Andrew Graham Sandor

  I am 48 years old and a native of Irvine, CA. Both of my parents were (are) divorce attorneys, so I grew up listening at the dinner table to the stories of people's lives.

  I was pretty convinced I would never be an attorney. I think I even told them as much on more than one occasion. It is the rare teenager who wants to go into the family business. 

  However, after graduating from Yale and spending five years abroad (Hungary), I decided to take the plunge and apply to law school. Six long years later - after getting a Masters in International Relations from Johns Hopkins and a JD from Georgetown while working full time in marketing and PR -- I landed my first legal job as a junior associate at a white shoe international law firm in midtown Manhattan.

  The work was exciting, and I definitely enjoyed exploring New York with my young family. The winter holidays at Rockefeller Center are magical when you have two small boys. After several years, we decided to move the family to Eastern Europe, where we lived and I practiced law for 11 years.

  All this time, my parents were begging me -- nagging :) -- to come back to California and join their family practice. I finally relented in 2013 as I saw it as an opportunity for my children to attend high school in California and maybe go to college in the U.S.

  It was a big decision...and a very big change in the type of law I practiced. While the writing and the negotiating skills carried over, family law has a much more human element. It was daunting at first, knowing that your advice and decisions would be having a real impact on the most intimate aspects of your clients' lives. 

  In short order, I grew to love it. The connections I make with my clients are very real, and I find a real joy and satisfaction in helping them turn the page on a difficult period in their lives so they can get a fresh start.

  Now, thirty years after telling my parents I would never be a lawyer, let alone practice family law, I cannot imagine doing anything else!