Appearance alert: check me out on Legally Leslie
Richard Luthmann and I appeared to discuss the Hales saga with Leslie Ferderigos
Earlier today, I appeared with Richard Luthmann on Legally Leslie with Leslie Ferderigos.
We talked about the Hales saga, and since I’ve spent enough time on that, I’d like to introduce the audience to Leslie Ferderigos.
Leslie is a former lawyer from Florida. She’s based in the Orlando area.
We first crossed paths in 2021 when she represented two people in high profile divorces in Miami-Dade, which is not that close to Leslie.
The two litigants are Gabe Shapiro and Eric Satin. Megan Fox and I interviewed Eric and Gabe, but since Megan is spiteful, neither of those interviews exist anymore.
Both Eric and Gabe immediately faced threats to their first amendment rights shortly after appearing with us.
Leslie was forced to fight a first amendment battle in the middle of both child custody cases.
Leslie had not made a name for herself in child custody but rather in guardianship, by freeing people from guardianship.
Leslie Ferderigos is an attorney practicing out of Florida; she said she ran into a guardianship abuse by accident, when a victim called her.
“I thought it was a Baker Act,” she said.
Baker Act refers to a Florida law which allows for someone to be held involuntarily in a psych ward.
Instead, she learned the person was in guardianship against their will.
She said she’s been inundated with cases since; she’s been able to reverse six guardianship rulings in 2021, turning her into a star in that niche.
She said she’s been exposed to cases of people in their twenties; despite her record of reversals, she said guardianship is generally for life.
“Once you’re in guardianship, you never get out,” she said.
Elaine Renoire is the head of the National Association to Stop Guardianship Abuse, an advocacy group for guardianship victims.
She said she has also seen victims as young as Spears and they are treated much like she’s been.
“We’re getting in influx of the young adults,” Renoire said, “There’s not that many people in guardianship who are also working but those who are, it’s going into the guardianship not into their pockets.”
Note: Leslie told us in the broadcast that she wound up freeing eleven people from guardianship, increasing from six at the time of the article.
All of this caught someone’s eye in Florida law. Particularly, Gabe’s ex was represented by Dori Foster-Morales, then the outgoing president of the Florida bar.
So, by 2022, Leslie was facing a flurry of bar complaints. Morales once charged one client more than $60,000 in legal fees in a month, but that was fine.
Below is part of Leslie’s bar complaint.
I witnessed a bar hearing in Leslie’s case.
I included Leslie in an article about whistleblowing lawyers who face bar complaints.
Leslie now calls herself a retired lawyer, having to reinvent herself in a new profession.
Note: initially mistakenly called Leslie’s show Lawyer Leslie. I have fixed the error.
