Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services is not a lawyer
Table of Contents
Gregory Finkelson from American Corporate Services is not a lawyer
Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services attempts to practice immigration law. Finkelson claims to be the president of American Corporate Services Inc. and creates an impression on the Internet that he is competent in U.S. immigration laws. He writes on his website that he is a member of the San Francisco Bar Association.
A person unfamiliar with jurisprudence in the United States will think that Finkelson is a lawyer because of his membership in San Francisco Bar Association. But this is not the case.
Anyone can become a member of this Association. You do not need to be a lawyer, you just need to fill out an application and pay a membership fee! Membership in this Association is not a license to practice law in the United States.
Another person in San Francisco, Nelly Allen Gabueva, is doing something similar but more explicitly. Nelly Allen is stating that she is a member of New York City Bar Association and uses that membership to practice law.
In the title of an article online, for example, Finkelson is called “an American lawyer.”
Empty threats of lawsuit by Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services
Attorney who represents Gregory Finkelson has threatened to sue me for defamation for posting this article on my website. Clearly, Gregory Finkelson does not want you to see this article.
Finkelson’s lawyer provided me with written documented proof that Gregory Finkelson is “not a licensed attorney in California” and American Corporate Service, Inc. “ACSI is not a registered law corporation nor otherwise authorized to practice law in California.” The records of the State Bar of California confirm this fact. You can see this proof here.
Immigration lawyer Nadia Galash has recently approached me. She had a misfortune to work with Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services Law Offices, Inc. from March to September 2018. Further in this article Nadezhda Galash will tell about what she had to go through, and the whole truth about Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services.
Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services uses company as a cover up for practice of law without a license
Gregory Finkelson is not a lawyer. In his practice, he hides behind the name of lawyer Allan Samson, with whom Gregory Finkelson registered American Corporate Services Law Offices, Inc. on December 14, 2017.
The recent registration of this business does not prevent Finkelson from writing on his website about some 26 years of successful work. Also, do not expect to see people from group photos on Finkelson’s website at his office. Half of the people in the photographs do not work there.
In America, law firms’ presidents do not hire lawyers unless those presidents themselves are lawyers. According to California state law, lawyers cannot organize business ventures and share profits with non-lawyers. I don’t know under what conditions Gregory Finkelson cooperates with Allan Samson, but I’m sure that the Bar Association and the District Attorney’s Office of the City of San Francisco should get involved.
To my misfortune, I fell for his bait. Gregory Finkelson told me that I would work as an immigration lawyer in a real law firm. According to him, lawyer Allan Samson managed that law firm.
I have not met this lawyer Allan Samson before my last visit to San Francisco. Allan Samson was always unavailable. Nevertheless, Gregory Finkelson passed greetings from Allan Samson to me as well as his opinion of me as a professional in the field.
If you want to work with Allan Samson, contact him directly. However, Allan Samson does not speak Russian.
It seems that Allan Samson has little to do with Gregory Finkelson and American Corporate Services Inc. I have never seen him at the office of American Corporate Services Law Offices. I have never seen Allan Samson doing any work for clients there.
The real office of Allan Samson is located downtown at 150 Post, office 442, San Francisco, California 94108, as it is written in his profile on the website of the California Bar Association. His direct phone number is (415) 391-4949. You can read Allan Samson reviews here and here.
Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services don’t know how to organize effective office work
When I figured it all out, I realized that there was actually no organization. There were no paralegals, assistants, office workers, junior attorneys on whom I could rely.
All the immigration matters I handled myself. In addition, I had to train other lawyers and employees of American Corporate Services. New employees came and left. This company has a terrible turnover of staff. Employees do not stay there for long. Naturally, this affects the cases of clients!
Gregory Finkelson and American Corporate Services do not have the basic necessary stationery and copiers. There is no well trained support staff. Incompetence is all around. Gregory Finkelson saves money on everything.
Gregory Finkelson is greedy and does not like immigrants
Finkelson is good at only one thing – taking money from a client. Finkelson often told me that he was a great businessman and he knew how to manage people. In fact, his motto is to take money from clients and do nothing.
Gregory Finkelson does not sign any contracts. These are all the duties and responsibilities of a lawyer who works for him. Be careful if you decide to sign a contract with Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services Law Offices. See who signs this contract and ask questions timely! Do not be surprised later when Finkelson will say that he did not sign the contract.
Finkelson does not care about clients, the company’s reputation or the reputation of lawyers who work for Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services. Lawyer Allan Samson allows him to continue to engage in this practice. Gregory Finkelson is not accountable for his actions. He is there to make money, regardless of what happens to the clients of American Corporate Services Law Offices, Inc.
