Stephen J. Strauss, Attorney at Law

I accept a small number of very select plaintiff's malpractice cases where an attorney has fallen below the standard of care causing loss of an otherwise meritorious case. Often this involves failure to file a lawsuit on time, insufficient investigation or trial preparation, settlement without authority, conflict of interest, or unconscionable retainer agreements
For those clients who have fee disputes with their attorneys, I offer assistance at fee arbitration, including representation, expert witness testimony, and ghost written briefs and statements.

A school teacher slipped and fell over an unattended year old toddler at a Ross Dress for Less store in Costa Mesa. She broke her nose requiring three surgeries over two years to repair. All the while she suffered chronic headaches and drainage problems with her sinuses. She hired a lawyer who failed to sue Ross stores in time. The teacher then hired me to sue the lawyer and get her what she would have gotten from Ross had the lawyer timely filed suit. The case settled on very favorable terms at mediation just about a year after being filed.

A father was going through a divorce after marrying an English citizen. He hired an attorney when the wife took the child back to England and did not return. The lawyer filed for divorce in California but failed to use the provisions of the Hague Convention on international child abductions to which the United State is a signatory. The father lost custody of the child. The father then hired me to sue the divorce lawyer which we successfully did and recovered monies to compensate him for the loss of his son.