Best Lawyers in America for Family Law: Arbitration and Mediation
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State
John R. “Rob” Hill represents clients in divorce and post-decree divorce proceedings as well as child support and child custody hearings. He drafts pre-nuptial agreements and handles appeals. He represents clients with cash flow, spousal maintenance and specializes in complex financial issues in divorce cases, including closely-held businesses, executive compensation, non-marital property, intellectual property and retirement benefits. Rob has represented numerous parents in conte...
Bruce Wyche Bannister is a partner of Bannister, Wyatt, & Stalvey, LLC and a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. Mr. Bannister graduated from Davidson College in 1995 and went on to earn his law degree from the University of South Carolina in 1998. Mr. Bannister focuses on Family Law, Eminent Domain, and Real Estate Law. He has tried cases involving Personal Injury, Premises Liability, Eminent Domain, Education Law, Residential Real Estate, Commercial Real Estate, Gover...
Catherine Puttmann, Esq. is a founding shareholder at Sherr Puttmann Akins Lamb, PC. Ms. Puttmann received her B.A. in political science from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1994, and her J.D. in 1997 from the University in Houston. Ms. Puttmann is an experienced litigator and negotiator. She was a criminal prosecutor with the 18th Judicial District from 1999 until 2005 when she moved to private practice, specializing in family law. Ms. Puttmann is an advocate for alternative dispute r...
Paula J. Swensen, who was born in Orange, New Jersey in 1955, has been an Orange County resident since 2000 after relocating to California from New England. Ms. Swensen lives in Trabuco Canyon and has three children. She is an avid sports fan, supporting any and all teams from the Boston area. Ms. Swensen graduated from the University of New Hampshire (B.S., Behavioral Science, highest honors, 1996) and Franklin Pierce Law Center (J.D., 1999; M.A., Intellectual Property). Between her second a...
Maria Montoya Chavez is an attorney with Sutin, Thayer & Browne APC in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has been recognized by Best Lawyers since 2018 for her work in Collaborative Law: Family Law, Family Law, Family Law Arbitration, and Family Law Mediation. This recognition is based on peer review by attorneys practicing in the same geographic and practice areas. Maria Montoya Chavez has practiced law since 2000 and focuses exclusively on family law matters, including divorce, child custody...
Brian G. Seastrom is President of Seastrom Tuttle Murphy Dockstader in Irvine, California, where he represents business owners, executives, and high-net-worth individuals in complex family law matters. A California Certified Family Law Specialist and Fellow of both the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the International Academy of Family Lawyers, he brings more than two decades of experience to cases involving multi-entity business structures, contested business valuations, real est...
Bar Admissions: New Jersey New York District of Columbia U.S. District Court U.S. Supreme Court Jerry S. D’Aniello, a member of the firm, devotes his practice exclusively to all aspects of divorce and family law. Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, he has worked with clients whose needs lie in all areas of matrimonial and family law, including divorce litigation, mediation, and arbitration; post-judgment litigation; custody and parenting time issu...
Mark Arend, a partner at McKinley Irvin, is an experienced family law attorney recognized for strategic advocacy, practical judgment, and a client-focused approach. He handles divorce, child custody and support, mediation, relocation, and complex divorce cases involving business interests, professionals, and military families. Clients and colleagues value Mark for his calm demeanor, responsiveness, and commitment to integrity throughout the legal process. He is known for balancing compassiona...
Across Pennsylvania, Brian Vertz is viewed as a powerful advocate for his family law clients. For more than 25 years, Brian has zealously represented clients in complex child support cases, high net worth divorces, prenup enforcement cases, difficult custody disputes, and appeals up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. With his MBA background and financial training, Brian develops effective strategies for family law cases involving business valuation, executive compensation, double dipping, fam...
Emily Warren is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Family Law, Family Law Arbitration and Family Law Mediation. Emily, who practices law in Denver, Colorado, has been recognized since 2023. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Emily is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Dana McKee is one of Maryland’s foremost family law attorneys and a partner of Brown, Goldstein & Levy. She chairs the firm’s family law practice and has extensive experience representing clients with high net worth who are experiencing complex family law cases, including divorce, custody, and related financial issues. Clients turn to Dana for her leading expertise across all aspects of family law that affect their lives, with an emphasis on: Divorce and separation agreements ...
Joanne E. Romanow handles high-conflict disputes in family law. Her practice encompasses all aspects of domestic relations and probate litigation, including divorce, custody, modification, child support, paternity, guardianship, and will contests. Joanne handles a variety of litigation involving asset division, complex business valuation, inheritances, custody disputes, domestic violence and non-traditional family structure. She has been appointed as a guardian ad litem by the Probate and Fam...
Randall Wilhite has represented clients in a full range of family law matters for over 34 years, specializing in complex property disputes, stock option and restricted stock issues, retirement assets, employee benefits, taxation issues, characterization of assets as separate or community property, business valuation and division, and other valuation issues. He is experienced in the litigation, arbitration and mediation of all family law issues. Randy is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the...
David S. Bouschor, II is a 1991 graduate of the Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law. Mr. Bouschor was a sole practitioner and a shareholder in a previous law firm until January 2000 when he opened The Law Office of David S. Bouschor, II, P.C. in Denton, Texas. For over twenty-eight years, Mr. Bouschor’s legal practice has consisted of Family Law, Guardianship and Probate. Since 1995 Mr. Bouschor has been Board Certified in Family Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specializa...
Tanya brings a unique perspective to Sherr Puttmann Akins Lamb PC through her extensive background as a Master of Social Work (MSW). Prior to graduating cum laude from DePaul University College of Law, Tanya spent eight years as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker conducting custody evaluations and providing courtroom testimony of her custody findings and recommendations. Her experience gives her special insight into cases involving mental health and substance abuse issues, as well as complex d...
Our Methodology
Recognition by Best Lawyers is based entirely on peer review. Our methodology is designed to capture, as accurately as possible, the consensus opinion of leading lawyers about the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice area.
The Process
Best Lawyers employs a sophisticated, conscientious, rational, and transparent survey process designed to elicit meaningful and substantive evaluations of the quality of legal services. Our belief has always been that the quality of a peer review survey is directly related to the quality of the voters.