What is up with Attorney Adam Gafni of Gafni & Levin LLP?

[Matthew Chan]

Attorney Adam Gafni first came to ELI's attention in 2014 when he represented photographer Vincent K. Tylor, a Hawaii photographer.

When a new lawyer's name enters ELI's radar, one of us will typically look up the lawyer's name and confirm their standing in the state bar where they are registered. Generally, it all checks out. Most lawyers who claim to be lawyers are, in fact, lawyers. So far, so good.

However, California attorney Adam Gafni (a lawyer currently in "good" standing) has consistently used firm names we cannot find registered in California where he does business.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/hawaiian-letters-lawsuits-forum/info-on-woolf-gafni-and-fowler-llp/

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/hawaiian-letters-lawsuits-forum/where-is-woolf-gafni-and-cirlin-llp-registered/

IN the last four years, Adam has supposedly been with the firms of (Woolf, Gafni, and Fowler), (Woolf, Gafni, and Cirlin), (Law Offices of Adam Gafni), and now (Gafni and Levin LLP).  Those are the ones I know of based on letters submitted to me.  However, here is the kicker. Adam Gafni has been in California for a number of years and I have not ONCE been able to find where any of his "firms" have ever been registered in the state of California. In the three years Adam Gafni has been on ELI's radar, he has been associated with four supposed "law firms" but not one I can find registered in California.

https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/CBS/SearchResults?SearchType=CORP&SearchCriteria=gafni&SearchSubType=Keyword

How is this even possible? If someone is informed and wants to let me otherwise, I am more than happy to make the proper correction.

But right now, I am stumped. I am operating on the assumption that he is a California lawyer (properly registered) associating himself with non-existent (or non-registered) law firms. However, his letters claim to have "trust accounts" in the names of prior law firms.

If anyone in the ELI community would like to assist me in finding where any of Adam Gafni's law firms are legitimately registered, it would be appreciated.

If the guy is demanding thousands of dollars from alleged infringers, I think letter recipients should be informed of where that money is going and whether it is being paid to a legitimate law firm. He is supposedly a license lawyer in good standing. One would expect that his business conduct and attention to business details be higher than less-educated, less-informed, non-lawyers.

[Matthew Chan]

I have always wondered about the validity of the law firms Adam Gafni have been involved with. I could never find their law firms name in any corporation online search which made me suspect their operating status.  It appears I finally got a better answer by way of a forwarded email written by Adam Gafni partner, Jason Levin.

It appears in my original research, I did NOT have the additional insight gained from the Disclaimer fine print from the Business Search Tips page. This is the text found on the Business Search Tips page (which is a different page from the main Business Search Page):

http://www.sos.ca.gov/business-programs/business-entities/cbs-search-tips/

Disclaimer: This Search tool allows you to search the Secretary of State's California Business Search database for abstracts of information for domestic stock, domestic nonprofit and qualified foreign corporations, limited liability companies and limited partnerships that have filed with this office. This search tool groups corporations separately from limited liability companies and limited partnerships and returns all entities for the search criteria in the respective groups regardless of the current status. This database does not include other types of business entities that are registered with the California Secretary of State, such as general partnerships and limited liability partnerships. The search results only include copies of filed Statements of Information for corporations and limited liability companies that have been imaged. Search results that indicate “Image not available online” may be available by ordering copies, refer to refer to Information Requests.

The bottom line is that Adam Gafni's current and prior law firms might have been properly registered in California but they do not appear in the California corporations search if the legal entity is a California general partnership (GP) or a limited liability partnership (LLP). According to the website, the only way to get that information is to inquire further.

The ELI tries to get its facts straight but sometimes we have missing information.  That missing information is that the main California Business Search page https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/ does NOT have the same disclaimer as the one on the Business Search Tips. Excerpted below, there is no mention of different treatment of online listings of general partnerships or limited liability partnership.

Disclaimer: This tool allows you to search the Secretary of State's California Business Search database for abstracts of information for domestic stock, domestic nonprofit and qualified foreign corporations, limited liability companies and limited partnerships that have filed with this office. This search tool groups corporations separately from limited liability companies and limited partnerships and returns all entities for the search criteria in the respective groups regardless of the current status.

Although every attempt has been made to ensure that the information contained in the database is accurate, the Secretary of State's office is not responsible for any loss, consequence, or damage resulting directly or indirectly from reliance on the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of the information that is provided. All such information is provided "as is." For information on ordering copies of the official business entity records for a particular entity, please refer to Information Requests.

Given this insight was conveyed to me recently, I would now say there is a good chance that if anyone chose to look into corporation filing status of Adam Gafni's law firm, it will be there. I haven't yet gone through the motions of checking myself but I find the Disclaimer text on the Business Search Tips page to be informative and compelling give benefit of the doubt.

[Matthew Chan]

By the way, there is a "new" domain http://gafnilevin.com they are promoting which points to the older domain http://gafnilaw.com.

At long last, we get to see what the two Gafni & Levin lawyers look like.  Jason Levin is one very TALL dude. He sort of reminds me of "Jaws" from the Roger Moore's James Bond movies.  :-)

http://gafnilaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/history.jpg