Courtland Family Lawyers

Kara represents individuals in all aspects of family law, including divorce, property division, child and spousal support issues, child custody and visitation, attorney fees and costs, as well as domestic violence restraining orders, prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements. Kara’s clientele incorporates a broad range between C-level executives, business owners, engineers, start-up employees, other attorneys, medical professionals, and stay at home parents.

As a mother of four children, Nikki Farris understands the pressure of being responsible and taking care of family. When you fall into debt, it's not only you but those who depend on your that are in danger of financial ruin. If you cannot handle the debt, Attorney Nikki Farris can help you file for bankruptcy and find debt relief through various means. Nikki is experienced in bankruptcy law, as well as estate planning and business law. As a member of the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys, Nikki is held accountable to high standards of legal service for her...

A Bay Area native, Chelsea has always been committed to making a difference in the local community. Family law has provided her the avenue to help families in transition, while maintaining civility and focus on issues that truly matter. Chelsea graduated Cum Laude and received her Bachelor’s Degree from Saint Leo University in St. Leo, Florida, which she attended on a volleyball scholarship. She returned to the Bay Area for law school and graduated with her Juris Doctor Degree from Santa Clara University School of Law in 2015. While in law school, Chelsea used her classroom knowledge to help families while working...

Julia Lemon became an associate at Lonich and Patton, LLP in November 2007. Julia is well versed in Estate Planning and Business Law, however she has a a special interest in Family Law matters. Julia began her relationship with the firm as a second year law clerk in 2005. Julia was raised in San Jose and attended Presentation High School. Thereafter, she attended the University of California at Davis where she was a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. In 2004, Julia graduated with honors and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, earning a Bachelor's Degree with a major in...

Susan Dent is a recently admitted member of the California Bar, joining Lonich and Patton from a C.F.L.S. litigation firm in Newport Beach, CA. Ms. Dent was an active member of the law school community at Santa Clara University, serving as both an associate and editor for the Santa Clara Law Review, an Executive Board member for Honors Moot Court Internal, and as the president of Santa Clara Law's Criminal Law Society. Ms. Dent also served as a research assistant for SCU's Center for Global Law and Policy. Thoughout law school, Ms. Dent clerked for Hon. Jerome...

Robert (“Bobby”) Cashen is a partner at Morgan Tidalgo Sukhodrev & Azzolino LLP. Mr. Cashen has been named a Super Lawyer’s Rising Star by Super Lawyers Magazine in both 2018 and 2019, an award conferred upon the top 2.5% up and rising attorneys in California. He currently serves as the co-chair of the Family Law Section of the San Mateo County Bar Association and will serve as its chair in 2020.

Mr. Cashen assists clients with all aspects of family law matters. He is experienced with complex financial issues, such as business valuation and characterization, private equity,...

Sarah Arnott is an Attorney at Van Voorhis & Sosna LLP. Ms. Arnott was certified as a specialist in Family Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization in 2015, and served as the chairperson of the family law section of the San Francisco Bar Association's Barristers Club in 2013.

A native of New York and North Carolina, Ms. Arnott moved to California to attend Santa Clara University School of Law, from which she received her J.D. Ms. Arnott has exclusively practiced family law since 2008. She is well-versed in all areas of family law, including dissolutions, custody,...

I was born and raised in San Francisco and have been a San Mateo County resident for the past 34 years. I have been practicing law for over 20 years and understand the difficult time one goes through in a break up. No one can do better than I in achieving your goals and wishes.

Known for her expert representation of California’s senior executives and their spouses, Kiana protects her clients in high asset divorces and contested custody cases. In her twenty years of legal practice, Kiana has negotiated and litigated the full spectrum of disputes that occur in financially sophisticated divorces and contested custody cases. Kiana graduated Cornell Law School with a concentration in business law. Prior to finding her passion in family law, she was a business litigator at Reed Smith LLP one of the nation’s 20 largest global law firms. She has a B.A in psychology from UC Berkeley and has taken countless negotiation trainings at...

