SF Bar Lawyer Referral Service

What a ridiculous waste of money.
The attorney called the day before to ask me to bring pertinent documents and DON’T FORGET THE CONSULTATION FEE. However, at the appointed time he announced that he doesn’t need to see the documents because he isn’t going to take the case.
However, he did take the consultation fee.
Better off calling attorneys in the area of law you need.

WATCH OUT! The cost of relying on this service can be FAR in excess of the quoted $ 25– they can cost you your case and maybe your life.
I worked for a guy for many years that I discovered was stealing money from my check for quite some time. I repeatedly asked him to quit doing it and he eventually fired my sorry ass. Said I «wasn’t happy» working there. Umm, yeah a$$hole, few people are «happy» having their wages stolen every day…
Time and wage statements backed me up, and a competent attorney should have no problem fighting this. I explain my situation clearly to these Bar Referral folks and they give me an attorney that deals with something called «ERISA» and doesn’t have a clue about time and wage issues. Fine, I call back the bar ($ 25 poorer) and they send me to another guy who is equally outside the competency range for this issue. Finally I give them one more shot and they send me to a THIRD attorney, Michael Sorgen, that sort of knew more about labor law but wasn’t very knowledgeable about how the government system works. Basically I paid money I barely had to run around San Francisco paying attorneys to advise me on labor laws to which they were not competently trained.
Turns out that the Bar people were referring me to «Employment» attorneys, and these people should have been sending me to a «Labor» attorney. MAJOR difference, and since it’s the ONE JOB they are doing I was shocked to find out years later they made this crucial f-​up.
Stupid mistake on their part, and big learning experience about the law on mine. To a great degree, because of their incompetence this crooked employer was able to «shine on» the DLSE and get away with both the theft of wages as well as the retaliation he performed. Had I simply searched LABOR LAW and picked attorneys at random I would have had a much better chance at resolving this legally. Instead, the business is still going strong (with some funding stolen from my checks) and I have a scarlet letter in that trade because I stuck out my neck to ask him to stop his theft.

First they take forever to find me an attorney to meet with. Then they connect me with an attorney who it turns out is not qualified in the area of law I needed advice. I didn’t find that out until after she had canceled the day before my appointment due to an” emergency”. She should have known my appointment was an emergency unless the lawyer referral service didn’t tell her. She admitted she was unqualified after my realtors sister who is an attorney warned us that this attorney had never done this sort of case. I ended up getting my own referral through my realtors sister. I called the SF lawyer referral service today. This time they said my «case is too complex and it doesn’t meet their criteria» She wouldn’t say what that criteria is. Previously they had referred to me an attorney with a terrible nervous twitch. I think most of the attorneys that use this service are not very qualified or have trouble getting clients otherwise. I do not recommend these people. Not very professional!

I found Lawyer Referral Service to be a good place to start. I mean I had probate questions. I’ve never been involved with probate. I needed to understand what wills are and probate. General consultation. The lawyer I spoke with, was very knowledgable, and supportive.
However, you can get a lawyer who is very ‘green’ and unsupportive. I had that experience. When I gave them my feedback I was told it was because I had said I was no income or something to that effect. So they sent me to this kind of lawyer.
When I called back and complained, I told them I didn’t initially understand that giving my income status effected the type of attorney they would recommend. It does. the second referral was excellent. I don’t have a case, but at least I had an attorney I could speak to about my situation.

Sent me a automated response right away confirm. And a few hours later I received a phone call. They are just a referral service and said up front that the half an hour consultation was going to be $ 35.
They really do not want you to call them back since their caller ID showed (415) 000‑0000

This was a pretty good service. If your case is relatively simple or you just want to confirm the process. The attorney I was sent to was knowledable and provided me with a couple of different ways to handle the case and potential challenges in being successful.
I would recommend this to friends as it is a good start. It is to bad previous people had not has such a good experience. I have learned that the legal system moves very slowly so you have to be patient.

Was not very helpful.

I never used to think that lawyers were blood sucking soulless incarnations of demon spawn, until I needed one. My case is pretty complex involving landlord/​tenant law and you can’t go to civil court without a lawyer. Lawyers smile at you with their pristinely whitened teeth which hides the forked tongue. They shake your hand and look you in the eye so that you don’t notice them shank you in the side.
The SF Bar’s Lawyer Referral Service is a joke. They have very friendly sounding girls on the phone who let you talk through your case and you think they’ll actually help you. Then they call you back as they promise to give you the name and number of the lawyer that is supposed to help you out after having heard your case.
They sent me to a lawyer who had already heard the details of my case and I thought that he was going to actually take me on as a client. Instead he gave me the same answers I had already heard 10 000 times. Then he charged me 25 dollars, just because he told me he wouldn’t take my case.
I called the lawyer referral service back asking — Hey, why did you send me to a lawyer who didn’t want to take my case? Their answer? Uh, he was supposed to but if he decided not to then there’s nothing we can do.
What kind of horsecrap is that? Lawyers stink. All of them. Now I get the jokes about why all lawyers will burn in hell. Serves the f-​ers right.