Steven S Miyake Attorney at Law

This guy man....where do I begin? I got referred to him from the SF bar association and he hears my case and quickly tells me that it sounds like I have a constructive eviction case and wants to get me in ASAP into his office to get started well signed basically. But I stop him to tell him I’m at this point looking for legal representation on a contingency basis. He says that he’s able to do my cause under a contingency arrangement but I need to pay such and such out of pocket fees. The fees just started adding up to be somewhere upwards of $4,000. On what planet is this how a contingency case works? I’m currently a client of a tenant law firm that I hired to represent me on a contingency basis and they don’t collect anything unless they’re are successful at retaining damages on my behalf and then it’s a set percentage. Period. End of story. When I explain to him again that I’m not interested in paying any out of pocket fees and want a true contingency arrangement or nothing at all he proceeds to go into lengthy argumentative statements as to how I’m wrong about these fees. He is obsessed with his exploitative fees it seems. He’s definitely one of those kinds of attorneys that gives lawyers a bad name. The review about these “fees” from an actual past client is definitely disturbing and makes me very relieved that I dodged this bullet wisely it seems. I kindly told him while I thanked him for his time it seems that I’m not a right fit for a client nor is he the right fit for someone I would hire to legally represent me.
Oct 1st, 2020

"Steven Miyake helped my family fend off an aggressive landlord's attempts to kick us out of our apartment so that she can collect higher rents. Mr. Miyake was able to stop the landlord's on-going harassment without a lawsuit. He is professional, courteous, considerate and caring. He performed very well in resolving our dispute. Because of his efforts, we have been living in peace."
Nov 8th, 2017

My mom's house foreclosed in 2009, so my whole family and I faced many legal issues and were being evicted and sued as unlawful detainees. It was an ongoing battle and struggle because we didn't know what our rights were nor what options we really had. We luckily met Mr. Miyake at U.C. Hastings, who took our case pro bono and was very informative on how the whole foreclosure process works and what our options were (we later settled with the bank). Mr. Miyake is a very knowledgeable, persistent, dependable, kind, and a humble person who shows passion for what he does. I am very thankful for his efforts and appreciative of the time he took to help my family during a really a difficult situation.
Oct 20th, 2017

Steven represented me for a residential home construction case. Great guy to work with. Unlike other attorneys, we didn't feel intimidated or rushed working with him. He took the time to explain things when we did not understand something. He's full of resources and is kind enough to refer other attorneys if he felt he was not a good fit for a case. I would highly recommend him, he is honest and great attorney to work with.
Sep 3rd, 2017

Please be aware. If you use this lawyer he is willing to fabricate fees that were never even billed. This is blatant and impossible to mistake. It is truly disappointing and reflects badly on the profession. Actual conversation below. Client “Doesn’t this amount conflict with the amount you just gave me in your office on the day of JAMS? You took me to your office and calculated the fees.” Miyake “That was pending any fees that came in after this bill was given to you. As you can see, the Veritext deposition fees came in, and the file & ServeXpress fee came in, and I forgot to mention that I have to pay the BASF a referral fee of a % of the recovery. This is mandatory, I am paying half, and I diminished the fees owed to BASF.” Client “Doesn’t this attachment you sent me say that LRIS fees are not to be subtracted from the client’s settlement? Why would I be liable for any portion of them if this is true?” Miyake “You are right. I missed that. So I will add the $900.00 back into your payment.” Client “I am also inquiring about the Veritex Deposition of Jason Travis of $409.25 that you added to the fees after you listed the fees for me in your office. I have called Veritex and there is no such billing for no such fees.” Miyake “I have also enclosed other billings for your case in the year 2019. So both you and Veritiext are wrong. I will not be spending any more time to check on any further billing entries.” Client “If you (a lawyer) really can’t understand what has happened then I suggest a 3 way call with Veritext.” Miyake “I will take out this charge.” Please be aware. He did a lot of work but tried to capitalize by creating fees that never even existed.. Jason
Sep 26th, 2019