Complaint Review: The McMillan Law Firm La Mesa California

While San Diego attorney Scott McMillan claims to be an appellate expert and a “leading attorney”, the fact is – he leaves a trail of lost cases and now allegations of child molestation as his legacy. See the report attached here. The report was filed as an exhibit in San Diego Superior Court Case No. 37-2017-0036344 and can be seen here.

Your typical “leading attorney” graduates from an ABA accredited law school, while Scott McMillan graduated from a small unaccredited law school that was behind a car dealership at the time. Top appellate attorneys also have a winning track record. For example, one attorney “won four reversals from the California Court of Appeal in a single year, as well as grants of both a writ petition and a petition for rehearing. Once, he obtained five reversals in quick succession in a 12-month period.” See attorney bio here. Another top appellate law firm has a success rate of above 60%. “The firm seeks extraordinary litigators with strong interest in civil appellate work—a must for a firm that boasts a success rate of above 60 percent in appeals.” See Horvitz & Levy ranking. Another firm acknowledges it has won 500 appeals and wins so often it lists its recent wins here. Most importantly, these California law firms do not self-proclaim they are a “leading” law firm as Scott McMillan does on his website, but third parties rank them as leading law firms such as here and here.

In January 2020, the Ninth Circuit denied San Diego attorney Scott McMillan’s appeal for his failed lawsuit to remove internet posts critical about his law firm finding that the defendant(s) did nothing wrong. See the Ninth Circuit court order affirming dismissal.  The Ninth Circuit did not need a long opinion to hash out the issues Scott McMillan put before them in hundreds of pages of briefing. Ultimately, the appellate court issued a simplistic four-page opinion stating his RICO lawsuit and allegations of extortion were without merit by stating in part: “Plaintiffs failed to allege extortionate conduct…” and “The district court also properly dismissed the conspiracy claim because the “failure to adequately plead a substantive violation of RICO precludes a claim for conspiracy.””

When you pick a law firm for an appeal, be sure to check the actual success rate of the attorney, awards, and education. A consumer does not want to hire an attorney with a track record of losses or self-proclaimed status of being a "leading law firm". Of course, an attorney with a history such as Scott McMillan is helpful to avoid as well since not only do potential clients see his history of losses, but also potential jurors who control the outcome of a case.