Business and International Experience
Wayne started in Auckland New Zealand, graduating after completing a challenging combined Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws in just 4 years, achieving top marks at his law school at Auckland University made up of 11,000 students where he was elected Student President in a landslide victory in his last year. Then recruited by a leading Merchant Bank, MARAC Corporation, Wayne moved to Citibank before becoming the founding Company Secretary for New Zealand's first publicly listed Investment Bank, founding Company Secretary for NZ’s first publicly listed Venture Capital company and a Director of a...

Charlie has extensive litigation and trial experience, having litigated countless contested hearings and various jury trials. Although Charlie practices all areas of family law, his practice now focuses on complex and high-asset dissolutions, many of which require collaboration with business counsel, estate planning counsel, and/or criminal counsel. Charlie practices in all Bay Area Counties, including but not limited to San Francisco County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, and Alameda County. Charlie believes that no two family law cases are alike and that each case requires a clear understanding of his client’s needs and ultimate goals in order to achieve...

Lindsey K. Terry was raised in Tuolumne County and graduated from Summerville High School. She attended Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco. Lindsey K. Terry graduated in the top 3% of her class and was awarded several academic honors for top marks, including the highest grades in Criminal Litigation and Trial Advocacy. She was also the winner of the Appellate Advocacy competition. Lindsey K. Terry is a member of the Jesse Carter Honor Society, a graduate of the Honors Lawyering Program, and graduated summa cum laude from Golden Gate.

Lindsey K. Terry...

Jameson Sheehan earned his undergraduate degree from California State University, Chico, and a Master’s Degree and his Juris Doctorate from Cal Northern School of Law. He has been a member of the California State Bar since 2019.

Jameson’s legal education and experience spans over a decade; his more than 10 years as a paralegal in various aspects of trusts, estates, business transactions, real estate transactions, contract litigation, workers’ compensation, and general civil litigation has given him a wide breadth of knowledge and experience to the benefit of his clients.

Mr. Stinson represents clients in divorce and family law matters. He has an undergraduate degree in Business Management Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz where he graduate with honors in the major and overall within the college. While there he also earned perfect scores in his economics calculus classes. Mr. Stinson then worked in corporate finance with a national publicly held company before attending law school. While in law school Mr. Stinson clerked with the Honorable Judge Brian C. Walsh in the Family Division of Santa Clara County Court, interned in a corporate legal department,...

Jessica joined Mello & Pickering LLP in January 2015. In 2011 Jessica received her undergraduate degree from Saint Mary’s College of California where she majored in political science. After graduating from Saint Mary’s, she received her law degree from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2014. She was then admitted to the California State Bar in December 2014, after passing the state bar exam on her first attempt. During her law school education, Jessica gained extensive experience in family law working for the Department of Child Support Services, the San Francisco Bar Association’s family law project and a solo family...

Christine Pham is a San Francisco native with over 10 years of litigation experience. Her background in litigation, bankruptcy, and knowledge of California family law, combined with her creative legal strategies and sincere compassion for her clients, has made her a recognized and trusted name in and around the Bay Area.

Christine focuses her practice on helping families and couples in a range of family law and family formation matters, including child custody and support, spousal support (alimony), dissolution of marriage (divorce), legal separation, division of property, and assisted reproduction.

Christine’s dedication to her clients is reflected in the testimonials they give...

Andrea represents clients in all areas of family law, including divorce, legal separation, annulment, custody and visitation, support, and complex property division.

Andrea understands the impact a divorce and other family law issues can have on people’s lives and is committed to provide support to litigants with family law issues, while explaining the law to them and advocating for the best results possible.

Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law from the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. Legal services in the areas of (1) Trust & Estate, including Wills, Living Trusts, Probate, Trust Administration, and Conservatorships. (2) Taxation, including Compromise of Tax Liabilities, Tax Payment Agreements and Workouts, Defense Against IRS Collection, Audit and Appeals, and Abatement of Tax Penalties (3) Family Law, including Prenuptial Agreements, Divorce, Custody, Division of Assets, and Guardianships.

Lydia is a Certified Family Law Specialist as certified by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization and has experience in all aspects of family law matters, including child custody and visitation; child and spousal support; property identification, characterization, valuation and division; reimbursement claims; pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements; and domestic violence issues. Lydia also provides representation in guardianships and step-parent adoptions. Lydia serves a broad range of clients including attorneys, doctors, business owners. parents and grandparents. She is passionate about providing counsel that is empathetic and pragmatic and ensuring that her clients are aware of their options. Lydia works...

Arlette completed her law degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Law in 2010. Prior to earning her J.D., she received a B.A. in History and a B.A. in International and Area Studies at the University of Oklahoma. She is admitted to practice law in the State of California and the State of Oklahoma.

Arlette has solely practiced family law since 2010. Her family law experience began prior to graduating from law school when she worked as a law clerk at the family law firm of Cindy Allen and Associates, PLLC. After graduating from law school, Arlette worked as an...

Quynh (“Quinn”) Chen is a bilingual attorney that has been admitted to practice in the Ninth Circuit of the United States Appellate Court. Her practice areas primarily focus on family law, entity formations, and intellectual property. Her interest is in software patents and helping underrepresented clients in her community.

As part of her interest in software patents, Ms. Chen is proficient in programming in Ruby on Rails, MEAN stack Javascript, and working with various databases. While at Golden Gate University, School of Law, she served as Vice President of Asian Pacific American Law Student Association.

Jacob Harker is a San Francisco Bay Area attorney. Mr. Harker has set up and run his law practice in a cost-effective and practical manner. He has done so in an effort to pass on the savings to his clients. As an attorney, Mr. Harker sees his practice as taking the lead in a new era of legal services.

Kristine is an experienced litigator with extensive training in mediation and alternative dispute resolution. Kristine returned to school in 2005 as a single parent following her own divorce, and her commitment to her clients is grounded in having personally experienced the stress and uncertainty that often goes hand in hand with even the most amicable of divorces.

Kristine strongly believes in the importance of reducing the level of conflict whenever possible, regardless of which process option is utilized. This is particularly true when there are children

Kristine can assist with premarital agreements, parentage actions, post-marital agreements, dissolution and legal separation, and with...

"Live so that when your children think of fairness and integrity, they think of you." Erin Farley brings over 24 years of legal experience to the firm. She is well-respected in the community for her work and was voted in 2013 and 2015 as the Best Attorney in Petaluma by the Argus-Courier's People's Choice Awards. Ms. Farley's work focuses on dissolutions, child support, child custody, spousal support, post-judgment support, comprehensive property division, and prenuptial agreements. Ms. Farley brings experience, insight, and compassion to what is likely the most emotionally difficult of court proceedings. Ms. Farley is a member of the...

Help small to medium size companies navigate through a wide variety of legal challenges: formation, funding, governmental impediments, operational legal planning, merger and acquisition, employee relations, and labor compliance. All with the goal of litigation avoidance. Litigation in all California state courts and the Northern and Eastern U.S. District Courts of California.

Experienced, dedicated and affordable immigration attorney servings the Immigration community for near 20 years. Record of winning case on asylum, VAWA claim, naturalization with criminal background, waivers, and complex family based immigrant visa petitions.

For over 14 years, Mr. Baello has litigated high stakes family law actions in three of the largest metropolitan areas in the United States - the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and New York City. Through this diversity of experience, he has the expertise and adaptability to obtain favorable results through trial or settlement in varied situations and tribunals. Ernest is a Certified Family Law Specialist (“CFLS”) per the California Board of Legal Specialization. He is also a graduate of the renowned National Family Law Trial Institute. Mr. Baello provides comprehensive and strategic representation in complicated and high conflict cases. Prior to becoming...

