Staff Writer
Matrimonial lawyers from across the region celebrated in black-tie style recently, honoring three preeminent Southland jurists and naming attorney Dawn Gray was named “Family Law Person of the Year.”
The Southern California Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) saw Superior Court Judge Hank M. Goldberg, Superior Court Commissioner William Y. Wood, and Superior Court Judge Erick L. Larsh receive the titles “Family Law Judicial Officers of the Year” at a formal awards dinner.
“We are very proud to honor these pillars of matrimonial law,” said 2016 Institute Dean Stephen J. Wagner, partner at Dick & Wagner in Sacramento and San Diego, CA, and an AAML Southern California Chapter Board Member.
“They have distinguished themselves by making significant contributions to the field of family law,” added Chapter President Emily Edleman, principal of Law Office of Emily Edelman.
The dinner was the cornerstone of the AAML chapter’s 23rd Annual Trial Advocacy Institute, “The Art of Examination at Trial and Deposition,” a three-day continuing legal education symposium that ran January 16-18. Designed for family law specialists and practitioners and featuring more than a dozen legal experts, the Institute provided an in-depth focus on taking, defending and using depositions at trial.
The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), founded in 1962, promotes the highest degree of professionalism, integrity and excellence in the practice of family law.
There are currently 1,600 AAML Fellows in 50 states recognized by their peers and the judiciary as preeminent matrimonial law practitioners. Only 90 Southern California family lawyers have met the stringent admission requirements of the national organization required to become Fellows of the Southern California Chapter, considered an extremely prestigious honor.
These top attorneys handle such matters as divorce, paternity, premarital agreements, legal separation, annulment, custody, property valuation, support, and the rights of domestic partners and unmarried cohabitors, according to AAML.
