05/28/2026
Why I Became a Family Law Attorney (And Why I've Never Left)
People ask me sometimes how I ended up in family law — and stayed for thirty-plus years. The honest answer starts not in a courtroom, but with my father.
My dad was a Yale-educated physician. Brilliant man. But what I remember most isn't his medical knowledge or his degrees. It's something he said over and over again as I was growing up: always have a project. Not a goal, not a plan — a project. Something you're actively working toward, building, pushing. He believed that a person without a project is a person slowly going still. I have carried that with me every single day of my adult life.
When I found family law, I didn't just find a practice area. I found a project that never ends — and one that actually matters.
Family law sits at the center of people's lives. The cases aren't abstract. They're about children, homes, futures, the financial foundation someone spent a marriage building. When a client walks into my office, something has gone wrong in the deepest part of their world. My job — the project — is to bring clarity, strategy, and relentless preparation to one of the hardest moments they'll ever face.
That drive to do it at the highest level is something I can't turn off. Anyone who knows me outside the office will tell you that. I train and show Morgan horses — competing at the regional and national level, chasing World and regional championships. There is nothing casual about how I do that. These are 1,000-pound animals of extraordinary sensitivity and power, and getting the best from them requires patience, discipline, and a refusal to accept less than what you've worked for. That's the same person who walks into the courtroom with you.
Over thirty years, I've earned the credentials that come from doing one thing, hard, every single day. Board Certified in Marital and Family Law since 1998 — a distinction held by fewer than 300 attorneys in Florida, less than 1% of the Bar. Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers — one of roughly 100 Florida attorneys who hold it, and one you don't apply for so much as earn through examination, peer review, and the endorsement of judges and colleagues. Past Chair of the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar. I've also helped train the next generation — revamping the Bar's trial advocacy programs and chairing the certification review that prepares other attorneys for the credential I hold.
I'm proud of those things. But they're not why I do this.
I do this because my father was right. Always have a project. Mine just happens to be going to battle for people on the worst days of their lives — and winning.
If you're facing something difficult and you want someone in your corner who has been exactly where you are, many times, I'd love to talk.
