Associate Attorney - Family Law Litigation We are looking for a lawyer, not a snowflake. And before anyone gets offended by that sentence: if it offended you, we're probably not the right firm for you. We are a litigation-focused law firm primarly practicing family law, looking for an Associate Attorney who is smart, driven, resilient, and genuinely wants to be an exceptional lawyer. Family law is not for the faint of heart. Our clients are often dealing with divorce, custody disputes, allegations of abuse, financial battles, high-conflict relationships, and some of the most difficult people they have ever encountered. The lawyer representing them cannot fall apart because opposing counsel is difficult, a client is demanding, or a hearing doesn't go their way. You need a tough exterior and a soft enough heart to remember that the people involved are human beings. We want someone who can walk into a courtroom and hold their own, deal with an unreasonable opposing party without becoming unreasonable themselves, and then walk back into the office and genuinely care about what happens to the client. This Is Not a Low-Pressure Job We believe in hard work , exceptionally high standards , personal accountability , and professional growth . We do not sugarcoat. If your work needs improvement, we're going to tell you. If you make a mistake, we're going to address it. If you do something exceptionally well, we're going to tell you that, too. We believe constructive criticism is one of the most valuable things we can give an attorney who actually wants to improve. We don't believe in micromanaging adults, but we also don't believe in pretending that mediocre work is good enough to protect someone's family, finances, or future. We don't coddle our attorneys. We develop them. We Want Someone Who Can Handle Difficult People, this is a non-negotiable. You must be able to deal with difficult clients, difficult opposing counsel, difficult opposing parties, difficult witnesses, and occasionally difficult days. You cannot take every rude comment personally. You cannot confuse aggressive advocacy with personal conflict. You need to know when to push, when to negotiate, when to shut up, and when to fight. You need to be able to be tough without being a jerk .

We want attorneys who are:

Confident, but not arrogant. Tough, but empathetic. Assertive, but professional. Competitive, but team-oriented. Independent, but willing to listen. Intelligent, but not convinced they are the smartest person in every room. Resilient, but still human. And One Very Important Thing About Our Team Being an attorney does not automatically make you smarter than the paralegal sitting next to you. Our paralegals and staff are experienced professionals. They know things you don't know. They have institutional knowledge you don't have. They may have been doing this longer than you have been practicing law. We expect our attorneys to respect that. The best attorneys understand that good lawyering is a team sport. If you believe your law degree makes you inherently superior to everyone who doesn't have one, please save both of us some time and don't apply. Litigation Experience Is Important, but a willingness to litigate is required . Our ideal candidate has a strong litigation background and substantial experience practicing Family Law. You should be comfortable with—or eager to develop experience in: Hearings. Discovery. Depositions. Mediations. Motion practice. Complex SAPCR issues. Complex property division. Case strategy. Client management. Trial preparation. Trial. Trial work is required. We are not looking for someone who wants to spend their career drafting documents while somebody else tries the cases. We already have one of those, they manage the litigation team. We Will Consider A "Baby" Lawyer We are open to hiring a newly licensed attorney who has the right combination of intelligence, work ethic, personality, and grit. We will teach you everything, we will train you, but we expect you to understand that doing that is an investment on our part - so your salary is not going to be very high initially. You don't have to know everything. You do have to want to learn everything. If you're a new attorney who wants to put down roots, build a career, learn family law from the ground up, develop serious litigation skills, and eventually become the lawyer other lawyers don't want to see on the other side of the courtroom, we want to talk to you. We will teach you. We will challenge you. We will give you responsibility. And yes, you will eventually be expected to try cases. We would much rather hire a hungry, teachable new lawyer with the right temperament than an experienced attorney who thinks they have nothing left to learn. Experienced Attorneys With a Book of Business Encouraged to Apply If you're an experienced family-law litigator with an established book of business, we are very interested in talking to you. For the right attorney with a demonstrated ability to generate business and an established client base, compensation will be substantially higher and will reflect your experience and book of business. We are interested in building long-term relationships with attorneys who want to grow with the firm—not simply hiring someone to occupy an office. Billable Expectations & Compensation Our minimum billable-hour expectation is 1,200 hours per year. We believe that is a reasonable and attainable expectation for a full-time practicing attorney, and we are very transparent about it from the beginning. But we don't believe in putting a ceiling on people who want to work harder and perform at a higher level. In addition to base compensation, we offer: Merit and performance-based raises. Merit and performance bonuses. Additional compensation for billable hours exceeding the annual minimum. For experienced attorneys, significantly greater compensation opportunities based on experience and book of business. In other words, if you produce more, perform more, and contribute more, there is an opportunity to earn more. We believe compensation should reflect performance—not simply how long someone has been sitting in a chair. What We Actually Care About We care about whether you are good at your job. We care about whether you show up. We care about whether you can be trusted with a difficult client and a difficult case. We care about whether you make the people around you better. We care about whether you can take a punch (not literally of course) and keep moving. We care about whether you can admit when you're wrong. We care about whether you can learn. We care about whether you can advocate fiercely for a client without losing sight of the fact that there are human beings on the other side of the case. And we care about whether we actually like working with you. Because we spend a lot of time together, and for over 20 years, we have been a "drama-free" office - and we intend to stay that way. Our Hiring Philosophy We value fit over hiring fast. We are not interested in filling an empty office just because we have an opening. We would rather wait six months for the right attorney than hire the wrong attorney tomorrow. We want someone who wants to be here. Someone who wants to become excellent. Someone who isn't afraid of hard work. Someone who can laugh when things get ridiculous. Someone who can handle a difficult day without making everyone else's day worse. Someone who can walk into a courtroom with confidence, walk out having lost without falling apart, and come back the next day determined to do better. That's the kind of lawyer we're looking for. If You're Still Reading... If you're looking for a job where nobody will ever criticize your work, where difficult conversations are avoided, where attorneys are treated like royalty, and where doing the minimum is the goal, this is not your firm. If you're looking for a place where you can learn, litigate, be challenged, be respected, earn more when you perform, and build an actual career, we would love to hear from you. If you send this job posting with all grammatical errors corrected as part of your application, you are already ten steps ahead of your competition. Bring your big brain. Bring your work ethic. Bring your thick skin. Bring your sense of humor. We'll take it from there.

DO NOT CONTACT THE OFFICE ABOUT THIS JOB POSTING.

We will reach out when we have reviewed your application. If you contact the office about this job posting, we will reject your application.

Pay:

$80,000.00 - $165,000.00 per year

Benefits:

401(k) Paid time off

Work Location:

In person