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James Jeffery Peters

1.6
Rating: 1.0

Licensed for 22 years

Wrongful termination Lawyer at Ventura, CA
Practice Areas: Wrongful Termination, Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, Employment & Labor

PO Box 7797, Ventura, CA

This lawyer was disciplined by a state licensing authority in 2016
See Details

About James

Practice Areas

4

Practice Areas

Discrimination 25%

23 years | 150 cases

25%
Sexual Harassment 25%

23 years | 30 cases

25%
Wrongful Termination 25%

23 years | 200 cases

25%

Fees and Rates

Cost

Contingency

33%-40%


Payment Methods

  • Cash
  • Check
  • Credit Card

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Licenses

Licensed in Wisconsin for 21 years

State: Wisconsin

Acquired: 2004

Administrative Suspension

Licensed in California for 22 years

State: California

Acquired: 2003

Disbarred

Lawyer disciplined by state licensing authority in 2016

Location

Peters Law Group, APC

PO Box 7797, Ventura, CA, 93006-7797

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James Jeffery Peters's Reviews

Avvo Review Score

1.6 /5.0

21 Client Reviews

Filter Avvo Reviews (21) Refine reviews to match your needs. Use the filters to quickly surface reviews that align with your case or priorities.

Showing 1 - 4 of 4 reviews | Wrongful Termination

Posted by anonymous | August 11, 2013 | Wrongful Termination

incompetent attorney

I hired this attorney for a wrongful termination case, after dealing with him for many months and having received from him the worst service ever in my life, I can say confidently that this lawyer is dangerously incompetent beyond description, unfortunately I discovered that too late. James J. Peters... lied repeatedly to me and my spouse, assuring he would take my case to trial if he wouldn't get "a great settlement" for us ; but when he was unable to reach settlement, he attempted to abandon my case, thus badly injuring my case and costing me and my spouse a huge amount of money without accomplishing anything. He billed me thousands of dollars for false services that he never performed. Further, when we insisted he keep his promises to us, he lied even more by saying that he did not promise us any thing. James was also lazy and arrogant; he failed to properly investigate my case, did little legal research, and in fact, relied mostly on research we had to do ourselves. He often ignored our communications, and at one time billed us for his "costs of service" when he tried to improperly withdraw from the case. He showed profound ignorance of the mediation process and was not all aggressive; James often seemed intimidated by the opposing lawyer, and his laziness and dishonesty badly injured our ability to prosecute our claim. We honestly advise against hiring him for any case, we lost a small fortune because of this attorney that we could have used to send our 2 children to a decent school.

Posted by anonymous | January 16, 2012 | Wrongful Termination

Over promised and under delivered

I would not recommend Mr. James J. Peters to anyone. This lawyer cost me dearly both financially and emotionally. Before I hired him, James promised me 2 things; 1. a big settlement 2. and to get my job (which I lost after more than 17 years of service) back for me. None of these has happened. I wa...s wrongfully terminated by my former employer in a clear case of discrimination and retaliation that many attorneys offered to take to defend my rights, however I unfortunately ended up with James J. Peters as my attorney after he persuaded me that he would be the best attorney for this case and it would be "a piece of cake" for him. I incurred more than $23000 in case expenses with no positive results at all, he did not accomplish anything for me and he threatened me to abandon my case and to bill me for the "hours he spent on the case" if I do not accept the small settlement amount offered by my former employer. In reality James did no work at all other than submitting a simple demand letter, he did not collect any evidence, he did not try to reach any witness, he does not even have a good understanding of my case at all, when I ask him about the details of my case he could not answer correctly, he often confused my case with other cases from his other clients, 2 times I received from him via mail official documents that did not belong to my case but to other clients' cases, in his communications with me he refers to names and incidents that are not even pertinent to my case, this is a clear indication that he did not research nor study my case well. In his Demand Letter that he sent to the employer he missed lots of crucial issues and important points and when I later asked him why he did not do that he said he "overlooked them", he said absolutely nothing in my defense during the depositions, instead he repeatedly was preoccupied with unrelated issues like talks with the opposing sides' lawyer about stock prices and a former mutual coworker's new position, James failed to show a real support for me as many of my friends observed and told me. After months of representing me, he is tried to justify his failure to accomplish any thing for my case with many excuses and lies, like "overlooking" basic facts of the case, and him being "currently busy" etc. Many of my friends (one of them is an attorney too) noticed that my attorney has done nothing for my case and does not seem to be working for my best interests, his constant efforts to persuade me to accept a miniscule amount from the employer to settle the case and close my claim permanently shows that he has no sincere intent to help me. My advice for those who are seeking legal help: shop around before you hire ANY attorney, you owe it to yourself to research and check the background of the prospective attorney before it is too late, I should have don that myself before hiring this attorney but unfortunately I did not.

