Auld Lang Syne

Welcome to my web site.  It was a long time in coming. Many people had been incessantly inquiring when I would create one. In their minds, I was not a new kid on the Net block, so for sure I should have been one of the first lawyers on the Net's newest promenade.  Well, finally,I arrived with a "web presence" after much dodging and ducking, kicking and screaming. Though I am usually progressive, there are a few changes in life I do resist. A commercial web site was one of them.

I first logged on to the Net at about 1200 baud over 20 years ago. Just a Unix prompt and the "man" command to get me going. How I envied newcomers a few years after me, they had Krol's book to help them. Of course, in the whole Bay Area, that book could only be found in a few geeky type bookstores.

Most importantly,  the Net was void of commercialism. The Net was for fun, frolic and some academia. I never dreamt of using the Net commercially in my practice.  Indeed, I had only a few clients over the span of those early years who even knew about the Net. I still cherish the pocket protectors they gave me as gifts. Anyhow, the Net was used to foster camaraderie amongst us weirdoes and to debate whether "C" or "Korn" was the better Unix shell.  If I obtained clients from the Net it was because they had become to know me by interacting with me; not because of some crass commercial cyber billboard hawking my services. O.K., enough strolling down cyber memory lane. I have reached closure and I have come to accept that the Net of old is dead and gone.

Today, as we all know, there are hundreds of books about the Net. The phone book even has a consumer section about the Net explaining things like: "What are FAQs?"  Many homes are installing cable modems buzzing along at a gillion baud. Most sadly, commercialism has all but dwarfed the fun and frolic.  Alas, I am convinced if a business is going to be competitive it needs a Net presence.  Thus, I have reconciled my old Net fogey desire to hold on to the Net of yesteryear with the commercial realities of the Net today. This web site is a result of that reconciliation.

I have tried hard to avoid presenting the typical business site with sterile commercialism. Also, I have tried to avoid the pure fun and frolic three-ring circus effect of a personal site. Though, if I err, I rather it be on the side of the latter.  You will find a bell or a whistle here or there. Yet,  I provide straight forward information about me professionally, my law practice, lawyering, and a bit about the law. In essence, if I should receive any clients from my web site it is because they have become to know who I am.

Many of the legal web sites I visited discuss topics such as the  Supreme Court, Congress, the para-legal's cat and then link you to every legal resource under the sun.  Therefore, I won't be going into detail about how long it takes to get a divorce or what to do if your landlord is evicting you.  Go to any search engine and you'll find an abundance of that type of information. I do, however, offer brief overviews of the areas of law in which I practice.

Moreover, I do discuss a topic which is near and dear to every client's or potential client's heart -- attorney fees. I found there is a dearth of information on legal web sites regarding that issue, with only brief discussions at best. Therefore, I offer more than cursory treatment about attorney fees wherein I bare my soul regarding mine as well.  I hope from the knowledge you may gain from it, that you'll be more at ease with any attorney regarding this seemingly esoteric subject.  At the very least, you'll know what to ask.

Another thing  I found were many mythical third persons. One logs onto many legal web sites and reads something like: "Mr. Doe graduated with honors, blah, blah, blah." or "Ms. Roe was voted most likely to be a lawyer by her high school class, blah, blah, blah." Who the hell is telling us this? Did those lawyers hire biographers or what?  Heck, I was waiting for a video file to start up and the Biography Channel to appear.

Whatever their reason,  none of that omniscient narrator nonsense around here. This is my web site and I'm the one doing all the talking. Should anyone find that arrogant, then I remind them: Modesty is for virgins, not litigators.  Moreover, I don't want to insult your intelligence by feigning that some fawning client has dedicated a web site to me.  Another thing, none of that "Mr." stuff, you can just call me Frank. I only make people with the rank of judge or above call me "Mr."

Keeping with the freeware concept from the Net of old, e-mail me if you are so inclined, I won't  charge for those initial contacts.  Should you desire a more traditional tete-a-tete, give me a call, at no charge.  At times it may take a li'l while for me to get back to you, I do have to take care of the people paying me first. Otherwise, I can just hear some of them now: "I've been trying to get a hold of you, what have you been doing, messing around on the Internet?!"  Of course not.

O.K. then, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, that concludes my opening statement. So, let us proceed with the case in chief. Or I should say...On with the show!!

About Me.           About My Practice.        About Attorney Fees.        Links.

Law Office of Frank D. Presto III                                 E-Mail: Frank@PrestoLaw.com
4471 Stoneridge Drive, Suite B
Pleasanton, CA  94588
Telephone: 925-846-4006
Fax: 925-426-9215
 
Last Updated August 1, 2008