Tuesday, July 21, 2026
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State Bar, Acting Under Court Order, Seizes Law Practice of Pastor Without Law License
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The State Bar announced yesterday that it has taken over the law practice of a non-attorney who is a pastor at a church and gained the confidence of members of the Filipino community, speaking to them in Tagalog, but doing harm to “clients” in inadequately representing them.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Brian F. Gasdia on July 7 granted an ex parte order allowing the State Bar to assume the practice in Artesia of John Pamintuan Alamarez Jr.
Alamarez had worked in the law office of Richard Thomas, a licensed attorney, who died on Sept. 25, 2024. Thomas’s daughter, Tajsha Thomas, is an attorney licensed to practice in California, but had moved out of state; Alamarez, according to the ex parte application filed by the State Bar’s Office of Chief Trial Counsel on July 2, made an emotional appeal to her to return and take over her father’s practice.
She did, but found that Almaraz merely wanted to operate under her law license to carry on an unauthorized practice, according to the application for an ex parte order signed by trial counsel Diana Suarez.
In her May 23, 2025 complaint to the State Bar, triggering the investigation, Tajsha Thomas said:
“John Alamarez regularly holds himself out to the public as an attorney. Most clients refer to him as ‘Attorney’ and when I candidly correct them they are shocked and disappointed that they have been misled. I also personally witnessed him represent himself as such to a court clerk. He provides legal advice, collects fees in cash, and files immigration applications pro se under clients’ names, which is potentially fraud. These filings are mostly defective, resulting in [immigration] denials and financial harm to clients. Clients have reported paying tens of thousands of dollars with no legitimate legal services rendered. He has taken filing fees in cash and has not done the filing. John Alamarez then demands additional payments to file…motions to reopen, most often where his own negligence caused the denial.
“John Alamarez also misuses The Thomas Firm’s letterhead to issue demand letters and has misrepresented the existence of a Hawaii office. Clients have been systematically misled regarding his qualifications and the legitimacy of the legal services rendered. A licensed attorney acquaintance previously warned him via text message—not to refer to himself as an attorney or lawyer. I personally warned John, as well as his wife Vicky and grandson AJ; their responses were dismissive: ‘It’s not your business’ and ‘I really don’t want to hear this.’ When I questioned things he was doing, John has openly stated he has ‘been doing this for more than 30 years’. He clearly has no intention of stopping.”
Gasdia’s order requires that Alamarez immediately desist from holding himself out as a lawyer and performing legal services.
A press release issued by the State Bar yesterday says:
“Several Filipino clients reported significant financial losses after paying large sums for immigration and other legal services that were never completed. One client paid $4,275 for preparation and filing of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services forms I-485 and I-130 and a work authorization filing. The client later discovered that the I-485 had never been filed, and when it was eventually submitted, it was rejected for multiple errors including missing signatures and unpaid fees.
“Another client reported paying a total of $46,750 for legal services, including preparation of a durable power of attorney, irrevocable trust, and last will, that were never completed for a probate matter. The client paid Alamarez $25,000 in legal fees and was told the check had bounced. She subsequently withdrew $20,000 in cash and gave it to Alamarez, only to later discover that her original $25,000 check had been cashed and had not bounced. She later learned that required filings in the probate matter had never been made.”
The State Bar took possession of 21 boxes of client files and other items.
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