Expert-level Attorney in the San Luis Obispo area!
Janet is a dynamic leader in the area of estate planning, administration and business law. She represented me recently and I found her to be a very credible and experienced attorney. Her ability to work with a sense of urgency and expertise, coupled with her passion to protect my rights as her client makes her an invaluable attorney in the state of California. * If you are seeking legal representation in the SLO county area, look no further! You will not be disappointed.
I would never hire this lawyer again. Once was bad enough!
Janet Wallace was recommended to me for preparing estate documents, e.g. will, trust... I met with her and we went over a 2 page summary I had prepared that outlined the documents that I wanted and all of the key details, such as beneficiaries, trustees, distribution of assets, etc. Since that conversation was OK and the attorney who recommended her to me had given me good suggestions in the past, I decided to hire O'Leary & Wallace to prepare my estate documents. I regret that decision and here are a few examples as to why --
Included in the 2 page summary that I gave to Janet were two trusts, one for my house and one for other assets. However, when I received the initial drafts of my documents everything was in one trust, explicitly ignoring my instructions. The problem with that, other than it was not what I asked for, was that the beneficiaries for two trusts and the disposition of assets did not match the original written summary that I gave to Janet. After I pointed out the mistakes, two separate trusts were prepared. However, the new drafts still had some of the same mistakes , such as, the trusts separated the assets, but they didn't correct the beneficiaries and disposition of the assets.
After dealing with these new mistakes and quite a few others, my patience and confidence was wearing thin, so I emailed Janet Wallace about the problems, I didn't get a response from Janet for a month, which I ended up just ignoring. In my opinion a month to respond to an email from an active client is just way too long! Fortunately, in the meantime the original paralegal working on my documents left the company, so a different paralegal was assigned to work on my documents. While this paralegal was definitely an improvement, there were still a few problems with the documents and I was spending enormous amount of time dealing with correcting the documents.
Over the past thirty years or so, I've worked with a few law firms in different states to update my estate documents and documents for other family members. I've never had any problems. So, I know what it is like to work with a good estate lawyer and received well prepared documents. That was NOT the experience I had dealing with O'Leary & Wallace under Janet Wallace's direction.
Bottom line -- I do NOT plan on using documents prepared by O'Leary & Wallace and I do NOT recommend that you hire this firm to prepare your estate legal documents.
Janet Wallace is a founding partner of O'Leary Wallace LLP where she practices in the areas of estate planning and estate administration. In addition to her legal work, Janet teaches Estate Planning and Administration, Introduction to Law, Legal Research & Writing, and Legal Technology courses at Cuesta Community College.Â
Janet previously practiced at the local law firms Duggan Smith & Heath LLP and Adamski, Moroski Madden Cumberland & Green LLP.  As a law student at UC Davis School of Law, Janet interned with the Office of General Counsel for the University of California and with California’s Legislative Counsel, and was co-teacher in the University Honors Program.  Janet had a varied career before attending law school including teaching high school photography and Advanced Placement Studio Art, advising an award-winning robotics team, working for the President of the United States in White House Management and Operations, and serving constituents as a field representative for the California State Assembly.Â
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
Expert-level Attorney in the San Luis Obispo area!
Janet is a dynamic leader in the area of estate planning, administration and business law. She represented me recently and I found her to be a very credible and experienced attorney. Her ability to work with a sense of urgency and expertise, coupled with her passion to protect my rights as her client makes her an invaluable attorney in the state of California. * If you are seeking legal representation in the SLO county area, look no further! You will not be disappointed.
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Posted by Margaret | July 31, 2020
This review is from a person who hired this attorney.
| Hired Attorney
I would never hire this lawyer again. Once was bad enough!
Janet Wallace was recommended to me for preparing estate documents, e.g. will, trust... I met with her and we went over a 2 page summary I had prepared that outlined the documents that I wanted and all of the key details, such as beneficiaries, trustees, distribution of assets, etc. Since that conversation was OK and the attorney who recommended her to me had given me good suggestions in the past, I decided to hire O'Leary & Wallace to prepare my estate documents. I regret that decision and here are a few examples as to why --
Included in the 2 page summary that I gave to Janet were two trusts, one for my house and one for other assets. However, when I received the initial drafts of my documents everything was in one trust, explicitly ignoring my instructions. The problem with that, other than it was not what I asked for, was that the beneficiaries for two trusts and the disposition of assets did not match the original written summary that I gave to Janet. After I pointed out the mistakes, two separate trusts were prepared. However, the new drafts still had some of the same mistakes , such as, the trusts separated the assets, but they didn't correct the beneficiaries and disposition of the assets.
After dealing with these new mistakes and quite a few others, my patience and confidence was wearing thin, so I emailed Janet Wallace about the problems, I didn't get a response from Janet for a month, which I ended up just ignoring. In my opinion a month to respond to an email from an active client is just way too long! Fortunately, in the meantime the original paralegal working on my documents left the company, so a different paralegal was assigned to work on my documents. While this paralegal was definitely an improvement, there were still a few problems with the documents and I was spending enormous amount of time dealing with correcting the documents.
Over the past thirty years or so, I've worked with a few law firms in different states to update my estate documents and documents for other family members. I've never had any problems. So, I know what it is like to work with a good estate lawyer and received well prepared documents. That was NOT the experience I had dealing with O'Leary & Wallace under Janet Wallace's direction.
Bottom line -- I do NOT plan on using documents prepared by O'Leary & Wallace and I do NOT recommend that you hire this firm to prepare your estate legal documents.
Read less
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Estate planning Attorney | Sep 18
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Janet is very knowledgeable in the area of estate planning. She is very professional and always goes the extra mile for her clients. I highly recommend her."
Estate planning Attorney | Sep 18
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"I endorse Janet without reservation. She is a warm, highly knowledgeable and direct estate planning attorney. Janet is extremely sensitive to her clients' needs and provides individualized attention to everyone that she works with. She is an expert in this field and I wouldn't hesitate to refer clients to her."
Estate planning Attorney | Sep 17
Relationship: Fellow lawyer in community
"Janet is knowledgeable in all matters regarding estate planning and often serves as resource for other attorneys. She is very active and well respected in her community."
Estate planning Attorney | Nov 21
Relationship: Co-worker
"Janet is one of the brightest legal minds I have known. Yet, her stellar intellect and legal reasoning skills are outweighed by the joy, empathy and devotion she has for her clients."