Robert Louis Brace

Myself and approx. twelve others lost all our funds totaling over twenty five million dollars in failed 1031 real estate exchanges. The exchange company was Vesta Strategies LLC . The owners were using our escrow money for their own purposes. The end came when the real estate bubble burst and they ...ran out of other peoples money. They both were convicted and now are serving long prison terms. My share of that was almost one million dollars. That was to be my retirement fund and all was lost. But now all in not lost thanks to Robert "Rusty" Brace. Mr. Brace took on our case as a group and has recovered a majority of our funds. We still haven't settled with all responsible parties and hope to recover more of our money soon. My personal opinion is Robert Brace is the best attorney in California!

Robert (Rusty) saved my retirement...literally. I was scammed by a 1031 company and lost my life savings over night...just as I was planning to retire. He was able to recover all of the money lost by our group (over$110 million!!) Even after his fees (which were fair) I have recovered over 2/3 of ...the money lost. Most people scammed never get a dime back. Now I can retire whenever I want to. Thank God for Rusty! He really knows what he is doing and gets the job done. He was fair and honest with me. He worked tirelessly. He always had my back. When I called, he spoke to me. When I had to go for depositions, he sent someone to be with me. When I had questions, he answered them. When was the last time you could say that about an attorney???

First and foremost, unless one has prior experience with retaining an attorney, you never know what you’re gonna’ get. The hunt to find someone and only hope that you'll be represented decently can be daunting. There's always a story and in my case it was a time in my life where in a matter of litera...lly minutes, my circumstances went from having completed (so I thought) my due diligence to move forward, buy a house and a rental so that upon my relocation, I could care for my ailing mother. When it was confirmed that my funds for a 1031 exchange had been embezzled, my little dream to be able to take care of my mother came to a halt. And all the necessary life adjustments that had to be made were so much for me to handle. How do you handle something you know nothing of? That being said, I had this huge obstacle to overcome and in the interim I lost my mother and I had already lost my father two years prior. The saving grace was Mr. Brace. No poetry intended. Believe me, my state of mind was all but poetic. It seemed like within the snap of a finger, Mr. Brace had been named as counsel for what was to be a class action lawsuit. Here's what I knew of class action lawsuits ‐ I'm going to lose and it’ll take years and years. Some big spender who lives in a far better tax bracket than I, will get away with taking the earnings, savings and hopes of so many people. Emotionally exhausted, I resorted to optimism and decided if I get anything back I'll be lucky. Upon receipt of the very first pleading, I could only bring myself to glance at it. But then, one after another, these pleadings started rolling in like a freight train bound for the business side of town. Mr. Brace got busy in a hurry and it wasn’t long before just the mention of a return of funds were on their way. The communication was outstanding. I’ve never seen, spoken with or met this man or any of his staff. I had questions and they were answered. I could email his firm and they would actually answer me. Every person that I communicated with always replied and in a timely fashion. It was unbelievable. I went from being in the dark and not wanting to think about this ordeal to waiting with baited breath to find out what his next move was. I would get emails explaining what to expect via snail mail and what I needed to do. All communication was electronic because I had already relocated, so travel to and from was not an option. There are those that will read this and say, “well, yeah . . . that’s what lawyers are supposed to do". That’s fair enough. But what one expects and what one gets are not always the same. Some readers might ask, how much did it cost? This was a contingency case. I had nothing left to lose. I expected nothing. And Mr. Brace and his staff brought it all back home ‐ one check at a time. By the way Mr. Brace, congratulations and thank you for gracious and outstanding service.

It is a genuine pleasure and honor for me to recommend Mr. Brace and his firm for your potential legal engagement. Your legal affairs deserve the best possible representation; they give it. Mr. Brace and his firm has been nothing short of an exemplary advocate, counselor, and tactician of the highest... order in a series of very complicated civil litigation which I was part of during the past four years. These were multiple class action matters in Federal District Court both in California and South Carolina, as well as adversary proceedings in Bankruptcy Court in Virginia, both at the trial and appellate levels. My own part was unique in that I was both a practicing attorney, as well as a client of Mr. Brace. So I observed firsthand the strategy, research, tactics, courtroom delivery and negotiations of Mr. Brace. They were superb and the results show this and speak for themselves. To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Brace helped accomplish something which had never been done before: that is, a full and complete 100% recovery of not only our own personal lost funds which were stolen in a substantial Ponzi scheme undisclosed and unknown to us, but recoveries for hundreds of other victims of fraud. These class action recoveries totaled many millions of dollars. The legal and professional strengths he possesses are wide ranging and have been honed to a sharp edge by his years of experience and practice in complicated civil cases in both state and federal courts across the country. During Mr. Brace's representation, he demonstrated leadership, initiative and successfully met all responsibilities and obligations imposed on him by the court systems and opposing counsel. In fighting for his clients, Mr. Brace is not adverse to going nose‐to‐nose with some of the country's most prestigious and highly rated defense counsel and besting them. Mr. Brace and his firm represent you fully and completely and are there to advance all of your applicable goals and objectives. They are not there for a quick settlement, but work tirelessly to get you what the law says you are fully entitled to. Hollister and Brace, and especially Mr. Brace, does not wilt or fold under extreme pressure. They fight for your rights. Nor are they afraid or troubled to tackle thorny and complicated issues. They get the job done.