Gregory Finkelson thinks and speaks about immigrants just like President Trump. He says that it’s a right thing to close the border and to not give any benefits to immigrants. In my opinion, any immigrant should run away from such a person!
Gregory Finkelson has an office at his home in a residential neighborhood of San Francisco
So, I worked for American Corporate Services for 10 – 14 hours a day, as well as on the weekends. I was paid very little for my work. When I was not in San Francisco, no one else dealt with the cases of American Corporate Services Law Offices, Inc. clients who were assigned to me.
Gregory Finkelson promised teamwork. There is no such thing as teamwork in his office! Finkelson is the worst example of capitalism. He enriches himself by the work of other people.
Gregory Finkelson housed American Corporate Services Law Offices, Inc. at his home, in the residential area of San Francisco. Real law firms open their offices in downtown or financial district of San Francisco, not in residential areas. And for sure, not in the houses of their presidents!
Gregory Finkelson allocated a tiny dark room in his house for American Corporate Services Law Offices. People literally sit on top of each other.
American Corporate Services Law Offices rather looks like a Chinese sweatshop than a law firm. Phones are ringing, employees are talking loudly on the phone. The noise is so loud that it is impossible to do any work in such environment.
The desks are tiny. They can be compared only to desks for manicure. It is simply impossible to spread out the documents on the desk because there is no space. I am not even mentioning the fact that it takes hours to simply copy the documents!
Gregory Finkelson and American Corporate Services hire people who work remotely
I complained to Finkelson about intolerable working conditions and asked to change something. In response, Gregory Finkelson told me that there was another attorney who worked for Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services Law Offices, Inc. Allegedly, that lawyer was doing the same thing as I did, and he did not complain.
Naturally, I had not met this lawyer in Finkelson’s home office. I searched online and found that in New York Gregory Finkelson hired one Russian-speaking lawyer. He had only had a license for a year or two. Moreover, that lawyer was working for Finkelson remotely.
By the end of July 2018, it was absolutely clear to me that I needed to run from Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services Law Offices! I still can not believe how I pecked at his bait and fell into Finkelson’s slavery. I did not want to believe at first that he could not be trusted. Gregory Finkelson was very nice to me at first, and I trusted him. I somehow survived in his office from March to September 2018.
I have never seen lawyer Gary Royle in Finkelson’s office
Gregory Finkelson gave me the example of attorney Gary Royle. Finkelson said that Gary Royle did not disdain to take the cases of asylum seekers at the border of the United States and Mexico. He said that Gary Royle posed online as a VIP immigration lawyer. Finkelson said Gary Royle took a lot of money from those asylum seekers and then did nothing.
I flatly refused to take such cases. Ethical rules make attorney think first about the interests of the client, not about money. Finkelson does not care about ethics. Since he is not a lawyer, he does not have a license, he has nothing to lose.
Since I have never met Gary Royle in person, I can judge him only according to Finkelson’s words, the information I found online, and one case of asylum from the US-Mexico border, which I inherited from Gary Royle in Finkelson’s office of American Corporate Services Law Offices.
In that case, Gary Royle did not file the client’s asylum application, form I-589, in a timely manner in court. As a result, the client remained without a work permit in the United States. I had to work hard on that ruined case.
Disciplinary penalties and suspension of Gary Royle
In an interview online, they call Gary Royle “a professional immigration lawyer with 15 years of experience.” Gary Royle’s page on the website of the California Bar Association shows a list of serious disciplinary actions. Moreover, Bar Association suspended Gary Royle from practicing law in 2010, 2011, and 2015.
The court documents on the same page of the Bar Association explain what happened. Gary Royle took up cases of clients in 2008, charged them money, and in 2009 did not appear in immigration court at their hearings. As a result, clients lost money and lost their cases.
The court concluded that Gary Royle deliberately, negligently and many times behaved incompetently. Gary Royle did not respond to clients’ calls.
Gary Royle agreed with numerous accusations of negligence. Bar Association punished him rather gently — suspended from practicing law for 6 months. In addition, they gave Gary Royle 3 years of probation.
The court took into account the admission of guilt by Gary Royle, remorse and severe depression. Gary Royle was treated for depression in Russia under the supervision of a physician with the help of antidepressants and neuroleptics.
Now the Bar Association wants to discipline Gary Royle for his criminal conviction of illegally carrying a weapon.
