Jonathan Baxter Lafrance

This clown used my name on a review in May 2018 and it definitely wasn’t the real Michael Barnard. I am the real Michael Barnard and he did nothing for my case and didn’t even show up to my sons court hearing. His assistant Emily did 70% of the work and I did 30%. Jon literally did nothing. ...He puts more effort in putting his ponytail in a rubber band than he does for his clients. I’ve left multiple reviews on this clown and he is by far one of the worst lawyers in probably California. He has been known to screw people over, make clients do all the work and double and triple charged them while he makes them think he’s actually working. I would never give him 5 stars and all of his Yelp reviews are current and the truth. Definitely is not someone you should hire and actually do your research on him.

In my opinion and based on my personal experience, Jonathan lacks the skills to problem solve—especially highly contested, highly emotional, complex family law issues. He takes forever to respond to correspondence (if ever) and has every excuse in the book for lack of his performance when he finally ...does respond. He’s late to court and is ill prepared. He goes from calm to heated in a matter of seconds whenever he is confronted with details that don’t support his case. It is also my experience that he overcharges for his time. If you require a family law attorney, look elsewhere and find a professional who is a Certified Family Law Specialist certified by the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists.

I had the exact same experience the other 1 star reviewer shared. Hired Jon for child custody matters and all he did was charge me non stop for supposed work he was doing. So then why on the day before court and working on my case you kept moving up so you could work more on it did you have nothing a...nd tell me the Client I had to prepare everything for you and your office. He’s a fraud! And he’s rude and demeaning. I’m a single mother and spent around 14,000 for him to show up once to court and not have anything prepared for my judge. The judge in my case told me I needed to file a complaint with state board. So I did. Disgusting

I retained Lafrance on June 16, 2021, and I had such an awful experience with this man. He never wanted to actually do any type of work to settle my divorce but just continued to deduct money from the $6,000 retainer. He was wasting time and meanwhile continued to deduct more money from the $6,000 b...ased on the emails that I was sending him, asking if he had read anything with the 2 months that I had given him. In order to be updated with my divorce case. He needed to take over where my first attorney had left off but his intentions were never to do any actual paperwork. He would respond to few of me and I asked him if he doesn't respond to emails much? Then he said..."we can go through each and every one of your emails to me, so,, that you feel thoroughly satisfied that you are being be heard". I was in SHOCK!! Because I did not pay him $6,000 just for him to tell that he just wanted to listen to me. I wanted him to do some actual paperwork such as spousal support proposal and legal fees but he never did anything like that. He was deducting more more money from the $6,000 retainer and then I told him that the Board of Attorneys of California clearly says that if a client has an objections regarding the bill, to speak to the attorney about it and try to resolve it but when I told him this. This is when he Kick Me to the Curb and told me to find myself another attorney. Then he said..."you should find yourself another attorney because you and I are not a good fit". I said...that's fine, I just want you to return all my original divorce documents as soon as possible so that I can find another attorney to take over bit I would like for you to return my $6,000 retainer because you didn't do any actual paperwork for my divorce. Then, he wouldn't respond for days after I kept sending him emails. Then later on August 31, 2021, I wrote a complaint against him with the Board of Attorneys because he refuses to return all my original divorce documents. Which he said..."you are not at any disadvantage because you told me that these were copies and you also said that you 2 flash drive". I told him that it doesn't matter whether I have 2 flash drives or not. Because I paid $4,148, to my previous attorney to print them out for me. When I called him on August 31, 2021, I told him that I would like to stop by his office the next day to sign the Credit Card Authorization-Refund and pick up my divorce documents. This is when began to scream at me over the telephone and said..."I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU HERE IN MY OFFICE" "I JUST WANT TO SIGN THE SUBSTITUTION OF ATTORNEY AND CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION-REFUND RIGHT NOW TODAY ". I was trying to talk but he would continue to raise his voice at me and which is something that I never had experience with an attorney, except my soon to be ex-husband who would verbally and physically abused for 35 years. I told him that the Substitution of Attorney already had my signature because he made sure that this paper was signed on the very day that I retained him. Which I didn't make anything of it. I thought that this was something that maybe some attorneys do? Because my first attorney never did it when I first hired her. I asked him...can I record our conversations because I don't want the same thing to happen again. Because my first attorney would things over the telephone and on her emails would be something very different. Then, he said..."No, I don't authorize the recording of Attorney-client telephone calls". I should of FIRED this attorney because all he has done is harass me til the present day. I even had to file a small claims against him, which it will take place in November 4, 2021. Everyone speaks very well of this man but he is not honest but he is deceitful. Especially when I told him that I was verbally and physically abused by my soon to be ex-husband. I truly believe that he is on my soon to be ex-husband side and this is why he did not want to do any paperwork to end my divorce

Attorney Jonathan la France did a great job defending me in a civil suit filed by my next-door neighbor in city of Malibu. As I was building my new ocean view home. The next neighbor filed a civil lawsuit to stop me from building my home. My neighbor felt that my house would block a small portion of ...his view. I had an approved set of plans stamp by the city of Malibu to build. The lawsuit was extraordinarily complex regarding lot lines, surveying, ancient landslides and lot line markers. Special surveyors had to be hired to be mitigate property lines. Mr La France and his team work extremely hard, day and night even weekends to get paperwork filed with the courts on time. Mr La France determination and attention to details resulted in the dismissal of the restraining order. This resulted in money saved and a brand-new home. Thanks Mr La France!!!