► WHERE: 1 Independence Plaza, Suite 305, and 4000 Eagle Point Corporate Drive, Birmingham
One of the hardest facts of life and love is that sometimes families don’t remain together. Sometimes they become a mixed bag of stepsons, stepdaughters, stepmoms and stepdads, and the process of legally redefining familial roles can get messy.
The all-female team of Crittenden Partners, a Homewood-based family law firm, guides families through the difficult process of sorting through the messiness and redefining their relationships.
Laura Lee, Paige Yarbrough, Deborah Gregory, Nicole Saia and Kathryn Henry were each personally invited to join the firm by its founder, Judith Crittenden. They came together at different stages in their careers but have all enjoyed Crittenden’s mentorship and guidance. Combined they share over a century of knowledge and experience.
“Teamwork and shared knowledge is invaluable. Having the opportunity to speak with other women at our firm about certain cases and legal situations brings a wealth of knowledge to our firm,” Saia said.
“We all meet every other week to discuss cases,” Lee added. “It allows our clients to benefit from the experience and knowledge of multiple attorneys.”
Gregory, who was a solo-practitioner before joining the firm, appreciates the diverse experiences of her partners. “[Our diversity] allows us to brainstorm and think of creative solutions or share solutions that have worked in other cases.”
The partners work together to compile their knowledge in the yearly editions of Alabama Family Law Practice Series Treatise, a text that has become one of the primary sources of family law information in the state. But you don’t need to read through the three-volume series to get their advice. They are forthcoming with information that can help families in transition.
“I tell all of my clients to start or maintain a notebook that chronicles their divorce journey with events and dates. These are particularly helpful in custody disputes. Clients should also change their account passwords to protect their online social and financial activities,” Henry said.
Yarbrough advises families to employ a therapist throughout the process. “As divorce lawyers, we unfortunately see all types of abuse, and often we get clients who have suffered for so long that they no longer know how to stand up for themselves or pursue their own best interest,” she said. “Being able to advocate for them, carry them through a life-changing process and see them at the other end of it is one of the best feelings and greatest impacts that a family law attorney can have on a client. The involvement of a good therapist allows the lawyer to focus on expediting the case and obtaining the best result possible for the client while the trusted therapist can focus on the client’s mental health and emotional processing. Of course, these roles will overlap at times, but separating them as much as possible allows, in my experience, for a cleaner and more expedited divorce.”
Crittenden Partners specializes in high asset divorces, child custody, post-divorce actions and the appeals related to those issues. They also handle estate planning,pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements.
