Avvo Review Score

4.4 /5.0

108 Client Reviews

Filter Avvo Reviews (108) Refine reviews to match your needs. Use the filters to quickly surface reviews that align with your case or priorities.

Showing 56 - 60 of 108 reviews

Posted by Rebecca | June 21, 2021 | Hired Attorney | Landlord & Tenant

4 Years!!!! One of the Longest Running Cases Ever!

I am writing this letter today, an amazing 4 years after Ken began helping me and my 94 year old Mother fight an eviction from our home, by a Bank who took back the home in foreclosure from the owner. He is a wonderful human being and a stellar Attorney. His knowledge of the law is nothing short of... amazing. Ken helped us fight 4 unlawful evictions which we won, and file a Civil Case against the Bank. Our 4 year long journey together was hard fought and I will always be grateful for him and all he has done to help us. Just saying thank him isn’t enough. - Rebecca

Posted by Brian Im using his serbices once again due to a very hostile nei | May 19, 2021 | Landlord & Tenant

The BEST Tenant Lawyer, all at a fair price!

Ken is the best! In 2013 I rented a condo in San Diego, non stop electrical issues, after several requests for repair to the property manager went unanswered one wall outlet started sparking and left large burn marks on the wall, Ken advised me step-by-step on the exact steps to take to mitigate any... owner recourse and legally exit my lease 7 months early without owing any additional money! Fast forward to 2021 in. LA and am again using his legal services to exit my lease 9 months early due to an overly hostile potentially violent neighbor who is creating a very dangerous situation and a property management team who seems to not be able to effectively resolve the issue. Key to success in CA tenant law is to follow a very methodical process, exactly how Ken and his team lay out, this is key!

Posted by Tony | April 25, 2021 | Hired Attorney | Real Estate

Ken is super-nice person

Ken is very personable and gives you a 'relief' when you talk to him. You must read his 'This is how we do things' VERY thoroughly, word for word, beginning to end. Its in black and white: $6/minute for calls (no matter what is discussed or accomplished, $75/email (no matter the topic, if its a reply... or even asking what the balance is), they only prepare you for court and dont appear (they can also ignore you on or right before your hearing if they choose to do so), they can charge any amounts regardless of what is on their website or what was quoted to you (a $75 Quash can end up being $1000, even if the Quash was filed incorrectly and in their accidental/purposeful actions), they may/may-not ever tell you your balance and each time you ask 'whats my balance as of today' they can charge you another $75 for your email and another $75 for their response which is always 'please call us' which is another $6/minute or $50 or whatever they feel like doing, and on and on. If this is acceptable, by all means hire them. If you want NOTHING done except calls/emails regarding what you owe them, look no further. If you want some type of assistance that actually helps or moves your case forward, STAY FAR AWAY. All these bad responses posted, are 100% true. All the good posts are done by them. Our opposing attorney even stated 'By hiring Carlson, we automatically won without a fight. Its only a matter of time before it catches up with them (Ken) and what their actually doing but he is making so much money of people like you (that would be me) that him and his team can retire and 100x over. I gave them $1150 and what I got in return was a 8 minute consultation where Ken never even looked at my case before, a rejected Quash and @30 emails all asking 'What is my current bill? What is the total?' Even after the Attorneys Bar Official complaint in Feb 2021, I still have NO idea where my $1150 went to. Had to do my court appearance without ANY help from them what-so-ever resulting in loss. My case was actually winnable. Provable real estate fraud from buyer and escrow duo. But without legal representation, which I assumed I had per $1150, I lost my house, lost my $150k equity, got 3 years of bad credit and ALL judgement went in the Defendants favor. Thanks You so much Ken & Julie, and Britneys constant emails (which I never opened/responded to, but still charged for)! We are now homeless & sleeping from park to park, my wife spent weekend in hospital trying to hurt herself, buyer got all of my possessions (16 years of contracting, tools, materials, etc.). Lost everything so you can have a measly $1150. How do you & your team sleep at night? I know, on piles of money!!! So do your research first, read their terms thoroughly. Theres 1000 other honest attorneys out there. Be smart and cautious!

Kenneth Carlson

Replied last April 25, 2021

Due to confidentiality, I am greatly restricted as to what can say. We handle evictions, but not foreclosures or other real estate transactions, so a loss of property or any equity in it was outside of our scope of work. We did what we were hired to do, but the judges and clerks went haywire. We need our client's cooperation and assistance in getting court papers and filing papers in court, which includes reading emails with those directions. We are accessible by Hotline for those who need action immediately. Those who follow our direction almost always do well, as the vast majority of my reviews reflect. All reviews are authentic, none by us, nor can we remove any.

