Avvo Review Score

4.5 /5.0

25 Client Reviews

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Showing 1 - 5 of 6 reviews | Staff & Support

Posted by Yvonne | November 09, 2014

Excellent Communication in a difficult case

I became friends with a mom whose son was convicted of a very serious crime a few years ago . She has been working tirelessly towards getting some paperwork related to the case and had described being laughed at, hung up on , told to give up and other unprofessional comments by many lawyers she's co...ntacted. I offered to help her find a lawyer to assist in the next process of the appeal, thinking that with my rescources and know how, it would be easy. I called 10 lawyers on avvo who had received high ratings. Pual Wallin was the only lawyer who took the time to not only listen, but ask the relevant questions and offer his suggestions. He has communicated with me in a way that not only showed his compassion, but also his extreme efficiency at processing complicated and detailed case information. Yes, I did get laughed at from some of the other lawyer's secretaries, who , besides lacking basic command of the English language, also showed zero kindness or concern about a sad situation. Wallin, knows what he is doing and was helpful even before I ever paid any money. We are extremely happy in our decision to hire with Wallin on the case and feel lucky to have found a lawyer is willing to fight and go the distance when a case requires the extra push . Contact Wallin and save yourself the trouble of talking to uniformed secretaries and answering machines all day.

Posted by anonymous | March 01, 2013

Flawless Representation for my Certificate of Rehab

I made a careless mistake in my early 20’s and was convicted of Indecent Exposure. As part of my sentence the Judge ordered that I would have to register as a sex offender for the rest of my life. I was devastated. Later on, I learned that I could stop registering if I got a Certificate of Rehabilita...tion from the court. I trusted the Law Firm of Wallin & Klarich to prepare and argue this monumental issue for me in court. The petition they put together on my behalf was so powerful that the District Attorney agreed that I was rehabilitated and didn’t even file an opposition. The Judge agreed that I was rehabilitated as well and now I wont ever have to register as a sex offender again! The attorneys and staff at Wallin & Klarich were true professionals from start to finish and I strongly recommend their services to anyone facing legal trouble in Southern California.

Posted by stephanie caldaza | October 20, 2011

Excellent Attorney!!

I was charged with three separate violations of driving on a suspended license due to a previous driving under the influence charge and three probation violations. Each of these charges require a minimum of 30 days in jail. In addition I was concerned about being on probation at the time of my new of...fenses. I was also 7 months pregnant when I went to court. I did not want to have my baby in jail. I hired the Wallin & Klarich Law firm to help me. My attorney Paul Wallin went to court, and worked out a negotiation which included everything and in addition allowed me to apply for and receive an alternate sentence of electronic home monitoring instead of having to go to jail. I am eternally grateful for the work of Paul Wallin. I would recommend him to anyone charged with any criminal matter.”

Posted by Jay | February 03, 2025 | Hired Attorney

This firm is dishonest, negligent, and only cares about taking your money!

