Attorney Held in Elder Abuse Case

A probate attorney with an extensive Leisure World clientele was in custody Friday on charges of felony elder abuse for allegedly bilking an 89-year-old Lake Forest woman out of $70,000 in bogus legal fees, authorities said Friday.

Lawrence Norman, 65, was arrested Thursday while attending a probate hearing in Orange regarding the estate of the alleged victim, a woman who died in Lake Forest in October, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Tom Garner.

Norman was being held Friday evening at Orange County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail and was charged in a warrant with 12 felony counts of elder abuse through violations of his duties to his client, according to authorities and jail records.

Investigators say the victim, whose name was not released, was of questionable competency when Norman duped her into paying for legal services with little or no documentation, Garner said.

In one instance, detectives found that Norman charged the woman $10,000 in “escrow fees” for the 1997 sale of her Leisure World home, even though real estate records show no mention of the fee or any related legal service, Garner said.

Norman started billing the woman for expensive services after learning in early 1997 that she was due a large inheritance, investigators said.

Before learning of the inheritance, Norman had begun to question his client’s competence to make financial decisions. But after she inherited the money, he assured investigators that she was competent, Garner said.

The woman complained to friends shortly before her death that she believed she was being cheated, and her family has filed a lawsuit against Norman, Garner said.

At the time of his arrest, Norman was at a court hearing on his petition that he be reinstated as the victim’s trustee and conservator, Garner said.