Gregory Finkelson does not care about privacy of his clients
In this interview, for example, Finkelson tells how “several people have already came running to him … (they did not want to return to Russia)” from the former Russian consulate in San Francisco! Here is another quotation of Finkelson: “A general has recently applied through our office,” he means application for asylum.
I wonder how these consular officers are feeling now, if the FSB conducts checks on them in Russia.
Or the fate of this general …
Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, called Finkelson’s words a lie: “To divert attention from the lawlessness perpetrated by the US special services against Russian diplomats and diplomatic property, fake news was spread that employees of the Russian Consulate General in San Francisco applied for political asylum.” Maria Zakharova is incorrect in one respect. Fake news was spread not to divert attention from any lawlessness, but to attract attention to Gregory Finkelson and his business.
Here in this video, Gregory Finkelson simply reads the letters from potential clients and answers publicly to their questions, without really worrying about their confidentiality. In addition, he analyzes the situation of clients without a legal education and a license, which, in my opinion, amounts to unlawful practice of law without a license.
I witnessed how Finkelson persuaded asylees who had been granted asylum in the United States to give a video interview for youtube channel. For promotional purposes, this is PR for Finkelson, but in terms of ethics and confidentiality, it’s just awful. Persecutors can easily hurt people and their families in their home countries after such an interview.
Clients’ cases suffer from such business practices
After I left, Gregory Finkelson was unable to provide his clients with another Russian-speaking lawyer. Apparently, Gary Royle does not work for him, and Allan Samson does not speak Russian. Finkelson was also in no hurry to return the money to his cients. Gregory Finkelson made me the one to blame for all of this!
I recently learned that Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services posted an ad and is looking for a Russian-speaking lawyer for his office. I want to warn everyone, whether it is a Russian-speaking lawyer or a potential or current client—be very careful!
If you care about your immigration case and confidentiality, find yourself a real immigration lawyer with a license.
You can read an article here on how to choose a lawyer. Do not trust “presidents” of such companies. You will have no control over what attorney they will hire for you. Then they will leave you with nothing. He will not even return your money!
Nadia Galash, immigration attorney, California Bar certified immigration specialist
Immigration lawyers file Bar complaints against Gregory Finkelson and American Corporate Services
Nadia Galash sounded alarmingly. However, she was not the first person who voiced concern over the actions of Gregory Finkelson and American Corporate Services. In October 2018 I received a letter from another law firm. They did not sign the letter. However, it appears that it was mailed from Fragomen’s law offices in San Francisco. Here is what the letter said:
To: Attorney Andrei Romanenko Immigration Attorney 500 Sutter St #601, San Francisco, CA 94102
From: Immigration Law Firm
REGARDING: UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE OF LAW, /redacted/
Party involved: Mr. Gregory Finkelson, American Corporate Services Law Offices, Inc.
Dear fellow immigration lawyer,
How do you feel about the newly established /redacted/ San Francisco immigration law firm American Corporate Services Law Office, Inc? California Secretary of State documents say they were established in 2017. We all know the competition. They appeared last year. While their Facebook advertising and website says they were established in 1991. /redacted/ Interesting isn’t it?
The person responsible for American Corporate Services, Inc is a non-lawyer Mr. Gregory Finkelson. He is the President /redacted/
Non-lawyer Mr. Gregory Finkelson is clearly marked as the person in charge of the company /redacted/ on their website, he responds to Yelp and other reviews, conducts consultations with clients.
Yelp reviews clearly identify that the public was misled to believe that Mr. Finkelson is a lawyer.
You can read Yelp reviews where people thank him for consultations and helping with immigration problems and he responds to each review. Just type “American Corporate Services” at www.yelp.com and read for yourself. American Corporate Services, Inc and American Corporate Services Law Offices, Inc are two separate corporations, /redacted/.
There are also reviews posted on FACEBOOK, and GOOGLE which show that /redacted/ people believe that he is an immigration lawyer. Check for yourself. The reviews are endorsed by Mr. Gregory Finkelson and/or his company American Corporate Services, Inc. as true. Mr. Gregory Finkelson does not attempt to discourage the public from thinking that he is an immigration lawyer.
The “cover lawyer” is Mr. Allan A. Samson Cal Bar #88748 who was admitted to practice in 1979 as well as several out-of-state newly-minted lawyers. Mr. Allan A. Samson Cal Bar #88748 runs his separate practice “Allan A Samson Law Office” and simply acts as the “cover lawyer” to support the /redacted/ activities of Mr. Finkelson.
