abusive addict he lectured so many of us on at our first consultation.
Let’s talk about skeleton’s in ones closet. As you stated…we all have them but not as much as Liss. Look at the San Diego Superior Court website, do a case name search. Mr. Liss is listed as a defendant/respondent to 50+ civil cases. What a guy! These are only his public records. Can you imagine?
Why is this idiot able to practice law? Stop the corruption!
Stay safe Karen!
July 22nd, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Angel:
There is no attorney in San Diego that has any respect for Mr. Liss, at all. You don’t need to worry about getting a job. We are glad you spoke up. Now, it is up to the D.A. and the State Bar to protect the public from him.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:04 am
Just FYI at least I beleive the Chicago Bar did dis-bar him for his previous Y$#$@^@.
Somebody should step up in the legal field and offer Angel a job. The man went with his heart. Skeletons or not; that is an extremely honorable thing. I do not walk in such circles or I would do something myself. If someone out there has the ability; I think it would be an honorable thing to offer him an opportunity.
Thank You.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
angel, you did the right thing. all of steve’s victims thank you, his wife thanks you, and hopefully this isn’t over yet and steve will be back behind bars!
July 27th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Thank you all for your kind words and support. However, just as I thought, Liss went right away to court and go permission to go to see his son at a play; thank God the Court kep the restraining orders in effect until at least the 5th of next month [August] when once again he will probably be allowed to see his kids as if nothing at all happened. Mean while, his victims still are not paid back, Karen is still unproctected and I can’t buy a job.
What’s going on…
July 27th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
CAUTION IN DEALINGS WITH ANGEL INO While I do not know Mr. Liss and with so many people having complaints against him it appears very likely that he is a crook and a dirt bag. I would like to however warn any and all to be very careful in any dealings with Mr. J. Angel Ino. Mr. Ino may have just as many complaints about his moral and ethical behavior especially in regards to money….Please be careful if you do anything with Angel that concerns money.
August 26th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
this is not the angel comment section, so leave your comments about angel out of this. Liss is a snake in the grass, as is clear from all of these postings. He is a scourge on society, and trying to make less of his accusers doesn’t change that fact.
August 31st, 2009 at 10:15 pm
I know that mr. liss is a seriously deranged person. i worked for him briefly and i wanted to file sexual harrassment charges against him, but even though the other’s in the office knew what he was doing, the contant right behind me, the pressing my head against his gut, i bent down to p/up the phone cuz the receptionist was out and felt him trying to press against me, everyone knew…..but no one would sign a declaration, because they knew it, but didn’t actually “see it”. I also was unpaid and asked to work very long hours and have clients yell at me because he would never return there calls, nor answer there questions. I use to cry before going to work, and then I finally quit…..he is still haunting me.
September 10th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
BTW Marv is right, he tried to sell me a document.
October 12th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
When I worked for him he would call my home at all hours. He would want me to call before I went to bed at night, one morning when I was late because the freeway was shutdown due to a dead body found in a trunk he hugged me and said ah poor baby there was traffic? totally creeped me out. He would play with my pony tail when i was at the computer, I had clients calling and asking why there were always new employees there and why no one ever stuck around, he even tried not to not pay me saying i owed him hours!!. I worked 6 days a week till 8 somedays that lasted almost a month till ended up walking out on him WITH my check of course!!! I could go on but i wont let’s just say he gives attorneys a bad wrap.
October 16th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
[...] Google: Steven R. Liss. You will get pages and pages of crap on this guy. Complaint after complaint on what a sleezebag he is. He’s taken money from people and never performed services. [...]
November 19th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
I’m also glad to find all these complaints regarding this “attorney”. I was an unpaid (of course) intern who worked in his office for about 2 months. He would ask me to stay really long hours and even come in during the wknds. He didn’t teach the interns anything at all regarding law. He was able to recruit numerous interns from local Universities by posting ads on the career website and claimed he would provide a learning atmosphere. Of course all these students who just wanted to add an internship to their resume was unsuspecting of his horrible morals and work ethic. He also would call me late at night and ask me out to dinner (all non work related). I don’t think I’ve ever been so creeped out. I quit!