Paul W. Thorndal is a partner at Wald & Thorndal. He specializes in divorces of all kinds with an emphasis on gay divorce. Mr. Thorndal is a Certified Family Law Specialist (The State Bar of California Legal Specialization). Wald & Thorndal's practice areas include: Divorce, Dissolution & Contested Parentage Actions for all families; Custody Disputes; Mediation; Marvin Actions. Legal services provided at both the TRIAL and APPELLATE level. Assisted Reproduction; Adoptions of All Kinds; Family Contracts; Parenting Law including Surrogacy; Donor Contracts for Egg and/or Sperm Donations; Pre-Nupital Agreements; Co-Parenting Agreements; Domestic Partnership Agreements; Name Changes.

Danella Rugile is a skilled family law attorney in San Jose and one of the founding partners at F & R Law Group. She dedicates her career to ensure that families in the community receive the representation they need during a divorce. Prior to starting work as a lawyer, she served as a Parent Facilitator at the Redwood City Child Development Centers. This experience gave her insight and a connection to the people she would serve as an attorney and pushed her to pursue her law degree in divorce law. She obtained her Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School...

My family law practice is entirely limited to mediation and coaching. After witnessing the financial destruction and emotional distress that accompanies a litigated divorce, I decided to devote my career to helping couples separate constructively, peacefully and with dignity. Not only does a mediated divorce typically cost tens of thousands less than a drawn-out courtroom battle, but it also maximizes the likelihood that the parties will enjoy a civil relationship after the legal work is done. This is critically important when children are involved. I handle the entire divorce process for my clients, from our initial meeting to drafting...

Lisa R. Murray has practiced law since 1987, and family law since 1989, assisting families through the difficult divorce process. Ms. Murray assists her clients in reaching amicable and equitable settlement by offering services as a mediator, Collaborative Practice lawyer, consulting attorney for clients in mediation, and negotiating settlements. Ms. Murray has served her community as a court-appointed child advocate representing children in divorce cases, and Judge Pro Tempore. Ms. Murray's focus on consensual dispute resolution, such as mediation and Collaborative Practice was borne from her experience of the destructive manner in which litigation separates parents' and...

Kimberly Madigan is a founding partner of Madigan & Lewis, LLP, family law firm representing clients throughout the Bay Area. She is admitted to practice law before all courts in the State of California. Ms. Madigan was named a "Rising Star" in family law by Super Lawyers on the basis of peer recognition and professional achievement for years 2012-2014. In 2014, Ms. Madigan was named as one of the Top 10 Family Law Attorneys Under 40 in Northern California by the National Academy of Family Law Attorneys (NAFLA). She is serving as the 2015 chair of...

Ahluwalia Law Professional Corporation is a general practice law firm located in San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Striving to achieve meaningful, long-lasting relationships with our clients, we offer affordable, efficient and personalized service. Attorney Madan Ahluwalia, Managing Attorney, has been providing his clients with legal representation since 1995.

Daniel Jensen has truly established himself as a top lawyer in Santa Clara County. In fact, Jensen has been selected five times by the San Jose Magazine as one of Silicon Valley's Best Lawyers in Criminal Law and Family Law. As a former police officer and sergeant, Jensen has great knowledge when it comes to effectively defending his clients in state and federal courts. If you or a loved one are in need of legal guidance, Daniel Jensen may be able help. Learn more by calling the The Law Office of Daniel Jensen, P.C. at (408) 296-4100.

CERTIFICATIONS:
Certified Family Law Specialist
State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization

BAR ADMISSIONS:
California, 1989
U.S. District Court Central District of California, 1989
U.S. District Court Eastern District of California, 1989
U.S. District Court Northern District of California, 1989
U.S. District Court Southern District of California, 1989
EDUCATION:
University of California, Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, California, J.D.