SAN DIEGO -- Steven R. Liss continues to practice law even as he's wanted by the law. The I-Team has learned that Liss is named on a $4500 dollar bench warrant.

“His acts are criminal,” says Karen Johnson. She is the first former employee of Liss to speak to the I-Team on camera.

“In the back of my mind, I’m thinking, he’s just crazy!”

Johnson re-enforces what the I-Team has heard from at least a dozen former clients. They tell us Mr. Liss takes their money, doesn’t perform the work, won’t give them a refund, and then he even tries to collect more money.

Erica Ambuehl won a $5000 judgment against Liss after he botched her divorce.

“He didn’t show up in court, didn’t tell me about it. There was a default judgment; I never got child support or alimony. It was a horrendous experience,” she says. Liss has not bothered to pay Ambuehl the money he owes her.

Complaints from women like Erica Ambuehl to the California Sate bar led to probation for Mr. Liss in 2007, although today he's still allowed to take on new clients.

Now, the I-Team learns how Mr. Liss, even with his tarnished professional resume, is able to lure new clients.

We find that Mr. Liss has two phone lines leading into his office in La Jolla. One of the lines is advertised under the Law Offices of Steven R. Liss. The other phone line is listed under the “Women’s Law and Care Center.”

The I-Team finds the number for the “Women’s Law and Care Center” in the phone book and calls it. A receptionist answers.

Reporter Lauren Reynolds says, “I’m Lauren Reynolds from 10 News, Calling for Mr. Liss. I want to talk to him about his bench warrant.”

She is left on hold for five minutes, and then she hangs up. Mr. Liss never calls back.

Karen Johnson remembers one particular call to the “Women’s Law and Care Center” that she answered while working for Liss.

“He ended up getting a retainer from her,” Johnson says, “and I said, ‘are you going to be able to help her?’ He said no.”

Ginny Turner is a former Liss client who says he put on a good show.

“He seemed like a really nice guy, seemed like he cared.”

She gave him a $5000 retainer to work on her divorce.

“He was supposed to get me half of my assets, get me child support from my ex husband.”

He promised but didn’t deliver, didn’t work on her case, she says, and she lost after being misled by Liss’s office.

“He said the case has been cancelled.”

It hadn’t been.

She filed a complaint with the state bar in 2005. It would take the Bar two more years to put Liss on probation. Turner’s earlier complaint was dropped. For his defense, Liss sent the bar an itemized bill to claim he had worked on her case. That got him off the hook

Turner says, “I sent back a bunch of information, letters proving things. All they sent back is an itemized bill from an attorney, an itemized bill that doesn’t even make sense!”

She says the bill is a phony, but the State Bar closed her case against Liss. A letter written to Turner sums up the investigators position that they didn’t have enough evidence to impose discipline.

"I think they should take these cases more seriously.”

San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis says they do.

“The State Bar takes complaints from clients very seriously.”

She represents San Diego and Imperial Counties on the Board of Governors for the State Bar.

“Those that are bad apples find ways to avoid detection many times.”

She can't comment directly on Liss's behavior, but says generally if fraud is suspected, let her office know.

"We have a unit that investigates attorneys for criminal behavior."

Now to that bench warrant against Mr. Liss. It happened because he didn’t pay Karen Johnson for the days she worked for him. So she took him to court.

“The judge ordered the judgment of $4,463.”

Liss refuses to cooperate with the court, and dodges the hearing, so the bench warrant is issued, odd behavior for a lawyer.

Mr. Liss is not the only questionable attorney. The I Team checked. The latest numbers show 3,010 complaints were considered serious enough to investigate by the State Bar. Half of those were dismissed. Eventually 319 attorneys had disciplinary charges filed against them, the lowest number since 2003.