The Law Offices of D. Durand Cook

Contact Info

• Location 10170 Culver Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232, USA
• Phone +1 323-655-2601
• Website http://www.adoption-option.com/

Reviews

• I had the most positive, life-changing experience with Durand as my adoption lawyer. He helped match me with the perfect baby, and I am forever grateful for him. Durand showed nothing but compassion and truly wanted to help us become parents. The whole adoption process was so efficient and smooth. Durand’s assistant Isabel is also such a pleasure to work with. She is very reliable and responsive. I could always count on this office to answer my calls and quickly respond to emails. Durand made our dreams come true, and we are so thrilled to be with our baby boy. I highly recommend Durand and his staff.
• Durand is a great lawyer. He’s so positive and friendly, and is happy to answer every question. He provided me with unbiased advice and advocated for me very strongly during an egg donation. He is super clear, straight forward and honest. It was refreshing to have someone advocating for me when no one else was! Highly recommend.
• Durand is a great lawyer. He’s so positive and friendly, and is happy to answer every question. He provided me with unbiased advice and advocated for me very strongly during an egg donation. He is super clear, straight forward and honest. It was refreshing to have someone advocating for me when no one else was! Highly recommend.
• Over 26 or so years ago, my husband and I decided to use Durand's services after disliking the other adoption services we scoped out. I know prospective adoptive parents get impatient and want quick results, but my husband and I didn't mind the wait as we didn't want to rush into any situation when there's a baby involved. The first time Durand had us come to his office to meet a birthmother, we waited a long time because it turned out the birthmother never showed up and Durand was trying to find her. Not Durand's fault, although I can see other prospective adoptive parents taking out their frustration on him, which is wrong in my opinion. The second birthmother almost made the cut, but we had to bail out because she turned out to be too risky. Even her own mother warned us off because she didn't want to see us get hurt. That birthmother emotionally drained us so badly that we told Durand not to call us for a month. The next day, however, he called and kept insisting that we meet a birthmother that he knew was a good fit. My husband got irritated at his insistence and argued with him, but he wouldn't take "no" for an answer. We wearily agreed to meet the birthmother, and we're so glad Durand wouldn't let us pass her up. Our son is the best we could've ever hoped for and his birthmother is fantastic. She was always fiercely protective of his privacy--even got angry at her relatives for trying to connect with him on Facebook--and told us it had to be our son's decision, not ours or hers, on whether or not he would meet her one day. He's 25 now and met his birthmother earlier this year, and it was a wonderful experience. I don't know if we would've done this well if we rushed Durand into finding us any birthmother anywhere as soon as possible. I don't recall after all these years how long it took before Durand started finding us possible matches, but it seemed like many months. You really cannot rush these kinds of things. If you want to rush, go to China and get a baby. With Durand, it's not going to be like that.
• Over 26 or so years ago, my husband and I decided to use Durand's services after disliking the other adoption services we scoped out. I know prospective adoptive parents get impatient and want quick results, but my husband and I didn't mind the wait as we didn't want to rush into any situation when there's a baby involved. The first time Durand had us come to his office to meet a birthmother, we waited a long time because it turned out the birthmother never showed up and Durand was trying to find her. Not Durand's fault, although I can see other prospective adoptive parents taking out their frustration on him, which is wrong in my opinion. The second birthmother almost made the cut, but we had to bail out because she turned out to be too risky. Even her own mother warned us off because she didn't want to see us get hurt. That birthmother emotionally drained us so badly that we told Durand not to call us for a month. The next day, however, he called and kept insisting that we meet a birthmother that he knew was a good fit. My husband got irritated at his insistence and argued with him, but he wouldn't take "no" for an answer. We wearily agreed to meet the birthmother, and we're so glad Durand wouldn't let us pass her up. Our son is the best we could've ever hoped for and his birthmother is fantastic. She was always fiercely protective of his privacy--even got angry at her relatives for trying to connect with him on Facebook--and told us it had to be our son's decision, not ours or hers, on whether or not he would meet her one day. He's 25 now and met his birthmother earlier this year, and it was a wonderful experience. I don't know if we would've done this well if we rushed Durand into finding us any birthmother anywhere as soon as possible. I don't recall after all these years how long it took before Durand started finding us possible matches, but it seemed like many months. You really cannot rush these kinds of things. If you want to rush, go to China and get a baby. With Durand, it's not going to be like that.
• After surviving an adoption scam (several years after our successful adoption, the perpetrators of the scam were criminally charged and their OBGYN and Psychologist licenses were revoked!), we got a referral froma high school friend who knew Durand Cook well. How do we summarize our experience? Durand's process of meeting with the birth mother and discussing your hopes and dreams and nitty gritty subjects like will it be open? closed? etc., we left the meeting feeling like we had connected emotionally with the birth mom (and fortunately the birth father too with our first child). We totally had a meeting of the minds for the current "problem" - me a "plumbing problem" and her "an unwanted pregnancy" at the wrong time in her life. But, she always knew she would carry the baby and give it up for adoption. The courage we experienced talking with her was overwhelming. She did choose us and while she had a birth coach (a close friend), she wanted us to be there, so we were at the hospital when our son was born. She was feeling so good the next morning, she checked out of the hospital and we took him home at nine hours old. The moment we looked at our son, about 15 minutes after birth, everything became clear. This was the child that God wanted us to raise. He's 38 now and these have been the best 38 years of our lives. When he was 15 months old, and we were 37 and 38, we again contacted Durand about adding to our family. We were worried it might take a long time and we were had no time to waste. But no, Durand called us soon thereafter and asked us to come and meet a birth mother. We went through the same heart-opening process with her as we had with our first son's birth mother. Her circumstances were different - she was 37, had two teenage children - but she was Catholic and did not believe in abortion. She was struggling financially, and she wanted a better life for her baby. Miraculously, she went into labor before we could even fly home and wait. But we sped up to the hospital and went through labor and delivery with her. Without it, she would have been alone. She was "sure" she was having a girl, but as I held her hand during delivery, our son popped out and I said "It's a boy!" She asked if we were disappointed and all I could say was, we are so happy that our son has a brother. I'm writing this review all these years later, because I had called Durand to thank him for changing our lives and filling our lives with these two amazing boys. So, Durand, you gave us the most precious gift possible and we will love and thank you forever. Ann and Tony