DO NOT HIRE WALLIN & KLARICH – This firm is dishonest, negligent, and only cares about taking your money! I hired Wallin & Klarich in 2023, paying them $15,000 upfront under a flat-fee agreement that was supposed to cover all legal services necessary to take my case to trial and work toward my exo...neration. They assured me that there would be no additional charges beyond this payment. What I experienced instead was gross incompetence, complete lack of communication, and fraudulent billing practices. They Took My Money and Did Nothing for My Case After two years, they failed to secure a court date, despite repeated assurances that one was imminent. They failed to take any meaningful legal action to move my case forward. My emails and phone calls were ignored—I sent over 200 emails to their attorneys asking for updates, yet they barely responded. The little communication I received consisted of empty promises and stalling tactics, with no actual progress. Fraudulent Billing & Excessive Charges After years of inaction, I finally demanded a refund, since they had not provided the legal services I paid for. Instead of refunding my money, they suddenly produced a fraudulent bill, claiming that: They had used up my entire $15,000 retainer, despite failing to perform the work promised. I now owed them an additional $38,000, even though our original contract stated no extra charges beyond the flat fee. The billing statement was completely inflated and unjustified, full of: Repeated charges for brief emails and phone calls that had no impact on my case. Billing at attorney rates for simple administrative tasks, such as "updating the file." Excessive fees for ‘reviewing documents’ and ‘discussions’ that never resulted in legal action. Charges for court dates that never happened. Negligence and Lack of Accountability Despite being my attorneys, they never contacted a key witness in my case, even though I had repeatedly requested that they do so. When I was wrongfully jailed on a probation violation, my attorney failed to appear in court, forcing me to hire a new lawyer out-of-pocket. I spent nearly a month in custody unnecessarily because of their delays and incompetence. Their private investigator gave me misleading instructions, then accused me of harassment for following his advice! Lies and Stalling from Paul Wallin On January 14, 2025, attorney Paul Wallin responded to my demand for an accounting by saying: "I have forwarded your email to my partners. We will be preparing a billing and submit same to you when it is complete. I will be out of town for a few days. You may want to include my partners Mr. Lynn and Mr. Matthew Wallin and the following emails in my absence." This was a blatant lie. They continued to ignore my requests and refused to provide a breakdown of the charges until weeks later, when they suddenly produced their fraudulent $38,000 bill. Final Warning – Stay Away from This Firm Wallin & Klarich are not real defense attorneys—they are scammers who take your money and do nothing. Their dishonest billing, failure to communicate, and legal negligence have caused me financial and emotional distress. I am now pursuing formal complaints with the California State Bar Association and civil litigation to recover my funds and hold them accountable. DO NOT HIRE THIS LAW FIRM. They will take your money, ignore your case, and try to scam you out of even more. Find a real attorney who actually cares about their clients.

Posted by anonymous | October 05, 2011

Stay away from this unprofessional and unethical firm and attorney

I hired Wallin & Klarich for a subcategory under family law matter, because they were only a handful of firms listed under the subcategory I needed help with. Also they were near my home location. I did my homework of checking their reputation before hiring them. Avvo (avvo.com) had one negative f...eedback for which the firm have given a valid response. In the zeal to hire someone quick, I overlooked that negative feedback which was addressed by the firm. In two weeks, I realized I made the worst mistake of my life in buying the worst service. The firm has the most unprofessional people I have ever dealt with and crappiest attorneys who spoil the name of the profession. All they did was bill my retainer and never cared to do anything on behalf of my case. They didn't show up in court on time as they always book multiple clients on the same time and day and have some excuse. They assigned what we call as 'Interns' in other professions as attorney under one senior attorney. The assigned attorney's have no experience in arguing any reasonable cases, less so with complex cases like mine. All they do is get continuations if they cannot make it to the court on time and go with the the flow of the court. After the fact that I was cheated by this firm, I checked their Avvo feedback again and then it made sense, and found out that they have done the same to other prior unsuspecting clients. I fired them right away and I'm still in court trying to get back my retainer. They know how to manipulate the court system in the wrong ways, and once your money is in, there is no way out - either as a service or as a refund. Please check Paul Jeffrey Wallin and Klarich and their staff's rating in Avvo before even thinking about hiring them. Stay away and hire someone who is more reasonable and disciplined in at-least trying to work for their clients.

Paul Wallin

Replied last October 14, 2011

Over thirty years we have provided the highest quality legal representation to tens of thousands of clients. A tremendously high number provide us with testimonials at the end of their case thanking us for our legal assistance. The person who provided the review above does not provide us with any way to verify any of the statements they are making. We believe that this review is not from an actual client but likely from one of our competitors trying to damage our reputation. Our law firm did not achieve a 10.0 rating, a superb rating by AVVO by “chance” We have a superb rating because we provide our clients SUPERB legal service. Visit wklaw.com and read the hundreds of testimonials about the quality of our legal services or the many reviews here on AVVO to see that this one review is not a “real client” or a valid reflection on the quality of our legal services.

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