Best Lawyers in America for Family Law: Arbitration and Mediation
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State
Hillary is a Principal of the firm. She is an experienced trial attorney whose practice focuses primarily on family law litigation, including complex marital dissolutions of high net worth estates that involve business valuations and separate property tracing. Hillary has broad experience with contested parenting matters, including establishing residential schedules and child support, as well as post-decree modifications of parenting plans, child support orders, and relocation actions. She al...
Marie-Louise Ramsdale is the principal lawyer of the Ramsdale Family Law firm in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, and practices solely in the area of family law. She has served as President of the South Carolina Bar Foundation and as a member of numerous committees of the SC Bar. Marie-Louise holds an AV rating from Martindale-Hubbell. Marie-Louise was the volunteer attorney-coach for the Moultrie Middle School Mock Trial Team from 2012 to 2016, taking the team to first place in the State comp...
Frank P. Tranchina, Jr., is a partner in the law firm of Tranchina & Mansfield, L.L.C. He received his law degree from Loyola University School of Law in 1979. He is Board Certified in Family Law by the Louisiana Board of Legal Specialization and is also licensed in the State of California. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He is a past chairman of the Family Law sections of the Louisiana State and Jefferson Bar Associations as well as co-chair of the board ce...
Kathryn SamlerProtecting and serving children and families is a longstanding commitment of Katie’s. She strongly advocates for clients when they are going through one of the most difficult times of life, and ensures that her clients goals are prioritized. Katie has a special interest in helping families with challenges that include complex property division, mental health issues (including personality disorders), and substance abuse issues.
Elaine Pudlowski joined the office of Frankel, Rubin, Klein, Payne & Pudlowski, P.C., in 1997. Elaine practices extensively in the field of domestic relations where she represents both men and women in matters pertaining to divorce, paternity, child custody, child support and spousal support. Elaine also works in the juvenile court handling adoptions, detentions and care and protection matters as well as in the probate court assisting families with legal guardianships and estates. In addi...
Emma L. Whitley is a top attorney recognized by Best Lawyers in the practice area(s) of Collaborative Law: Family Law, Family Law and Family Law Mediation. Emma L., who practices law in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been recognized since 2026. This recognition is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey, reflecting the high esteem in which Emma L. is held by other top lawyers in the same geographic and legal practice area.
Emily Baker, a family law attorney and partner at Tucker Family Law, is based in Northern Virginia and mainly serves clients in Fairfax County, Arlington County, the City of Alexandria, Loudoun County, and Washington, D.C. With a focus on separation and divorce , including complex and high-net-worth family law matters , Emily believes in the importance of listening carefully to her clients as they develop their goals. “I value being able to really be there for someone during what’...
Rachel Whitsitt is an Overland Park-based family law attorney. She assists clients in Kansas and Missouri with matters of divorce, paternity, child custody and support, spousal maintenance, guardianship, and grandparent rights. Rachel has ample experience with high-asset divorce cases and related issues—including complex property valuations and making and interpreting premarital agreements.
Raleigh “Lee” Greene, though born in Gainesville (the Swamp), is a 3rd generation native of St. Petersburg. He attended UF receiving his degree in economics (1970), his J.D. (1973), was an active member of Florida Blue Key and, many years later, was selected as a “Gator Great” in 2016 by the UF alumni association. He has been a member of the Florida Bar since 1973 and a member of the D.C. Bar since 1986. He served as a JAG officer with the US Navy Reserve, having recei...
Alan Rubenstein is a highly-skilled family lawyer, divorce mediator, and collaborative divorce attorney. He has practiced family and divorce law for more than 30 years. He has served as counsel for approximately 1,200 divorces, involving more than 250 divorce mediations, 150 collaborative/cooperative divorces, and numerous hearings and trials. A trained marriage and family counselor with a Master of Science in counseling psychology with a specialization in marriage and family therapy, Alan ap...
Kelly has a longstanding career in the legal profession, spanning over four decades. She is licensed to practice law in five jurisdictions and has advocated for litigants within both state and federal courts. Her experience includes serving as an Administrative Health Law Judge with the Department of Health and working as a Guardian ad Litem (GAL) in Pierce County before becoming Senior Counsel at Envision Family Law. In her role as a GAL, Kelly played a crucial part in many child custody cas...
Vanessa Soto Nellis is a Certified Family Law Specialist as designated by the California Board of Legal Specialization. Ms. Nellis typically represents high net worth clients in the west San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles; in all aspects of divorce, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, cohabitation agreements, and family law mediation.
Michael Bonetto is a San Francisco, California family law attorney with Moradi Neufer LLP . He has been practicing family law since his admission to the California Bar in 2007 and focuses his work exclusively on this area of law. Michael represents clients in a wide range of family law matters, including divorce , spousal and child support , complex property division , business valuation, separate property tracing, child custody and visitation , and the prosecution and defense of domestic vio...
Drawing on her business background and innate ability to relate to people, Marissa uses her experience to solve diverse and complex family law matters. She helps clients find solutions that preserve their relationships with their children and protect their financial interests. She is adept at understanding the intricate financial and relational issues of divorce and other family law matters. Serving as a neutral mediator, Marissa has had tremendous success in successfully resolving cases for ...
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.