Divorce

I prefer to handle cases involving complex child custody issues, high asset dissolutions with community or separate property business entities, pre-marital and post-marital agreements, domestic partnership dissolution and Marvin claims.

• Alimony/Palimony/Spousal Support
• Child Support
• Custody/Visitation Rights
• Delinquent Support Payments
• Division of Property
• Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution(ADR)
• Uncontested Divorce
• Collaborative Law

Family Law

I prefer to handle cases involving complex child custody issues, high asset dissolutions with community or separate property business entities, pre-marital and post-marital agreements, domestic partnership dissolution and Marvin claims.

• Mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

• Child Support
• Custody

CA, Nov 1992
Bar Number: 160034

IL, Jan 1973

Certified Family Law Specialist - California Board of Legal Specialization

Steve is admitted to practice in all the Bars in the State of California and Illinois, the U.S. District Court, the Northern District of Illinois, including the Trial Bar, and the U.S. District Court, the Northern and Central Districts of California, and the United States Supreme Court.

-Elkins Family Law Task Force: insuring judicial access and process to all family law litigants in California
-State Bar of CA Family Law Executive Committee member, 2002
-Past President and Board Member, Lawyer's Club of San Francisco,
-Executive Committee, Conference of Delegates, State Bar of California, State Bar legislative initiatives for family law and civil litigation matters
-Judge Pro-Tem, Unified Family Court of San Francisco, Law and Motion, Domestic Violence and the Settlement Calendar
-Bar Association Chief Arbitrator and Mediator, Family Law and Attorney Representation Fee Disputes
-San Francisco Rotary Club
-Current KQED Signal Society Board Member
-Advisory No to Prop 8 Task Force (Supporting Same Sex Marriage)
-Boy's and Girl's Club of San Francisco, past Board Member
-Music in Schools Today, past Board Member
-Bay Area Legal Foundation, past Board Member

I continue to teach various seminars on family law through various organizations. I attend educational seminars on a regular basis that are needed to maintain the educational standards of a certified family law specialist.

-California Family Law News for Publication "Wedding Bell Blues," legal challenge for same sex marriages
-California State Bar - Business Litigation Magazine, "Collaborative Divorce - A Paradigm Shift," fall 2001
-Lawyers Club Inn of Court, Contested Hearings on the Enforcement of Pre-Marital, October 2000
-National Business Institute, "Impact of Bankruptcy on Dissolutions of Marriage," 1998
-Family Law News (State Bar Publication), "I Now Pronounce You Separated," 1996
-Family Law News (State Bar Publication), "What is your exit strategy? Long term spousal support issues," 2008

1- I substituted as trial counsel within sixty days for bench bar conference and was able to negotiate a comprehensive global resolution of highly complex properties, child and spousal support case, including claims of reimbursement of attorney's fees, to my appreciative client.

2- I successfully obtained full custody of a teenager for a non-parent appointed permanent guardian from the custodial parents who had illegally placed the child in a foster care facility.

3

California and Illinois

I founded The Ruben Law Firm in 1992. We are proud that the firm has grown primarily through referrals from satisfied clients, law firms throughout the United States and our collegial relationships with the San Francisco legal community.

The Ruben Law Firm practices Family Law exclusively and specializes in the areas:
Pre-nuptial Agreements
Post-nuptial Agreements
Domestic Partnership Agreements
Family Law litigation:
High conflict custody disputes including interstate and foreign move-aways
Complex, high-asset dissolutions
Domestic partnership dissolutions
Property disputes
Child and spousal support from simple to complex earnings
Business valuation and division of community property and separate property allocation business interests
Paternity issues
Mediation, arbitration and private judging

The Ruben Law Firm attorneys and legal assistants work together as a committed team to provide the highest quality legal representation. Each attorney focuses on their field of expertise, providing clients with premier legal advice and advocacy. Our team model ensures that our work is delivered in a way that is most economical to our clients. Our team prides itself on being available to client conference, meeting court and discovery deadlines, and prompt response to telephone calls and emails within hours.

I have been practicing law for over thirty years, with extensive experience in a wide variety of family law cases. I have also been certified by the California Board of Legal Specialization as a Specialist in Family Law. A certified Family Law Specialists must have recognized experience in the areas of California Family Law including divorce, child custody and visitation, property division, domestic partnership agreements, domestic partnership dissolution, child and spousal support, tax consequences, settlement negotiations and trial litigation. Certified Specialists also must have passed a rigorous written examination, demonstrated a high level of experience in family law, fulfilled ongoing education requirements and have been favorably evaluated by peers and judges who are familiar with their work.

I have a wealth of legal experience, a deep-rooted commitment to the betterment of the community, and am active in the betterment of the legal profession through membership and leadership roles in several bar associations. I have a reputation as a creative attorney who is sensitive enough to care yet tough enough to be an exceptionally able advocate.

After being admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1973, I spent three years prosecuting civil and criminal cases for the city of Chicago, Cook County Illinois. After leaving the city attorney's office, I joined the prestigious law firm of Jann and Carroll, Ltd. By 1977 I opened my own law practice, handling a wide variety of real estate, family law, probate litigation, business, and intellectual property cases.

While engaged in private practice in Illinois, Attorney General Neil Hartigan appointed me as a Special Assistant Attorney General. For eight years I handled a variety of complex and challenging civil litigation matters on behalf of the state of Illinois in both state court and state agencies. I also served as the Special Administrator to the Presiding Judge of the Probate Division of Cook County Courts, conducting investigations of wrongdoing by personnel representatives and attorneys in the administration of decedent and guardianship estates.

In 1992, after relocating to California and passing the California Bar, I opened my own law practice. Drawing upon my extensive experience in Illinois, I specialize in family law matters but am also capably of handling matters in the areas of corporate and intellectual property law. I have been certified as a mediator by the Institute for Dispute Resolution at the Pepperdine University School of Law and serves as an arbitrator for the Bar Association of San Francisco resolving attorney client fee disputes for family law matters. I have been appointed and serve as Judge Pro-Tem and Settlement Judge in the Family Law Division of the San Francisco Superior Court.

I was appointed by Chief Justice Supreme Ronald to Elkins Family Law Task Force.

Robert Ginda.

(415) 391-0140

Monday through Thursday
9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Friday
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Yes

No.

San Rafael, CA
The Lerman Law Building
802 B Street
San Rafael, CA 94901
(415) 399-6830

Pre-nuptial agreement drafting under 1 million dollars - $3,500
Pre-nuptial agreement drafting over 1 million dollars - $5,000
Pre-nuptial agreement review - $2,500
Post-Nuptial Agreements - $3,500 - $5,000

$485 hourly rate and $525 per hour for court time.

Due to the size of my firm I do not offer a free consultation. However, we offer a fixed rate of $425 for the initial consultation.

Retainers are based on the circumstances of a particular case. Every case is different and thus must be evaluated before a retainer is determined.