Woman Must Pay Back Legal Clients

By Lookout Staff

June 9 -- A woman who bilked dozens of clients posing as an attorney pled no contest to ten criminal charges, including six counts of grand theft, in a settlement reached with prosecutors in Santa Monica Superior Court Tuesday.

Under the settlement, Anita Laureen Clark will have to pay clients back the nearly $50,000 she is accused of taking to illegally perform attorney services. Two of the victims had paid Clark more than $7,000 each.

In other cases, Clark had said that she was a paralegal but then illegally performed attorney services. Her incompetence had “disastrous consequences” for the victims in their divorce, immigration, bankruptcy and other cases, according to the City Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case.

"This was a difficult case to resolve since the crimes were so serious and our primary goal has always been to recover the victims' money," said Deputy City Attorney Adam Radinsky, who is in charge of consumer protection.

"We think that this is the best outcome to achieve that goal since Clark knows she will go back to jail for a long time if she fails to cooperate and return the money," Radinsky said.

Under the settlement, Clark faces three years in County jail if she fails to comply with all the terms of her five-year probation.

During her probation, Clark cannot engage in any law-related employment, must cancel all advertisements and telephone numbers from her business and get and keep a full-time job, or provide proof of daily good faith attempts to get a job if she is unemployed.

She also must periodically submit to questioning by prosecutors under oath regarding her assets, employment and ability to pay restitution. If additional past victims come forward, they may also be included in the order for restitution.

Clark -- who has served 33 days in Los Angeles County Jail for violating the terms of her bail -- was scheduled to be released Tuesday after paying an initial $5,000 to the City Attorney's Office.

The City filed a total of 46 counts against Clark involving 35 different victims, Radinsky said.

The Consumer Protection Unit began investigating Clark last year after several clients complained they had hired her to perform legal work and didn't receive the services promised, Radinsky said.

Last August, Santa Monica police executed a search warrant and seized files from Clark's Wilshire office. After a nearly four-month investigation, the Consumer Protection Unit filed the criminal charges against Clark in December.

Clark "apparently had many offices throughout the Southland, some in the Valley, some on the Westside and two in Santa Monica at various times," Radinsky said last year.

Clark -- whose Santa Monica paralegal offices were in Ocean Park near Main Street and on Wilshire Boulevard -- operated under several business names, including Clark and Clark Paralegal, A. Clark and Associates and A.C. and Associates.

Under state law, it is a crime for a person to practice law without being a licensed attorney.

"Practicing law" includes giving legal advice, making legal decisions in a case, claiming to be an expert in an area of law, contacting the opposing party, writing legal documents -- almost any task that a lawyer typically performs.

Non-attorneys are limited to two roles: providing purely clerical assistance or doing paralegal work directly under a supervising attorney.