Mr. Gregory Finkelson received a Ph.D. in Business Administration, is not an attorney, and is not licensed to practice law in the USA.
He /redacted/ holds himself out as an immigration lawyer. He is not a bonded immigration consultant either.
/redacted/
He has been doing it for a while with another “partner” a (lawyer who was suspended several times) attorney Gary Royle #212199. A complaint against attorney Gary Royle, who was previously employed as “partner” of Mr. Gregory Finkelson was filed late 2017, which resulted in removal of attorney Gary Royle information from American Corporate Services, Inc website /redacted/.
Further, it came to our attention that Mr. Gregory Finkelson hires /redacted/ remote attorneys at American Corporate Services, Inc. /redacted/
On the date of this letter, Mr. Gregory Finkelson is not a licensed lawyer and is not a bonded consultant. /redacted/
/redacted/ Both companies are registered at the same address and are de facto run by Mr. Gregory Finkelson /redacted/.
Our law office had filed several complaints against Mr. Finkelson to California Bar Association. They do nothing.
We need your support to file additional complains to California Bar Association. Without your help American Corporate Services Law Offices, Inc will continue its /redacted/ activities and will put public in danger. You need to act. If you do not act they will continue their business. Do you really want to compete with non-lawyers who pose as lawyers? Is this why you went to law school? You work by the book, they don’t. You need to file a complaint to Cal Bar, even a small one for misleading advertising or unlawful practice of law will work. If many of us act it may attract Cal Bar’s attention.
Thank you for reading this. Please do research this issue and file a complaint.
Sincerely yours, Fellow Immigration Law Firm
P.S. Andrei, you should act now. The new /redacted/ immigration law firm will soon have as much positive reviews on Yelp as you do. Do act.
The address of Finkelson in downtown San Francisco is just a cover, the so-called virtual office
Gregory Finkelson changed the address of his office on his website. Previously, there was the address of his home in a residential area of San Francisco. Now there is the address of 36th Floor, One Market Street Spear Tower, San Francisco CA 94105.
What is this address in downtown San Francisco? Google comes to rescue again. Enter this address in Google and you will see that Regus is located there. Regus is in business of providing virtual office services to companies and it is renting out offices by the hour.
In other words, Gregory Finkelson, with an office in a residential area of San Francisco, can get a mailing address from Regus on Market Street in downtown San Francisco. He can also rent one of the vacant offices there by paying Regus their hourly rate. Please try to come to this address without an appointment. In that office you will not find Gregory Finkelson or any of his companies. Regus secretary will be sitting at the entrance. She will offer to take a message or make an appointment.
Why did Gregory Finkelson acquire a virtual office? We believe that he did so to make an impression that he has an office in the financial district and to hide the real address of his office in the residential area of San Francisco.
Gregory Finkelson has a record of hiring incompetent and unprofessional attorneys
I believe that if a person hires incompetent and unethical attorneys to represent himself, this is a red sign of warning. I would not trust such person to hire an attorney for my case.
Gregory Finkelson hired such attorney Patrick Alexandre Missud to represent Finkelson in a civil case. This attorney was later disbarred for moral turpitude and arrested for criminal threats.
Gregory Finkelson helped Russian businesswoman Tatiana Sanochkina buy a five-bedroom, five-bathroom home on 16th Avenue in San Francisco for $1.3 million back in 2005. Check out this article in SFGate.
That’s right, the house where Finkelson maintains his company in fact belongs to Russian woman Tatiana Sanochkina who lives abroad.
Sanochkina and Finkelson are claiming the house was riddled with plumbing defects, faulty electrical wiring, mold infestation and undisclosed construction code violations and that the house needs more than $400,000 in repairs. They were suing the seller in Superior Court in addition to seeking the tax break.
Why didn’t absentee owner Sanochkina and Finkelson discover the problems before they finalized the sale? According to Peter Fatooh arguing their case, the pair simply took the seller’s reports that the house was in good shape at face value!
Gregory Finkelson and Tatiana Sanochkina went through arbitration and lost it. They took the case to Superior Court and lost it there as well. They also lost on appeal.
Gregory Finkelson hired attorney Patrick Alexander Missud who later got disbarred and arrested for criminal threats
For their appeal Finkelson hired attorney Patrick Alexandre Missud. This attorney was later disbarred for moral turpitude. Patrick Alexandre Missud clogged the federal and state courts for years with frivolous lawsuits and bizarre, often outrageous, litigation conduct.