Posted by anonymous | June 21, 2011 | Wrongful Termination

Steer clear of this lawyer

Honestly my experience with him was nothing but terrible, I lost a really strong case solely because of this attorney, please continue reading I will only state solid facts from my direct experience with him that James himself can’t deny: He did not work hard on my case, he knew just a superfici...al idea about the case, and communication in his firm is horrid. He cannot keep his story straight, and lies to make himself look better which includes making a verbal agreement on the basis of settlement then backing out of it. You would be frustrated the whole time and the firm does not "work hard for employee rights". Before I officially hired him, James told me my case “is as solid as platinum” and gave me assurance that I would be getting a big settlement, then a few months later he chewed me out, telling me suddenly that I had “no case”. His staff as well as him will not return phone calls and it takes telling the receptionist that you have a NEW client with a new case who would like to talk to the attorney for him to suddenly go from "not in the office" to on the phone with you. He was the worst choice I ever made. To get anything done you have to call him and get on him about his lack of attempts. He will make you as his client look bad both on the witness stand, and in general misrepresent your intentions in open court. He allowed the defense to put me in tears, then was siding with the defense, and that was just disgusting to put it mild. He accomplished nothing, with all the evidence I produced he absolutely accomplished nothing. The expenses I paid for the case are actually more than the money the employer paid. James just pursued the easiest way to secure any extra income for himself, to him it was an easy extra income so why pursue the case hard anyway? to me it was a life-changing event (loss of job and income) I did not see any sign that he actually cared about my case, he apparently did not care, he seemed not to have any motivation or courage to stand up for my rights. He did not put any effort to win even given all documents to make that possible. Steer clear of this firm all together, that is my honest advice

Posted by Pat | May 04, 2011 | Wrongful Termination

Not recommended, avoid like the plague

The worst attorney, avoid like the plague, I have been a client of James Peters for a wrongful termination matter, unfortunately he turned out to be the most incompetent attorney and one of my worst experiences ever. Months after hiring him, I was shocked to learn he actually did minimal work (almost... no work at all) on my case, and his updates on my case turned out to be false, no actual progress, definitely James is not the most honest attorney you could find, all he actually cared about is money, just wanted to settle my case quickly for a pittance. He wasn't helpful or supportive at all at anytime, he just took my money for nothing, he rarely answered my questions, he never returned my phone calls or emails, then suddenly he wanted to settle my straightforward strong case for a pittance (a fraction of the amount which I eventually got when I hired another attorney and fired him). My new attorney resolved the case favorably and got me a substantial settlement in less than 2 months. When I confronted James with these facts, he claimed that he just "overlooked" some basic facts about the case, and "did not have enough time to actually research my case well". My honest advice: avoid this attorney like the plague, there are much better attorneys out there.

James Peters

Replied last May 04, 2011

It is unclear whether this review is meant for a different attorney with a name similar to mine, is automatically generated "spam" or is being posted to discredit our firm by another. First, I have not represented anyone named "Pat" (nor a "Patricia", "Patrick", or anyone with similar names) in recent years, so this does not appear to be our client. Second, we work on a contingency fee and rarely take any money from clients, so I would not have taken "money for nothing," because we do not take any money unless we settle the case, so this is not likely one of our former clients. Third, at no time have I spoken to a client about "overlooking" facts or not having enough time to research their case. I certainly would have remembered this if it had happened in the last "1-6 months", as stated on this review. For these reasons, it appears this individual has posted this review to the wrong account and unfortunately there is no way for Avvo to remove it or confirm its validity.

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Experience

Rating:  1.0 (Extreme Caution)

Professional misconduct

This lawyer was disciplined by a state licensing authority in 2016.

Disbarment issued in CA, 2016

updated on 05/23/2016

Disbarment is the most serious penalty for a lawyer. If this attorney is currently practicing law, you should contact the California State Bar to understand the reasons for disbarment.

Honors

2003

CALI Award-Tax Research, Chapman University School of Law

2002

CALI Award-Bankruptcy, Chapman University School of Law

Work Experience

2006 - Present

Owner, Peters Law Group, APC

2006 - 2006

, Cross Law Firm

2001 - 2006

Associate, Sessions & Kimball Llp

Associations

2006 - Present

California Bar Labor and Employment Law Section

Member

2006 - 2007

National Employment Lawyers Association

Member

Education

N/A

Chapman Univ SOL

N/A

Univ of Wisconsin

Publications

N/A

Orange County Register Various Q&A Columns

Languages

English

Avvo Rating

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    This lawyer was disciplined by a state licensing authority in 2016
    Disciplinary information may not be comprehensive, or updated. We recommend that you always check a lawyer's disciplinary status with their respective state bar association before hiring them.
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