J. Peter Shearer

In 2014, I retained Pete Shearer of Pierce & Shearer to assist me with the pursuit of multiple copyright infringement claims. Pete came well recommended to me by a trusted attorney friend of mine from a different area of law in the SF area. In the first matter, I'd tried to handle the situation mysel...f, and opposing counsel basically told me to go fly a kite, doubting both my awareness of my rights and my veracity to seek relief. Opposing counsel's haughty advice to "get myself an attorney" turned into an equitable result for me as soon as Pete got involved. He brought in co-counsel with specialty in intellectual property matters, combining their vast collective knowledge with negotiation skills that effectively parried every eye-roll-inducing excuse and defense the other side dished out. Their effective articulation of the merits of my case and application of just the right amount of pressure helped to expedite the settlement process, saving time and money. Pete and co-counsel's focus on my best interests did not end when a settlement was reached. Pete carefully considered the implications of not only the contractual provisions of the settlement agreement itself, but also intangible elements such as securing a correction photo attribution displayed in a prominent location. My interactions with his office staff were also consistently positive, with professional and prompt attention to my needs. It's been said that attorneys are the only winners in copyright cases. This was definitely not the case for me. In addition to equitable relief, Pete helped me stand up for my rights and establish an industry reputation for enforcing the value and exclusivity of my work. I highly recommend him.

I am a current law student who engaged Pete for a very sensitive, complicated employment matter and have been working with him on and off for two years. The first question he asked was, "What can I do for you?" I had interviewed several attorneys before meeting Pete and each one only saw dollar signs... and sought to exploit my situation for their gain. Pete was the opposite. Professional, engaging, sharp, and a wonderful advocate. I cannot imagine going through what I did without Pete on my side.

He was hired to assist with a simple mediation that should have taken no more than 1 week to resolve. He succeeded in drawing out the mediation for over 4 months and I was stuck with a high 5 figure bill. As others noted, I had a lot of group billings, lumped charges and he even billed me for exten...ded phone conversations when he said I was educating him or he talked about his religion. I received one bill in 5 months prior to the final bill that was due upon receipt.

The other negative commenters are spot-on, and I wish I'd checked Pete out here before I hired him. I was referred to Pete by a friend who was using him at the time; unfortunately, both of our experiences ended up being awful. Pete severely overcharges, wordsmithing minuscule changes into hours long... issues with multiple people on his staff involved, and spends countless hours revising his ridiculous, convoluted "case summary" format on your dime. He also never gives straight answers, to questions like "what is the status of my case", and "how much do I owe you?" and could never answer any questions without one of his associates or paralegals, who seemed to understand my case much better than he did when I talked to them. I eventually hired another attorney who sent bills when asked, was far more efficient, and wrapped up my employment issue in a week's time, while Pete took over a month. Definitely wouldn't use him again, and I would caution anyone who considers him to know what they're in for.