Lidia Alexandra Yar Lawson

A few years ago my family and I filed for EB-1 visa. Lidia took money upfront and until today I have no proof that she has worked on my case. Lidia almost never returns my emails. Currently, her phone is disconnected as well. The sad thing is, she is my childhood friend. I have no idea how she i...s still legally operating.

On 24th of May 2017 I applied for legal assistance to Lidia following my friend’s recommendation. I received an answer presently, I had my first conversation with Lidia via Skype the following day. That same day I got the contract, transferred an advance payment to Lidia totalling 50%, and started to... do the necessary paperwork. My first impression of Lidia was excellent. Eventually I prepared all documents within 1.5-2 months and referred them to Lidia. A few weeks later the case was ready. I paid the remaining 50% of the attorney fee and the fee for preferred processing for the USCIS. At the end of August of 2017, I received approval from the USCIS, and I was quite happy with that. As it turned out, this had been premature. A month later I received a letter from the USCIS to my home mail informing me that my approved visa had been canceled. The reason was the fact that Lidia Lawson had failed to pay the fee. When I received documents from the USCIS, they specified that there had been no money on Lidia’s account. According to the rules of USCIS, if their services are not paid for, the case is canceled, and a new case should be submitted. This is a gross violation of attorney practice, client money may not be used for any other purpose except for the one it is intended for. To my question, Lidia replied that she was going to take care of the issue. However, for the next several months Lidia Lawson seized any contacts AGAIN. When she did find time for me to reply to my e-mails, she cited personal reasons for not having been able to reply in time, and gave me dubious pretexts that had no relation to my case. As a result, in December of 2017 Lidia wrote to me that she was submitting a second case and that I was to pay another (!) fee for the USCIS. A second fee, while the first one had not been used by the USCIS. Since she was my attorney, I trusted her again and transferred the full amount of the fee for the second time to Lidia’s account. And Lidia disappeared for several months AGAIN. She did not answer my calls, neither did she reply to my e-mails. I was shocked. On the 21st of March 2018 I addressed her an official letter informing her I was filing a complaint against her to the Bar Association, and that I prepared documents to the Oklahoma court charging her with negligence and fraud. I got a reply from Lidia saying that she had solved all her problems and was ready to finish my case. She asked me to update several documents, which I did, and sent them to her using a delivery service. And that was when Lidia disappeared YET AGAIN, making me unable to reach her by phone or e-mail. Now it’s the 29th of June 2018, and I still can’t get a reply from Lidia. That means she hasn’t replied to my e-mail asking her to return the sum of the 2 fees for the USCIS and the money I had transferred to her as attorney fee for her services either. As a result, the unprofessional and negligent attitude shown by Lidia Lawson caused me to lose an approved visa, several dozen thousand dollars and a year of my life. She fraudulently prompted me to transfer two fees meant for the USCIS, while the USCIS received no payment from her. Lidia Lawson never answers my calls, using an answering machine instead, never replies to e-mails (except the ones about payments; she was quite quick to answer to letters about the attorney fee having been transferred to her). I’m shocked both by this attitude to clients and by Lidia’s unprofessional behavior. I have prepared complaints to the court and to the Bar Association. I’m aware that I’m going to spend a lot of money on attorney fees to other attorneys in order to have her return me my money. However, I’m going to do that to hold her responsible, to have her license revoked, preventing her from taking advantage of other people, and to make her unprofessional practices known to everyone. P.S. I’m ready to present all docs from the USCIS, all contracts, all payment screenshots, etc.