David Thomas Wallace

Horrific experience. Unprofessional. Sketchy court attire. No trim to facial hair. Appeared hung over. All very disrespectful to the judge, myself and the courthouse. Could not perform in the courtroom. Was not allowed to tell my story or how the case got to a hearing. Before the hearing I quest...ioned his over optimism. Perhaps his over optimism prevented him from preparing my case, or preparing my witnesses. Did not take 1% of my case seriously. He also reported to me how he just lost two cases as we were walking into hearing. After the hearing he gave me advice that would have put me in jail!!! I'm glad I did not take his advice. Kid you not I would have been better off alone in the hearing to present my case. Wallace did not provide me with the written judgement, I had to chase. And I had to inform Wallace the judgement was incorrect which kept me without to access to my home that I own for 44 days. I had to request him to file a motion. I mean, when I say nightmare ... I mean true nightmare thick with stress. Imagine paying thousands of dollars to not be well represented and then to lead him to file a motion to correct. These words are not because of the negative outcome with a permanent order. These words offer caution to be very skeptical of this 'attorney' as he can't walk the talk. Wallace was unable to represent me (and others as he himself stated) in court. Stay away if you want someone competent and professional to fight, stand, even represent you in a court of law. At least you'll have a chance far from David Wallace

I had a very negative experience with attorney David Wallace. He was referred to me through the Modest Means program, but immediately tried to charge me a minimum of $4,500 just to handle a restraining order, which seemed far outside the purpose of that program. He claimed this was “reasonable” and t...ried to deny charging clients in court, showing he has no problem making false claims in front of a judge. When I spoke with him by phone, he was not trauma-informed and made dismissive comments, even saying how much he “loves restraining orders,” which I found inappropriate and unprofessional given the seriousness of my situation. He later appeared in court twice on the related case, where he showed up unprepared, acted unprofessionally, and even attempted to deny a clear conflict of interest until I presented proof. His website doesn’t function, which also reflects poorly on his practice. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend his services to others, especially those seeking a supportive, competent, and ethical attorney who will show up to court, prepared and dressed in professional court attire. I would recommend looking for an experience, and professional lawyer and sadly David falls very short of that literally and figuratively.

I hired David to defend a contested restraining order that I had petitioned on an abusive person in my life, successfully. I had spoken with several offices prior to our initial phone call. Some wanted me to put down a substantial retainer before I even got to speak with one of their lawyers, some se...emed eager to have me pay a relatively inexpensive rate for a quick sale on a newer/inexperienced attorney, and some needed to charge me a few hundred for the initial consultation. A couple of others gave me a free consultation but it didnt seem that they had a niche in the particular type of restraining order I had petitioned. While I respect that there are myriad business models out there, David's appealed to me because his initial consultation was free to hear me out (before I knew that I wanted to hire him), he immediately spoke with competence and wisdom regarding the particulars of my case, and his "flat fee" model was unique and attractive. His price seemed fair in the end (I could have spent less, I could have spent more) but was well justified by his experience. The fact that this case may have been dragged out into additional hours was eased by me knowing that I would never be charged for anything extra regardless of how long it took. It is my understanding that many attorneys will nickel and dime you to hire them for additional "surprise" hours and may even lie/pressure you about the false need for it, but David (who is aware of the ill-perception of attorney practices) found a creative flat-fee solution to control for this. The flat-fee structure means that he sees the job through to the end regardless of how long it takes. You know that one honest mechanic that you recommend to all of your peers because it seems that every other one out there has a history of trying to sell you extra services that you didnt need but were naive about? Well David can well be compared to that honest mechanic but for the world of lawyers. He seemed to have had an "indie" vibe to him as opposed to the mainstream giant law office lawyers I had interviewed prior to. Regardless, he was able to be confrontational to my opponent as I needed him to be and very knowledgeable. Its clear that even though I strongly considered being self-represented (which David even suggested that I reasonably could and didnt *need* to hire anyone), my case was stronger because I had him fighting it for me. The numerous amounts of evidence I had were more organized and presented to a stronger effect much to the chagrin of my opponent. I'll say it again: his price structure and business model give him more integrity than other lawyers since it removes the incentive for billing for additional "surprise" hours. There isnt any real way for him to take advantage of his clients this way and I think that that's worth its weight on its own.

I was referred to David by the Oregon State Bar referral service. He gave me excellent advice, even though his advice was to stick with my current lawyer (so he didn't get my business). He was kind and compassionate, and I would look to him first if I needed a lawyer in the future. (This was for a pe...rsonal injury claim.)

He personally called me back the next business day and volunteered his time to review my case. I was impressed with his knowledge. My case is a very uncommon firearms case in which he knew everything about. Strongly recommend. Most lawyers have to "get back to you". Makes me wonder what they lear...ned in school. Not this guy.