November 25th, 2009 at 3:24 am
This man was clearly unstable and actually made me fear for my life. I saw an ad in Craigslist and sent my resume. I had just graduated from my paralegal school in June and I was trying to relocate from Los Angeles to live in San Diego with my boyfriend. He called me and offered me the position over the phone. We negotiated that I’d be a paid intern. We also negotiated that I’d be paid that Friday. I worked 3 days in October 2009, Thursday, Friday and only two hours on Monday. He didn’t pay me that Friday and I already knew I didn’t want to go back to work on Monday. He just creeped me out so bad. He wanted me to go to a seminar with him the first night I moved to San Diego, which was the night before my first day, he kept locking us in the office, he dumped work on me and didn’t explain anything, he followed me on my lunch break the second day, he called me at night and over the weekend wanting me to either come in to work over the weekend or get a drink or dinner with him, he told me I shouldn’t talk to my parents anymore because I was probably a victim of my mother’s abuse and my father never stuck up for me. He came to that conclusion because I told him my mother was a little worried about me moving out of home, he yelled at me and told me he didn’t want to have to constantly explain things like I was in the second grade. I did speak up for myself and told him I wasn’t going to tolerate his behavior, he then started fake crying, begging me, asking me to care about his clients, telling me he was losing his house and might not ever see his kids again. I couldn’t take anymore. I thought he was losing it and was going to take me with him. I then asked him if he could please unlock the door so that I could have a cigarette. He did, and I walked to my car as fast as I could, started the engine and as I was backing out, I saw him calling me out of my car, I kept driving. He sent a couple of text messages asking when I would be back and called a few times from a blocked and the regular line. I took one of his calls and he told me, I shouldn’t have run off like a retard. I asked him to mail my check. He told me he lost out on the money from the seminar I told him I’d attend. He sent me another email asking if we could work it out, I asked him to send my check. I never got paid for the time I worked.
November 25th, 2009 at 3:35 am
Oh, correction, It was either the beginning of October, or the end of September. I just want to say that I’m also a vet and have now been unemployed for at least a month, all my bills are going to collections. This guy is more than just a jerk though, he’s a very scary guy.
December 6th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Steven R. Liss of La Jolla California contacted me regarding a post I had about an internship. I loved everything he said. I checked out his website, checked out what he had said about becoming an attorney while working under a State Bar recognized attorney – everything made sense and checked out. He called me in the evening and I had thought that showed he cared about his work. I even Google mapped his address, nice location. I thought I had a real chance to work hard and prove myself – what a disappointment. I came across the links regarding him on Channel 10 news, a reputable source, and found the man is a FRAUD. I want to thank everyone that took the time to post. Otherwise, I could have made a GREAT MISTAKE.
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
This creep has been contacting me about a scale I was selling on craigslist for $7. He has sent me numerous emails asking if I would go to his office to drop off the scale. At first I didn’t realize that he was a creep because the emails from him seemed normal and he had his signature at the bottom that indicated that he was a lawyer. After asking him to contact my husband to arrange to pick up the scale, he wrote back twice asking me to go to his office because its close and open all the time. I goggled his name and found numerous reviews and blogs like this describing his iappropriate behavior. Aparently he doesn’t just scam customers and people that work for him but also goes after people on craigslist.
December 22nd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
GOD IS GOOD ALL OF THE TIME!
Thank you all for your post. I posted a request for housing on Craigslist and he responded with a “too good to be true” offer on a $1500/mo rental in La JOlla. He first needed to see my photo and resume. I thought that it was odd and googled him…
After reading everyone’s posts, it all makes sense – this man needs some serious help.
December 31st, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I just finished working for Steven R. Liss for two weeks and did not get paid. He refused to pay me! The first week I worked for him he tried and tried to date me and it was Christmas too. Now I am Christian but Steve calls me on Christmas Eve and send emails to me wanting mr to go to his house for dinner (he is going through a divorce and I now I can see why). ON CHRISTMAS DAY he does the same thing and when I don’t come over he makes up this “emergency” that I have to come into the office on Christmas Day to help this Birthmother. What a con artist! First of all Steven R. Liss, Esq. is Jewish so he does not respect anyone elses religious beliefs. Secondly, it is highly unprofessional to “hit” on your staff and use your position to try to get your help into your favorite position if you know what I mean.
The office looks like a third-grade-class had a scavenger hunt FOR HOURS in it. I have NEVER IN MY WHOLE ENTIRE LIFE SEEN WHAT IS SUPPOSED TO BE A PROFESSIONAL PLACE OF BUSINESS LOOK LIKE THIS. You ask yourself, “How can he find anything or get anything accomplished”? Well here’s the best part-He doesn’t! He has so many lawsuits and State Bar Complaints and even at this very moment he is in danger of loosing is license to practice law in California.
But don’t worry about Steve because EVERYTHING is his Paralegals fault. Nothing is his fault or responsibility and the only point that can save the Paralegal’s reputation is that he goes through 2-4 Paralegals a month. They quit when he does not pay them.
Now if you have had the awful experience of hiring this nightmare for Adoption, Family Law, Surrogacy, Egg Donation READ THIS:
WARNING: This “attorney” does a really convincing talk to reel you in but he does not produce in 90% of his cases. SO WHAT YOU NEED TO DO IN THIS CASE IS THIS. Sue him for malpractice and don’t worry you will win. Every attorney in CA and probably the whole USA must carry Malpractice Insurance.