Walter Pierce Hammon

At the conclusion of my divorce, I wanted to write a recommendation for Walter Hammon.
Twenty years ago, a middle-​class friend of mine needed to work through a divorce. He engaged Walter, got the advice he needed, and everybody (no children involved) moved on with their lives.
Fast forward to 2015. My good friend told me, «You really owe it to yourself to get some professional advice. Walter is a very sharp person, that I highly recommend.» I resisted this advice for months, until I finally broke down and engaged Walter.
I found him to be a very good listener. At the appropriate times of silence, he would insert insightful and probing questions as to the details of my married life and in fact, my life in general. Much like a marriage counselor, he was helping the both of us map out the terrain of 26 years of marriage.
After his office provided an excellent summary of my situation, I knew I had a professional assessment of all the legal dimensions of my case. With this superb assessment, I could now move forward and help my entire family into a fair resolution that honored and protected all of us.
Unfortunately after trying so hard, I now know that divorce can be emotional, intimidating, and confusing. You have to judge how extensive your particular needs are. I feel that having Walter Pierce Hammon represent me, allowed me to chart the course to conclusion. To gain support and direction, rather than haphazardly lurch into a dangerous and expensive, «Ready, Fire, Aim !?!», situation.

Let me first say that I retained 2 lawyers. We had a very difficult case and were protecting our granddaughter from a toxic situation. Although Walter’s office was frustrating at times we have been able to keep our granddaughter out of harms way for the last 6 years. Walter is old school. Writes everything down and forgets nothing. When we first retained Walter I knew sheriffs that worked at the court house, When I showed up for my first court appearance one of them was working in front. he asked me who my attorney was and I told him Walter. his response was «Wow you hired the Big Guns» Nothing was more important to me than protecting this precious girl. As paternal grandparents we were challenged by legal rights to even be involved. Walt was able to argue and provide proof that we should share custody with Dad and that mom was going to be a «visiting parent «until she could clean up her act. Moms attorney was new and so many times I wanted to pull her aside and give her the same advise Jim Cary gave to his Client in Liar Liar. Tell your client to «Stop Breaking the Law» It has been 6 years and we still have custody mom has made minor improvements. It got to the point that we were going to have to go to court to let a judge decide the fate of this little girl. On Walters suggestion to save money I wrote the settlement agreement and got mom to agree to everything we wanted. The judge signed off on it to the Amazement of Walt. Even Nicole said there would have been no way a judge would have agreed to it and would have blindly split custody ⁵⁰⁄₅₀. Child custody and divorce is ugly and very emotional for both sides. Everyone lies in Family court. I have see so much injustice that it makes me sick. Are there times I was frustrated with Walters office sure. We all live in a technology world where texting and e-​mail are a must form of communication. having to go Old School is slower but I must say when Walter arrives for court he is respected by other attorneys, spot on in his presentation and justifications he comes to court prepared.
BTW Nicole is no longer at Walters office.

Walter Hammon is an extremely dangerous attorney both in terms of actually representing your best interests as a client and financially draining your bank accounts. I agree with the reviewer below, that the 5 star ratings must be fictitious. If you are a Dad or a Mom and your spouse is alienating your children from you and/​or your family… don’t walk, RUN as fast as you can from Walter, even if he is currently representing you. Bottom line, Mr. Hammon because of his good fortune with his marriage and children, doesn’t believe your spouse can have that power over your children. If you want an attorney that you can talk to when you need to, RUN. In 30yrs+ in business I have never encounter such an inefficient staff & such a difficult professional to reach. I should say inefficient staff except for their ability to keep you from connecting with your attorney when you need to talk to him. When I first engaged Mr. Hammon immediately access to my children despite court orders went to ZERO and despite repeated pleadings to him for months he never took ANY proactive action to have my ex face consequences for violating court orders!!! When she used the bogus TRO in ways that were against the intent of the court, he never took any proactive action. When a judge actually said IF we could show that mother had the funds that we stated she had he might award attorney fees and impose sanctions against my ex, Mr. Hammon never took the initiative to bring that wide open window of opportunity even to the next step, let alone closure. When I for months told Mr. Hammon we needed to prepare for an upcoming TRO hearing, instead he at the last minute promised opposing counsel we would continue the TRO and then pressured me to waive my right to the hearing. When I stood by my convictions that it was essential that the judge be able to hear how my ex had abused the TRO not just from me but from 3^rd party experts, Walter and his staff literally became emotionally and verbally abusive of me. I could write a book on the dozens of incidences similar to those I’ve shared so far. If you are working with Walter and concerned, call me. If you are thinking about working with Walter, call me. Fundamentally we all want and need an attorney ESPECIALLY in family law that is in your corner, fighting proactively for you AND your children’s best interest. Fundamentally, Mr. Hammon possesses great intelligence and many years of experience in the court, as well as strong relationships with the judges because of years of politicking… and fundamentally he has lost his compassion for his clients, is as disorganized and therefore unprepared as you can imagine for hearings, carries way too heavy of a case load. If you are reading this and had Walter as an attorney in the past and feel he is guilty of malpractice, contact me. I believe there are many of us out there, perhaps 100’s and it is time for us as a group to take some action to protect others in the future. By the way, that malpractice ran up over $ 200,000 in attorney fees, resulted in despite court orders otherwise my kids seeing me less than 15% of they time the were supposed to with no court consequences, and ultimately resulted in my ex successfully brainwashing most all of the 5 children against me over the past 5yrs. Our custody battle rages on. Last point, Mr. Hammon made it a point to introduce me to another of his clients when we I first retained him in the summer of 2008, when I talked with her I was amazed when she told me that she and her family had spent nearly $ 1mil on their custody battle over 5yrs… I am no longer amazed.

