I am seeking an attorney familiar with California escrow laws and practices. I utilized Upwork to hire a freelancer, for the expressed reason that they had an escrow process to protect delivering money before the work was done. They also had an arbitration process and both of these failed. I paid Upwork over $6,000 and received nothing. The work was supposed to be a technology mobile application and was supposed to be completed by August 2019. The damages because of their mishandling has exceeded over $500,000.
This is a civil litigation matter, you can file a dispute for the $6,000 through your local small claims court. If your claim is for the $500,000, it does not warrant pro bono assistance.