False Claims of Domestic Violence Create Financial Boom for Divorce Lawyers

Schlepphorst with Phil Hammer is reported to be giving kickbacks to James Towery through Hoge Fenton

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Forbes magazine recently discussed the top six dirty tricks men play in divorce cases, but a recent audit and secret recordings taken over an  8- year period shows  Silicon Valley's most successful divorce lawyers help clients use even dirtier tricks, and not just the men.

For 20 years these lawyers have been sharing court experts, bribing cops to make false police reports and altering transcripts or court documents to discredit an opposing party, and other lawyers who are  not willing to play dirty tricks. And the judges, many of whom were lawyers with these folks, let them.  

Kathryn Schlepphorst, formerly of Hoge Fenton, is  just one of many dirty lawyers profiting off emotional damage they cause in divorce cases to make more money.  Schlepphorst, like several of her colleagues including Sharon Roper , and former judge Mary Ann Grilli, have planted themselves as Settlement Conference Officers in the local courts, covering up attorney misconduct  and pressuring divorcing couples in a manner that has become criminal. 

Parents , with no prior criminal history, are finding themselves jailed and with records of violence, merely because of the false claims of a former spouse, often assisted by a dirty lawyer. 

Forbes' list includes dirty tricks like hiding assets, delaying proceedings, and  conflicting out the best lawyers. In Silicon Valley, it is worse. Divorce lawyers steal staff, make secret fee and pricing agreements, pay cash kickbacks to court staff concealed as "drafted" orders, and  encourage prospective clients to make false DV claims first, in order to reap the rewards such claims can have in divorce court. 

Sadly, in a divorce case one party has the ability to request a Domestic Violence Restraining Order, and the other spouse is presumed guilty. It has become a race , where the first to claim abuse , wins. No jury. No due process, like you see on Netflix. 

Lawyers including  Schlepphorst are using  the vast wealth in Silicon Valley fuel their crimes. Judges, many of whom are controlling and abusive in their own personal relationships, will routinely order fees to a lawyer bringing a DV claim, even when that claim is false. 

Silicon Valley Court files show what lawyers have generated in fees  over the past 10 years by bringing non- violent , or false DV claims, or by successfully burying real claims of domestic violence; 
McManis- Bechtel- Morgan- Reedy-  $500 million dollars
Hoover- Krepelka- $250 million dollars 
Nat and Michele Hales- $100 million dollars
Bradford Baugh- $200 million dollars 
Lynne Yates Carter- $50 million dollars
Marilyn Moreno - $20 million dollars
Hector Moreno - $20 million dollars
Rebekah Frye- $15 million dollars
BJ Fadem- $5 million dollars 

Civil cases in Silicon Valley show these lawyers often sue to collect fees after a divorce, even when clients are in bankruptcy. 

These lawyers not only  use the tactic of conflicting one another out, when they are on opposite sides they often collude to reduce fees to one, effectively "throwing " a case to make less money, only to make it up on the next. 

These lawyers use an army of spies to hack computers, wire tap cell phones and plant child porn or incriminating information that will shore up a DV conviction and get a client out of paying support. 

Income and Expense declarations in these cases show it is more often that the abused spouse ends up penniless and without a lawyer because of the dirty tricks of a few. 

Donelle Morgan has been recorded telling clients to sue Bradford Baugh, yet when it comes time to complaining to the State Bar about attorney misconduct, lawyers like Morgan remain silent.   Morgan has been heard telling her staff, " why would I want to report Baugh to the Bar, I have made a small fortune in cases against him."  Morgan, who takes as much as $50,000 as a retainer in cases where she will oppose lawyers like Baugh, has spent 15 years preying on the most innocent spouses involved in divorce cases, while commuting  by private jet to her home on California's Central Coast. 

An investigation into Morgan's , and other lawyer's cases, show these lawyers typically force families into private judging  , where the money flows like sunrays  and  kickbacks to fellow lawyers go unnoticed, or  laundered,  through trust accounts that are not overseen by any state or federal agency.