It was my experience the CA court system is biased against fathers, not biased toward the wellbeing of the children as claimed. Several court employees proved this point to me with their behavior, though one stands out as particularly bad in this regard.
I had (and continue to have) no arrest records or illicit habits of any kind. Even still, my divorce was a mess until Walter became involved. I will always be grateful for his abilities and commitment to me as a client. I felt like he cared about my case.
The low level paperwork occasionally had errors, but his notes and knowledge about my case were always spot-​on impeccable. I think that says more about his admins, but they were kind and quick to respond even when Walter wasn’t. This is my only criticism. No human being is perfect.
I’m happy with my results. I feel they were honestly and legally obtained. I have the bills to prove Walter wasn’t the only one responsible for the outcome, but I credit his overall management and court presence to be a large part.
Have a look at the negative reviews and realize they’re mostly coming from people on the other side of the fence. Couple things to know: 1) He doesn’t do email with clients because billing could get ugly… maybe he will now (I totally wanted that but found I could live without it) 2) Consultation wasn’t free and probably still isn’t and 3) He’s not going to suggest you represent yourself when custody is important to you.
This may be my very first Unilocal review. I saw the negative ones and thought I owed it to Walter to add my own voice. For the record, I can pay my bills but I’m not rich. Never have been.
Thanks for reading & good luck with your case.

I have the highest respect for Walter as an attorney and as a human being. I have been a business man for 30 years and and know plenty of attorneys. I didn’t like attorneys and I think our justice system is a joke. Walter helped me get full custody of my children when it was neccessary. As a guy I didn’t think I stood a chance of that but he and the courts understand that there are good dads out there are moms who shouldn’t always have custody. Walter asks smart questions and lots of them. He is a great listener and litigator. Let’s face it, court isn’t fun, divorce isn’t fun and the kids are always the ones who suffer the most. Having a pro in your corner makes all the difference. I read a review that said Walter is in this for the money, I don’t believe that one bit. He was very fair with me but the process always seems to take forever because of the way our joke of a justice system works which was broken a long time ago. The truth is that you would be lucky if you could get Walter to represent you because he has plenty of clients. I can assure you that any negative feedback written about him is from disgruntled people who have lost against him and were represented by some flunky attorney (which makes up 99% of the attorneys out there). I admit it, I hated attorneys, until I met Walter.

He is regarded as one of the best attorneys in Silicon Valley, but my experience with him is that he uses scare tactics (threats, ultimatums, etc.) which only antagonizes the other party … not professional!

Walter was recommened to me by a friend who said he was ‘An upstanding honest guy who won’t just take your money.” Well, Walter is that and so much more. I’ve been a client of his since 1999 and I can tell you that he is amazing in the courtroom. He is professional, kind and I have always felt well taken care of every time I have needed him to represent me. Walter IS the finest family law attorney in the valley.

Beware, the two 5-​star reviews sound fake. Just call up the receptionist at this lawyers office to get a taste of the quality of service that is offered. Any place that answers a phone «law offices» should give you an idea of how generic and cheap they are. Not to mention rude, incompetent and impatient. Not even a free consultation is offered. $ 400 an hour even to see if you want to use him. Great lawyer if you are trying to blow through as much money as you can and achieve no results.

Walter handled my divorce and subsequent child custody battles. He is smart, thorough, and above all, has a fabulous trial presence and command of the facts. There may be some equally qualified lawyers in family court, but none better than Walter.