Christina Owen Miller

We hired Christina Miller to represent our Gestational Carrier in the process of drafting our Gestational Surrogacy Agreement. During drafting, Christina communicated poorly, failed to provide necessary context to crucial redlines (we learned later the carrier had mentioned detail that was simply... not shared and that Christina had added redlines not requested by the carrier), and ultimately convinced the carrier to break the match by directly misrepresenting the language around termination to her, claiming that we were asking for the right to terminate a healthy pregnancy (in fact the draft stated directly that termination would only be contemplated if a doctor advised the quality of life of any born child would be exceedingly low or if the pregnancy were to become entirely unviable and dangerous to the carrier). The criteria for termination were previously discussed between ourselves, the carrier, and agency. We all agreed unequivocally that it would be our decision as intended parents (so long as the carrier's health was not at risk of course) and only something we'd consider if medically advised to do so and on the basis of quality of life. In fact, this was also documented on a form kept by the agency, where our carrier specified that she would leave termination decisions up to intended parents. In other words, our carrier had already agreed to the terms we drafted and only due to Christina's misrepresentation of the draft language subsequently changed her mind. Additionally Christina wanted to change the compensation agreement that the carrier had already negotiated with the agency. This is a separate agreement, specified by the carrier and negotiated with the agency. This same compensation agreement is agreed to by us as intended parents with the agency. All parties had already signed this compensation agreement prior to drafting the GSA. In other words, everyone has already agreed to these details. Furthermore, Christina made several puzzling redline additions that we learned from the carrier were not requested by her: such as allowing late-term travel to states where surrogacy is illegal or otherwise considerably more complex (this could put parentage in jeopardy should the carrier deliver in such a state). Another example: Christina made the claim that the standard compensation schedule our agency has used for the last decade could be viewed as "baby buying". This same schedule has been reviewed by dozens of ART attorneys who found no legal issue with it. There is no simply legal basis for this claim whatsoever and this item alone concerns me regarding Christina's capability and qualifications for ART law. Because the legal process is usually the last step before an embryo transfer, this meant we had already invested over $15,000 in the match, paying for: psychological evaluation, insurance review, prescription medication, medical exams, medical screening for the carrier and her partner (imaging, bloodwork, etc), airfare, taxi, hotel accommodation, and so on. While it's important that both the carrier and intended parents have proper legal representation, it is never appropriate for an attorney to misrepresent a legal agreement to their client. To say that the drafted language was anything but a clear set of reasonable constraints that actively sought to avoid termination is not just dishonest it's unethical. We were completely baffled as to why Christina would represent our draft language this way and behave in a manner that seemed to intentionally add friction to the drafting process until we were later informed by a separate party that Christina and the carrier had immediately begun working with a new set of parents once the match had broken and that Christina was able to secure a special deal that netted her three times the usual fee to represent both. Hopefully our experience can be helpful to folks who are considering Christina's services.

Christina Miller is a wonderful attorney and person. She really makes you feel comfortable in what can be a very uncomfortable/emotional situation. She really knows her stuff and is great at advocating for her client. I used her toward the end of my journey as a surrogate and wish I would have used h...er from the start. I will for sure be calling her if I ever need a reproductive family law attorney again. I cannot recommend her enough.