Independent lawyer research for families in transition

Put the children first.Choose counsel who can do the same.

We identify divorce and custody lawyers whose public records show unusual ability to protect a client’s interests without losing sight of the children living through the case.

Editorial recommendations, not paid placement. No outcome is guaranteed.

50states researched
150lawyers selected
5evidence factors
0paid rankings

A more demanding standard

We look for evidence, not reassuring slogans.

Every recommendation begins with the lawyer’s public record and is tested against the same editorial method.

01 · 30 points

Children in focus

Child representation, investigations, development, trauma, safety, parenting coordination, and informed expert use.

02 · 25 points

Real case depth

Serious divorce and custody experience, practical resolution skill, and the ability to litigate when safety or fairness requires it.

03 · 20 points

Professional stature

Court appointments, certification, leadership, scholarship, teaching, and sustained trust from the family-law community.

04 · 25 points

Transparency and trust

A useful first-party website and confidence in current licensing and ethics status, with limitations disclosed rather than hand-waved.

Read the complete methodology

The national directory

Start with your state.

Three researched divorce and custody lawyers in every state. Each state page explains why they were selected and links directly to their own websites.

A representative state · Colorado

Three lawyers we would research first.

Reviewed August 17, 2026Full state report
01

Editorial score · 95/100

Erika Alese Gebhardt

GEM Family Law · Denver

Gebhardt has Colorado's strongest documented combination of parent advocacy and child-focused neutral work. Her biography lists service as a Child and Family Investigator, Parenting Coordinator/Decision Maker, Child's Legal Representative, and special master, covering investigation, implementation, and direct child advocacy. Volunteer GAL and board work for the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center reinforce that these roles are more than marketing. She practices exclusively in family law and retains litigation capability while also offering collaborative approaches intended to reduce conflict and harm to children. The website is deep, polished, and easy to use. Her score is limited only by the absence of a stable individual status link from Colorado's official portal, not by an identified adverse record. Current registration, discipline history, availability, and conflicts should be checked immediately before publication.

Attorney profile
02

Editorial score · 95/100

David Littman

Epstein Patierno LLP · Denver

Littman's roughly forty-five years in Colorado family law give him a perspective few candidates can match. His experience includes trial work, mediation, collaborative law, service as a Child and Family Investigator and Parenting Coordinator/Decision Maker, and a decade as a domestic-relations magistrate. Those roles require him to see how court orders affect children after the hearing, an important child-centered qualification. He helped develop collaborative practice in Colorado but has extensive adjudicative and litigation experience, preserving realism about cases that cannot settle safely. His site offers detailed explanations of neutral roles and enough biography for a consumer assessment. He ranks second only because his current service mix may lean toward neutral appointments and should be confirmed for parent representation. Colorado's non-durable official search also requires renewed registration and discipline verification.

Attorney profile
03

Editorial score · 90/100

Krista V. Nash

Children First Family Law, P.C. · Arvada

Nash built a practice whose child-centered positioning is supported by specific work, not merely branding. Her materials document service as a Child's Legal Representative, Parenting Coordinator/Decision Maker, and mediator, while also describing parent-side divorce and custody advocacy and thoughtful use of behavioral and financial experts. The firm's detailed articles explain what child representatives actually do, helping prospective clients assess her reasoning before calling. She also discusses litigation when necessary, avoiding the false premise that protecting children always means conceding. Nash ranks third because Gebhardt has a broader set of formal investigative and child-law nonprofit credentials and Littman offers extraordinary tenure and judicial experience. Still, her first-party online presence is arguably the state's most purpose-built for this audience. Colorado registration and discipline should be freshly verified because the official search did not supply a durable individual link.

Attorney profile

Inclusion reflects a good-faith assessment of public information, not a certification or prediction. Verify licensing, discipline, availability, conflicts, fees, and fit directly before hiring counsel.

Editorial independence

The rankings are not for sale.

Lawyers cannot buy inclusion, improve their position, or suppress a documented caveat. Any advertising or material relationship will be separated from recommendations and disclosed where people can actually see it. A revolutionary concept, apparently.

Read the editorial standards

Corrections matter.

Public information changes. Our work should change with it.

We review links and professional status regularly and invite documented corrections from lawyers, courts, and readers.

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