The Law Office of Christien Petersen

Until I need his services I had never had a run in with the law. Christien came highly recommended and was very informative and humble in our first interaction, even suggesting I shop around. He has been there for every question and complication that has arisen and despite having other cases never made me feel like mine was any less important. He is very knowledgeable and will do his utmost to get the most favorable outcome. I can’t recommend him more highly. I hope I will never need his (or any lawyer’s) services again but should I have the ill luck to, he will be the one I call.

I was battling a very personal and bitter case with a lots of complications and I would not have navigated this treacherous path without his constant communication, patience and skill.
He was persistence and relentless two qualities that stood out starkly in his professional demeanor. He is easy to talk to and very accessible which made if easier to at least know what you were up against.
I would not have had success if he was not in my corner. Christien thank you again for being so very awesome. I really appreciated your assistance.
Supriya B

I feel like this 5 star review is long overdue but better late than never. Mr Christien Petersen is one of the best lawyers out there. My family had a tough year last year with one of our family members being charged for an offense that was just outrageous. After having had a need to fire our first attorney for incompetence, we almost gave up until we met Christien Petersen. Christien was there for us every step of the way to guide us in the right path, showed us the way and helped us navigate through the process to eventually getting the case resolved. Rarely do we meet someone who is passionate about their work and we feel that Christien is not only that but he is also very smart, knowledgeable and very compassionate, all great things in an attorney. Even after the case was over, Christien stayed in touch with us. We will be referring him to our friends and colleagues if there is ever a need for a great defense attorney. Christien is as good as it gets! Thank you Christien for all that you do and I hope you continue your passion and inspire and influence people to realize that it’s not all that scary out there when you are faced with a challenge because people like you are there to help overcome those challenges in a less stressful and more bearable and effective way. Thanks again! You get five stars and two thumbs up!

My name is Matthew my son was charged 2 counts of 459pc in ventura court
I called Mr. Petersen and he took care of the case and treated my son with most respect
He kept us in the loop every step of the way.
The deal that he got my son was a misd one count no jail time and informal probation
My son is 18 and I could not have him be in jail, if it wasn’t for mr. Petersen my son would be doing 5 years in jail and missed out 5 years on his new born daughter.
I would recommend Mr. Peterson to my family and friends. Thank you again Christien

Christien Petersen is a great attorney. My legal situation was a complicated one, I really felt like I was up the creek without a paddle. Right from the first time I met Christien I knew that he was the attorney for me. He was knowledgeable in his analysis of my case, and was honest and upfront about what the scenarios could be. During the case, he always responded to my communications in a reasonable amount of time if not right away, I really feel that he went above and beyond to make sure I was doing everything I could be doing to get the best result out of the case. I did then and still get the impression that he cared about my wellbeing. He even went as far as to communicate with my family when they had questions about my case.
Hopefully I won’t need to use any criminal attorney ever again, but if I did, Christien would be my first choice.
I am a real person, this is a real review, and I was a real client of his, feel free to message me with any questions.

review edit 6÷22÷2014:
so when i call him out on Unilocal with this bad review, christien finally responds 12 WEEKS after first ignoring me, but only to defend himself and not to explain his vanishing.
and DON’t be fooled by any 5-​star reviews that crop up starting today, 6÷22÷14, especially from NEW accounts that have NO previous reviews, NO pics, NO friends, nothing. BECAUSE THEY’RE FAKE. nice try, christien. you just keep out-​doing yourself here with lies and further deceits.
and btw, he still refuses to answer ANY of my voicemails, texts, or emails directly.
here’s my original review from 5÷17÷2014:
if your idea of a competent attorney is someone who uses powerful eye contact to over-​promise and under-​deliver before pretending you don’t exist once you pay him in full, then have I got the guy for you.
christien petersen might be the most sophisticated snake-​oil salesman you’ll ever meet, and he is one smooth criminal when it comes to disarming your BS detectors, even if you’re like me and you have an uncanny ability to see into people and an intuition about character that is almost never wrong.
from the moment i was referred to this fraud he was insanely communicative via text and voice, and i have to admit it felt really good to have someone who seemed to care so much about me and my case. i had just had my first adult run-​in with the law in a serious way and was feeling pretty damn vulnerable about the whole thing, and christien did wonders to make me believe things would be alright.
and at first they were. during our initial consultation i was seduced by lots of lawyer-​jargon about strategery and tactics, which made him sound quite impressive. lots of quoting of statutes and sub-​paragraphs (long recitals of the law word-​for-​word, i looked it up – but don’t be fooled, it’s only a trick.) and he made it easy by always coming to me. (read: i never saw his office and that’s because he merely rents out space in a cubicle farm on olympic boulevard for address purposes and wouldn’t be caught dead taking meetings there.)
feeling like i made a good choice after our initial consult, i paid him ½ of his retainer up front, signed his agreement, and off we went.
he dragged my case out like we discussed, exploiting loopholes here and there to win minor decisions which sounded favorable the way he characterized them in the re-​telling, but which i now know to have been extremely oversold. and four months later when the DMV made its decision as to my case, it didn’t seem like the worst that could happen. so i paid him the second half of his retainer, he brought the documents to me at work to sign on my lunch break, and we parted ways with a handshake.
and here’s where it gets ugly.
i really liked him up to this point, and felt that even though he wasn’t at all successful pleading down my case like he said he would be, i felt the judgement wasn’t the worst that could have happened. (but i learned later i was wrong about that.)
two weeks after i paid christien his full fee, the DMV made a huge clerical error with my case, and suddenly i needed him to set them straight. so i called, naturally expecting him to return my call within the hour like i had been accustomed to for the previous four months (read: BEFORE HE HAD ALL HIS MONEY.)
but there was no callback that day. or the next. or over the weekend.
so i text him. then email. i leave him three, four voicemails over the next few weeks, all ignored. then more texts just to be sure that what i thought was happening was really in fact happening. and it was.
it’s now been 40 days since i (so, so stupidly) closed the loop by paying him in full, and even though at our last meeting he told me he’d file motions for me down the road for early termination of blah blah blah, it’s clear he’s vanished and left me in the lurch.
this guy is a cheat and a coward who will vanish the second you pay him in full. he’ll smile, pat you on the back, and bro-​talk you with stories of bad behavior to elicit comfort and camaraderie, but it’s BS. he’s just jumping for cash and all i did is tell him how high.
god help you if a clerk makes a mistake down the road with your case because christien will ignore you, regardless of the crap his site says about constant communication, credible defenses, character, and morality.
i’ve asked him over email to explain himself, to account for his vanishing act and they’ve all been ignored. screenshots of my emails and texts are attached here — as an attorney he will certainly argue it casts him in an bad light but he’s done it to himself. and certainly he could fix it by getting in touch, but he won’t and i know that now. and that’s okay, because my only recourse is to try and help others avoid the same kind of treatment from someone who will take your money and give you little in return.
so if you enjoy the company of weasels and con-​artists, by all means call him. but you’ve been warned, with evidence i’m not proud to have at all.