Attorney at LawMs. Lesowitz is an experienced family law attorney and has been practicing exclusively in the area of family law since 2001, providing her with substantial experience and knowledgeability within the field. After working at such esteemed firms as Trope & Trope, The Wiesner Law Corporation, Hughes & Hughes and the Law Offices of Christian Schank & Associates, in 2014, Ms. Lesowitz became a solo practitioner and has had the opportunity to work on hundreds of cases since going out on her own. Ms. Lesowitz is a high honors graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1998. Ms. Lesowitz is also a graduate of Pepperdine University School of Law. Community involvement is the foundation upon which Ms. Lesowitz has built her legal career. She has performed pro bono work through the non-profit group The Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law, and has participated in events such as National Law Day and Roxbury Park’s Ask a Lawyer Day. In addition to her active family law practice, in 2016 Ms. Lesowitz has parlayed her knowledge of the field and most recently served as an adjunct professor at Whittier Law School, where she was a Community Property professor to 45 second and third year law students.

Partner at Burch, Coulston & Shepard, LLPMs. Shepard is an aggressive and passionate advocate for her clients. She practices exclusively in the area of family law and has been declared a Certified Family Law Specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. She has successfully litigated cases involving issues of child custody, child support, spousal support, and attorney fees, and recently completed a nationally-recognized Trial Advocacy program which focused extensively on the litigation of child custody, support and complex business matters. Ms. Shepard is a member of the State Bar of California, the American Bar Association and the Family Law Section of the Orange County Bar Association. Ms. Shepard graduated from UCLA where she majored in political science with a business specialization. Ms. Shepard earned her Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Whittier Law School, where she was a member of the Law Review, a Dean’s List honoree and a fellow in the Center for Children’s Rights where she received a scholarship. Additionally, Ms. Shepard served as on the Whittier Law School Trial Advocacy Honors Board while competing in national competitions. She has prior legal experience as a certified litigation law clerk with the Orange County Office of the District Attorney.

Family Building, The Law Office of Ted R. YoumansMr. Youmans graduated from Whittier Law School in 1986, after receiving his Bachelors Degree in 1982 from the University of Arizona. He was licensed to practice law in California in 1987, and he became a named partner in Van Deusen, Youmans & Walmsley of Santa Ana, California, in 1992. The firm specialized in adoption, adoption litigation, foster parent and dependency litigation, guardianships and surrogacy and related litigation. In November 2009,Mr. Youmans founded the Family Building, The Law Office of Ted R. Youmans. In addition to children’s law practice,Mr. Youmans has been active in legislative changes in these areas of the law. In 2006, he served as an adjunct adoption law professor at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, and continues to serve on the Law School’s Center For Children’s Rights Board of Advisors. Mr. Youmans has been lead and associate counsel in numerous published and unpublished appellate court cases that have established precedents at the California Courts of Appeal and Supreme Court involving adoption, dependency/foster care, surrogate and guardianship law. He has spoken throughout California on adoption, guardianship and foster parent’s rights over his professional career.