<human>: This dates back to mid 2011 or so.

I was evicted from an apartment with a then boyfriend for nonpayment of rent. The short of the story is that he stole my money, didn't pay the rent, and dumped me when I was in another state via text. He did eventually return it to me but only after eviction.

I'd like to pay the debt off as I'm in a financial position to do so now.

When I do this, is it possible to have it removed from public record before a ten year mark I seem to keep seeing pop up? The apartment complex originally told me if the debt was settled, they would make the eviction go away. But, I'm not sure how that's possible on their part considering there was an actual court judgement against me.

I realize that I most definitely will need to contract an attorney, but I'm wondering if it's possible to have the record expunged, what I should be looking for in legal counsel that I hire [who specializes in this business], and the time I should expect this to take. I'm trying to give myself a financial timeline for solving this problem.

Can you provide a brief rundown of the text in within 3 sentences?
<bot>: Help, I got evicted because of bad life choices a few years ago. Can I get it expunged? What kind of lawyer do I need?