Here is what the Appellate Court in Finkelson’s case said about the conduct and quality of work of Finkelson’s lawyer. See page 21, middle paragraph, and page 13:
Appellant’s (Finkelson’s) counsel’s violations of the rules of court are simply too extensive to recount here. Furthermore, the tone of appellants’ briefs and the false accusations which drive those filings strongly suggest that appellants’ (Finkelson’s) counsel has lost sight of his duties, both to his clients and as an officer of this court. We afforded appellant’s (Finkelson’s) counsel numerous opportunities to remedy his errors, but he declined to do so. There is no doubt that appellants’ counsel is committed to disparaging this trial court judge. On this record, we have little doubt that appellant’s counsel is guilty of contempt. Instead of instituting a contempt proceeding, we will refer this matter to the State Bar of California, so that it can take the appropriate action.
Appellants filed an Opening Brief and a Reply Brief that violated the requirements of rule 8.204 and contained numerous hyperbolic opinions, sarcastic remarks and unsupported accusations about the arbitrator and the trial judge. Unfortunately, the “Second Revised Appellants‟ Opening Brief” does not comply with the letter or spirit of rule 8.204 and also contains numerous improper unprofessional remarks. The appellants’ brief is poorly written, poorly organized, and poorly reasoned.
Disbarred attorney
In July 2013, after a five-day hearing, Finkelson’s attorney Patrick Alexandre Missud was placed on involuntary inactive status with the State Bar of California following its recommendation that Missud committed professional misconduct, including maintaining unjust actions and failing to obey court orders. The State Bar decision stated that Missud “has total disdain for the legal profession and the judicial process.” In the Matter of Patrick Alexandre Missud, No. 12-O-10026-LMA (Cal. St. B. July 1, 2013).
On October 1, 2014, the California State Bar Court Review Department concluded that Missud was culpable of the alleged misconduct and recommended that he be “disbarred from the practice of law – the only solution for public protection.”
Gregory Finkelson has been sued for not paying for his credit card debt
Personally, I would not trust my money to any person who has a track record of not paying back.
Gregory Finkelson has a record of not paying for his credit card debt.
American Express Centurion Bank had to sue him for $10,796.74 in 2004. Their complaint can be found here. On June 2, 2004, San Francisco Superior Court ordered the following judgment entered against Finkelson. It was adjudged that American Express Centurion Bank recover from Gregory Finkelson $10,796.74 principal, $660.00 attorney fees, $1,820.40 interest, $384.45 costs, total judgment $13,661.59.
Gregory Finkelson hired attorney Ricardo A Mercado and threatens to sue me for defamation, etc. if I do not remove this article. His attorney Ricardo A Mercado raises in his letter the following four issues where he thinks this article goes too far:
- Gregory Finkelson and American Corporate Services Inc. attempt to practice immigration law;
- Gregory Finkelson hires illegal immigrants to work at ACS;
- ACS shares profits with the company American Corporate Services Law Office, Inc.;
- The company brazenly engages in misleading advertising;
Apparently, everything else stated in this article does not raise concerns with Gregory Finkelson and his attorney. They are not disputing the rest of the allegations, which is good.
To address their concerns number 2 and 3, I have redacted this article by cutting out the allegedly problematic parts and replacing them with /redacted/.
As to number 1, I have collected sufficient proof and statements of witnesses over the years to back up this allegation. Truth is the ultimate defense in defamation lawsuits.
Earlier I was considering to sue Gregory Finkelson and his business on behalf of his prior clients who have turned to me for help. However, I have been putting it off and saving my time and resources.
Lawsuit against Gregory Finkelson American Corporate Services
Now if Finkelson goes to court, I will be happy to address all issues and bring my counter claims against him. California Rules of Civil Procedure permit joinder of parties to the lawsuit. Present and former clients of Finkelson will be able to join the lawsuit. I believe we will find even more proof of his wrongdoing in the process of discovery. Civil discovery gives litigants access to bank accounts of a party to a lawsuit, his e-mails, list of present and former employees, tax records, and much more. We have had success in similar civil matters and with anti-SLAPP motions in the past. I believe I will be filing such motion in this case.
This article is not going away. I will continue to inform the public on how this matter progresses. In the meantime, I am working on a video where I will address in Russian the problematic issues of Finkelson’s activities. Next week I will be preparing and filing a California Bar complaint.
Reader, if you have dealt with Gregory Finkelson and if you have concerns similar to mine, please contact me by phone or e-mail. We are stronger together. Please post your comments below about your experience with Gregory Finkelson and his businesses. If I find your case compelling, I will help you file a complaint free of charge.