San Francisco Family Law Blog

Call Kurtis: Mis-Representation?
Kurtis Ming

(CBS 13) SACRAMENTO Patrick Smith needs a divorce, and Jessica Nichols was just trying to help clear up some child support confusion. They both found an ad in the Pennysaver, promising things like a $20 divorce, help with adoption, probate and child support issues, all provided by the California Legal Clinic.

It led them to Ken Moore, a legal documents assistant.

Both say he took their money but didn't deliver. And guess what? Ken Moore is not an attorney.

State business and professional codes say it's illegal for anyone who hasn't passed the bar to give legal representation, and they sure can't claim to be an attorney. A legal documents assistant can only fill out legal documents. They can't even draw up the documents. Moore denies telling anyone he's a lawyer, or giving legal advice, but he wouldn't say that, or anything else on camera. And about that ad, the same rules say it needs to say upfront Moore is not an attorney, and can't give legal advice. Section 6408.5 of California Business and Professional Code even states the language that must be used, none of which appears in the ad for the California Legal Clinic.

A bigger problem - Moore lists his lDA number in the ad, as required, but that number isn't registered with the Sacramento County Courts. The court clerk's office says that means Moore isn't licensed, and doesn't have the required $25,000 professional bond. But both Jessica Nichols and Patrick Smith have another issue with Ken Moore. They say he returned their calls occasionally, and then went silent.

CBS 13 checked online and found even more complaints by people claiming to be unsatisfied customers of the California Legal Clinic.

For Patrick Smith, the delay in that divorce had stretched to more than a year, and he says it's taking a toll on his kids, and those of his fiancé.

"We've got a 10 year old daughter, and she's just aching for us to get married. She wants to be the flower girl, and all that stuff,” he says.

So a friend of Patrick's booked a meeting in his name with Moore, but Patrick came, instead, to try to get Moore's attention. This time, Kurtis Ming, a CBS 13 producer and photographer tagged along.

Ken Moore did meet with us behind closed doors. In his outer office he had the required warning that he's not an attorney, and can offer no legal advice - nothing like that in the inner office. While our camera waited outside, Moore finished filling out Patrick's paperwork, which he says somehow ended up in his "dead" file. He promised to file it within the next two-business days.

Moore says he filled out and filed Jessica Nichols' forms 6 months after she met with him, he refuses to return her $755. He claims the delay was because Nichols was slow providing information, but she says he had everything he needed after their first meeting. She says Moore did finally file the paperwork, but only after she and her husband had already cleared up the problem themselves.

"Then come to find out, it was so easy just to do it myself, that all his paperwork and what he said he would do is more harm than good,” she says.