Jonathan Baxter Lafrance

This man has been stalking me and my daughters through the family court system representing a mentally unstable narcissist for over 15 years now. He has yelled at me and my daughter. He is verbally abusive and a flat out liar. My ex assaulted me in a car and was driving erratically and a good Samarit...an called the police on him. I obtained a TRO but Jonathan representing my ex went in after I got one and obtained one gaining full custody of my then nine-year-old girls. Jonathan and my ex sent the police to our home and my children would not go with them. Jonathan called an amber alert and had a three ring circus in front of my home disrupting our neighbors peace and traumatizing my girls. I got them back but I had to wait three weeks till we got into court. Absolutely traumatizing. He will abuse your children and he will take advantage of you in an emotional situation while using the narcissist who is all too willing to blow all of the family money by playing a psychological game with children’s lives. Fast forward my sick ex-husband had our daughter arrested one week after she turned 18. Jonathan la france accused her of stabbing her sister which was a flat out lie and now she has an assault with a deadly weapon on her record. He is a sick man who will do anything for money. He shows up to court completely unpolished with a bleached out mullet. He will tell you himself that he is a hillbilly from Florida. I don’t mind hillbillies but I have zero tolerance for a dirty lowdown hungry lawyer. Especially one who engages and encourages mentally unstable vindictive spouses and fathers.

Jonathan is an exceptional lawyer who exceeded my expectations! He knows how to make his clients feel confident and secure. Facing a court hearing can be very stressful, right? Jonathan eased my worries from the start. Jonathan’s qualities are priceless and rare in today’s world, where many people ar...e impatient and selfish. He stands out from other Attorneys At Law because he always delivers on his promise to do his best for his clients. Jonathan was the key factor for my legal matters being dismissed. Thanks to him, I have nothing but smooth sailing ahead for many years to come!

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