Peter S. Christiansen

Let me preface by saying that Pete junior was referred to me by a top litigator and I was told he's an exceptional criminal defense attorney. After my experience, I went back to the referral source to voice my experience and I was told that mine was not unique. The source told me that he no longer wo...uld be referring further clients to Pete junior. I hired Pete at a sizable 5-figure amount for a federal case. The persons involved in the hiring for my benefit had no problem getting in contact with Pete, as they were holding back retainer fee until they felt comfortable that he would give me and my case the attention deserved by such an extraordinary fee that he demanded. My friends and family questioned Pete at length and they felt assured that Pete would give me superior representation. We're all now incredulous at not only the misrepresentation I received, but the refusal by Pete junior and the office to take any action to do the right thing after the fact. The first issue lay in the initial hearing: 1. Pete didn't show up personally, but an esquire was sent. Not generally an issue, but... 2. the esquire wasn't briefed on the specifics and was not prepared for the government's position. This would have taken a moment's cursory discussion with the prosecution or a prior discussion with me beforehand. She never spoke to me until I entered the courtroom in custody. The esquire looked like a deer in headlights. That was the first red flag. 3. All of the legwork done in my initial arguments for my release were done by my friends and family, not by any attorney in this office. When a friend called to report where to gain documents, they asked him to make the calls to get these documents. If I didn't have this friend to do that work, it never would have gotten done. I'm supremely confident in that. The problems grew quickly from that point. What I was asking for wasn't extraordinary, simply basic communication. The esquire told me and my family repeatedly that she would visit me in custody to discuss the specifics of my case. This never happened. So my family had to pay for and set up an account with Pete's office just so I could call the office. And even then, I never was able to speak to Pete. My family asked several times for someone to visit and discuss my case. Finally, after a month in custody, an investigator was sent to speak to me. The investigator was competent and as helpful as an investigator could be. But when it came to the legal questions that I had, his answers were, "Again, I'm not an attorney. That's not a question for me." I probably don't have to explain why that's a frustrating answer to hear. After a month, I still hadn't spoken to any attorney in the office aside from the 10 minutes I'd spent in court with the esquire. I couldn't get any answers that I was looking for and the communication was nil. My family hired a different attorney for 20% the amount paid to Pete Christiansen jr. This attorney didn't have Pete’s smooth-talk down but he got me results. As busy as this new attorney was, I was able to easily get him on the phone, he answered every question I had, he told me the good and the bad and kept me abreast of every developing situation in my case. Contrary to claims by Pete's office that he's the best, this new attorney did everything that Pete's office didn't. I felt I could receive the balance back from my retainer, seeing as how Pete was hired on an hourly basis as my attorney of record. 8 months after I hired Pete, the first time I actually spoke to him, and after several months of hounding the office for return of the balance of my retainer, he told me that I won't be seeing any of my retainer back and he's entitled to keep the full amount regardless of how many hours he worked on my case, which was little to none. He claimed it was a flat fee for only my detention hearing, to which he's provided no proof of in any communications.