Posted by Estrella | April 22, 2021 | Hired Attorney | Landlord & Tenant

DO NOT CALL THIS MAN

DO NOT CALL THIS MAN! He is a professional scammer predating on the poor, desperate and vulnerable and not only will try to deceive you and produce completely incoherent work (I am a paralegal and he took $500 from me in "calls," just to answer questions about his errors and then threatened me and re...fused to update documents per the California Rules of Court) I caught his office manager Julie in a couple lies as well she appears to be some failed actress that plays along with Ken's Unlawful Detainer Gameboard of insanity. Ken Carlson will guide you unethically to the most expensive solution so that he gets thousands from you just to buy you a little more time. I would have rather moved and saved myself the trauma of dealing with this con man. He is a scammer and I am not only reporting this to The State Bar of California and Office of the Attorney General I am taking this to the top if you have been a victim of Ken Carlson's tactics please email me at estrellabloomstrand@gmail.com and I will make sure your complaint gets to my contact at The State Bar of California and we will pursue this legally

Kenneth Carlson

Replied last April 22, 2021

The lady who wrote this [under a pseudonym] was upset at having to pay for legal services and said she would get even with me. This was her revenge. She is not paralegal, nor was she correct about the law or procedure. My office manager gets daily praise from my other clients, and would not have lied; this slanderous comment deserves an apology. Compare this comment with the others, and you see that I do not delete the negative ones so that prospective clients can see what the vast majority have to say, and go by that.

Posted by David | April 09, 2021 | Hired Attorney | Landlord & Tenant

I was actually TOO well prepared and Landlord dismissed case! Thanks, Ken!

Thanks to Ken, I was so well prepared for the case that my landlord didn't even bother opposing my Demurrer and instead requested dismissal at the Demurrer hearing! First, I challenged the court's jurisdiction based on the the defective notice with a Motion to Quash (Motion only failed because the ...court's electronic filing system closed early on me at the filing deadline [don't wait til last moment to file your pleadings!]) With the defective notice in what was a no fault "just-cause" Unlawful Detainer or Eviction case, the accompanying Complaint and Mandatory Covid-19 Cover sheet failed to list any exemption to the Tenant Protection Act ("TPA") and in fact said I was both covered by the Act and was NOT covered by the Act. Landlord even claimed an exemption from the Act but did not list it anywhere on the Notice or Complaint or Mandatory Covid-19 Cover Sheet. The Landlord's lawyer was not updated on the new TPA law and erroneously claimed they needed no reason to evict a tenant of 5 years. And with the lease even stating that "Just Cause" language was required on the notice where required by law, which it is under the TPA, Landlord missed this one as well. And after complaining about habitability issues and lease clauses that were violations of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Landlord retaliated and sued me despite our agreement to not litigate and my voluntary agreement to move out a few moths earlier. Then Landlord fires me from my four year job as quasi property manager that after two years earlier, locking the water supply to our agreed upon once a week car washings for my driving jobs. Even more incredible, this man let a tenant of another race have a cat , but forced me to return my cat; heartbroken, I did get another cat supported by the Emotional Support Animal Law in California. And when the Landlord's attorney lied about serving me with Opposition to my Quash Motion papers in my mailbox (none of the units have required mailboxes), I was able to unleash my Affirmative Defenses in the Quash hearing as a Special Appearance - thus not under the Court's Jurisdiction - which defenses normally are reserved for a person who is under the Court's Jurisdiction during a Demurrer or in the Answer. Doing so, does reveal some of your legal strategy for the trial, but with Ken's consulting and encouragement - my defense was sound and I knew Landlord could not defeat me! Now, I must reveal that I am a retired research attorney, but knew nothing of California Eviction Law. Had to study my butt off for three months - Unlawful Detainers move fast and it is definitely not small claims court. Very complex; but, if you can follow Ken's system and are willing to work hard, you can prevail! So, my next strategy was to file for Injunctive and Declaratory relief at the Quash stage as I was most likely to win my case and needed future guidance in rent reduction due to car was expenses for his breach of our agreement and statutory damages moving forward due to the self-help utility water lockout. Per Statute, two years at $100 a day adds up ($73,000!). Even an equitable penalty of two years at $100 per week ($10,400) surely freaked out the Landlord. Then the damaging e-mails of encouraging me to move and that it was safer to be out of the crowded apartment and that with my new car, I could surely afford to move (in reality, my Mercedes is 20 years old and part of my insurance settlement from my totaled new Jeep that was worth three times as much). Followed by Landlord's pity letter of how he takes care of his family and in-laws and money is tight and he can rent my room for a lot more than $500 a month. The GULL! And finally to boot, libels and defames me saying I was an unqualified Tenant to begin with! Well, if you you rate me on my 703 up and down credit rating, maybe. But five years of near perfect rent payments says otherwise. OK enough - now we get ready to sue him. THANKS KEN!

See All Client Reviews