Noel Lawrence

My primary focus is on Family Law, Estate Planning, Real Estate matters where I represent you vigorously showing the facts of good people in unfair and bad situations. My goal is to use my legal skills and years of experience to bring justice to my clients.    

Before you contact me, or any attorney, I highly recommend you research that person - just as you would a business or marital partner. 

Ultimately, my life purpose is hope through action.  One way I fulfill that purpose is through helping people who are in legal trouble or want to avoid legal trouble.  

Once someone is out of immediate trouble, they may also find my services helpful for "top line goals".  For example, a written out life purpose, including an estate plan for the people, pets, and projects that they love.  

Where ever a potential client is in life, I do my best to him or her.  Hopefully, we're both building a relationship.  And, if I don't know an area of law, or don't believe I can easily serve a potential client, I try to refer them to a reputable attorney who can.  Although I prioritize paying clients, as time allows I continue to provide free consultations.  Currently, the fastest way to contact me for a free consultation is by sending an email with your phone number so I can get back to you quickly.  

Knowing at least one attorney who can help you and your family in a wide variety of situations is as important as having a good primary care doctor, mechanic, or locksmith in your contact list.  So, if you want to know more about me here it is:

When I graduated from UC-Hastings, I didn't enjoy working in the legal field.  I didn't like most attorneys - and I still don't like all of them.  

I worked for a large financial institution (Providian Financial (NYSE:  PVN)) that made millions off of my negotiations against individuals and small businesses represented by attorneys throughout the entire United States who were less knowledgeable or savvy in bankruptcy law.  

At first I thought I was doing the right thing by advocating for my corporate client who arguably had been defrauded by people filing bankruptcy and then hiding behind attorneys.  At that time, my title was "Bankruptcy Specialist" or later "Senior Bankruptcy Specialist" or something like that.  I was not required to pass the bar exam, had weekends off, and was making more money than many attorneys.  

But soon I began to feel unhappy.  I negotiated settlements that were legal but unfair.  I was ruining the financial lives of middle and low income people, but I was being praised and incentivized for doing this.

I began to have less faith in my employer/client, its profit-driven managers, and what I was being asked to do.  So, as soon as I could afford to do so, I quit.  

It was not easy.  When I attended Hastings it was considered one of the top 25 law schools in America, and it was not cheap.  Also, living in San Francisco was not cheap.  My parents were not able to help me attend law school and I took out loans to do so.  While working full-time, during nights and weekends, I began pursuing my dream of becoming a filmmaker. 

For over 10 years, I held various positions that allowed me to write and direct screenplays - and pay off my own student loans.  I made arrangements with employers at several internet companies, so I could take screenwriting classes and still help as in-house counsel etcetera.  When the dot com bust took place around the year 2000, I humbled myself and took up stable work at a Fortune 100 company called Walgreens.  As a store manager, in a bad economic year of 2001, my store was one of the only ones in all of San Francisco to produce a profit.  

Nonetheless, I didn't want to become a higher level Walgreens manager.  I continued to pursue filmmaking.  

Yet, as I began seeing how formulaic my ever improving screenplays were, I began to feel drawn back to the legal field.  After all, most legal papers are full of laws.  Laws are formulas, just like most screenplays - intended to result in a happy ending.  

As I began to take up legal studies again, a Warner Brothers representative (who liked a low budget film I wrote) offered me a free chance to attend a screenwriter's bootcamp.  It was almost the moment I had been waiting for; yet, I turned down that offer so that I could return to the legal field.  

I hope you've enjoyed learning my story and I look forward to learning yours.