• After surviving an adoption scam (several years after our successful adoption, the perpetrators of the scam were criminally charged and their OBGYN and Psychologist licenses were revoked!), we got a referral froma high school friend who knew Durand Cook well. How do we summarize our experience? Durand's process of meeting with the birth mother and discussing your hopes and dreams and nitty gritty subjects like will it be open? closed? etc., we left the meeting feeling like we had connected emotionally with the birth mom (and fortunately the birth father too with our first child). We totally had a meeting of the minds for the current "problem" - me a "plumbing problem" and her "an unwanted pregnancy" at the wrong time in her life. But, she always knew she would carry the baby and give it up for adoption. The courage we experienced talking with her was overwhelming. She did choose us and while she had a birth coach (a close friend), she wanted us to be there, so we were at the hospital when our son was born. She was feeling so good the next morning, she checked out of the hospital and we took him home at nine hours old. The moment we looked at our son, about 15 minutes after birth, everything became clear. This was the child that God wanted us to raise. He's 38 now and these have been the best 38 years of our lives. When he was 15 months old, and we were 37 and 38, we again contacted Durand about adding to our family. We were worried it might take a long time and we were had no time to waste. But no, Durand called us soon thereafter and asked us to come and meet a birth mother. We went through the same heart-opening process with her as we had with our first son's birth mother. Her circumstances were different - she was 37, had two teenage children - but she was Catholic and did not believe in abortion. She was struggling financially, and she wanted a better life for her baby. Miraculously, she went into labor before we could even fly home and wait. But we sped up to the hospital and went through labor and delivery with her. Without it, she would have been alone. She was "sure" she was having a girl, but as I held her hand during delivery, our son popped out and I said "It's a boy!" She asked if we were disappointed and all I could say was, we are so happy that our son has a brother. I'm writing this review all these years later, because I had called Durand to thank him for changing our lives and filling our lives with these two amazing boys. So, Durand, you gave us the most precious gift possible and we will love and thank you forever. Ann and Tony
• My fiancé and I have been working with Durand for approximately 18+ months now and have only heard from him twice regarding potential adoption opportunities. Communication from Durand was virtually non-existent during this time and we found ourselves having to follow up with him in order to be provided with any type of update. When we met him at his company's annual adoption picnic, close to one year after we began the process, he promised that he would do everything he could to find a potential opportunity for us given our wait time. Six months went by and we did not hear from him once. We followed up with him again and he told us that it was difficult to find a match for us. He went on to tell us that maybe we can put together a profile and post it on the web. So why exactly did we write you a check and retain your services if we were going to be the ones doing the ground work? This was obviously a very distressing conversation but we agreed to call him back the following month. We finally received a call a few weeks ago regarding a potential opportunity; the first opportunity he had brought us since we began the process 18 months ago. When he told us that it would be challenging given that neither the birth mother or father had communicated this to either of their parents, we finally had enough. I spoke candidly with Duran about our frustration and disappointment and the fact that this we might have to move on and choose another attorney. Instead of apologizing, Durand remained silent and stated that he regretted the fact that we felt this way. When he finally brought another opportunity to the table he called my fiancé and I 5 times within a matter of 10 minutes (work, home and cell phone). When we returned his call a day later (since his work day ends before ours) he seemed upset and actually questioned whether or not we were still interested in going through this process. I can't even begin to explain how frustrated I was when he asked us that question. We have unfortunately decided not to continue pursuing the adoption process for now, given such a horrible experience with Durand and strongly dissuade others from retaining his services.
• My fiancé and I have been working with Durand for approximately 18+ months now and have only heard from him twice regarding potential adoption opportunities. Communication from Durand was virtually non-existent during this time and we found ourselves having to follow up with him in order to be provided with any type of update. When we met him at his company's annual adoption picnic, close to one year after we began the process, he promised that he would do everything he could to find a potential opportunity for us given our wait time. Six months went by and we did not hear from him once. We followed up with him again and he told us that it was difficult to find a match for us. He went on to tell us that maybe we can put together a profile and post it on the web. So why exactly did we write you a check and retain your services if we were going to be the ones doing the ground work? This was obviously a very distressing conversation but we agreed to call him back the following month. We finally received a call a few weeks ago regarding a potential opportunity; the first opportunity he had brought us since we began the process 18 months ago. When he told us that it would be challenging given that neither the birth mother or father had communicated this to either of their parents, we finally had enough. I spoke candidly with Duran about our frustration and disappointment and the fact that this we might have to move on and choose another attorney. Instead of apologizing, Durand remained silent and stated that he regretted the fact that we felt this way. When he finally brought another opportunity to the table he called my fiancé and I 5 times within a matter of 10 minutes (work, home and cell phone). When we returned his call a day later (since his work day ends before ours) he seemed upset and actually questioned whether or not we were still interested in going through this process. I can't even begin to explain how frustrated I was when he asked us that question. We have unfortunately decided not to continue pursuing the adoption process for now, given such a horrible experience with Durand and strongly dissuade others from retaining his services.

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