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Author Topic: Masterfile's New Collection Lawyers  (Read 3246 times)

Matthew Chan

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Masterfile's New Collection Lawyers
« on: January 27, 2017, 11:41:39 AM »
For a while, Photoattorney Carolyn Wright's law firm was handling several of Masterfile's "escalated" claims. For whatever reason, Carolyn Wright seems to have stepped back from the extortion letter collection business.

California lawyer Leslie Burns, burnsthelawyer.com, claimed the Carolyn Wright "retired". I did some online research months ago to verify this and found Carolyn's law firm still in good standing which indicated to me she had not entirely folded her business. My guess is she has moved on to another area of practice.

In any case, we started seeing Leslie Burns' name pop up more frequently seemingly taken over from the Photoattorney operation on Masterfile escalated matters. Leslie previously worked with Carolyn and the Photoattorney operation.

Most recently, another familiar name has popped up again. Tyra Hughley Smith. Her name was last seen around 2013 when she was a lawyer working for Carolyn Wright's firm.

It appears she has put up her own shingle and formed her own law firm. I am not sure if Tyra is taking over as Masterfile's new collection lawyer or if she is working as an additional Masterfile resource lawyer in addition to Leslie Burns.

In any case, it does appear Tyra Hughley Smith seems to have dipped her toe into the extortion letter collections waters under her own firm's name and not Photoattorney's.

Similar to Leslie Burns letters, a letter I have seen from Tyra Hughley Smith seem to borrow very heavily from the Photoattorney letters.

My assessment for both Leslie Burns and Tyra Hughley Smith is that they are no Oscar Michelen. I see little indication they are experienced litigators, mostly paper pushers from what I can see. I don't see a lot of "meat and potatoes" in their experience as with ELI's Oscar Michelen who has a lot of experienced muscle in his resume.

If Masterfile ever pursues filing a lawsuit against anyone, I cannot seem Masterfile actually using Leslie or Tyra unless they work cheap. Masterfile would likely have to hire someone more seasoned to pursue a serious copyright infringement lawsuit.  Not just a lawsuit for the purpose of intimidating someone to settle.

The last time I saw Masterfile file lawsuits was around this time last year. There were two of them. And they seem to be hand-picked to make an example out of someone and for PR purposes.

I'm a non-lawyer but not legally ignorant either. Under the 1st Amendment, I have the right to post facts & opinions using rhetorical hyperbole, colloquialisms, metaphors, parody, snark, or epithets. Under Section 230 of CDA, I'm only responsible for posts I write, not what others write.

Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)

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Re: Masterfile's New Collection Lawyers
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2017, 01:02:03 PM »
yeah, she's the traveling attorney...I wrote a post about her back in September:
http://copyright-trolls.com/2.0/newest-copyright-troll-tyra-hughley-smith/
http://barristourista.com/about/
Most questions have already been addressed in the forums, get yourself educated before making decisions.

Any advice is strictly that, and anything I may state is based on my opinions, and observations.
Robert Krausankas

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Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: Masterfile's New Collection Lawyers
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2017, 09:12:35 PM »
I agree with Matthew, I don't see Masterfile using these two either for an actual lawsuit.  Same reason Getty would never use Mr. McCormack.
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

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