Brit Benjamin

Before you decide to schedule a consultation with me, I want you to have a sense of who I am. I take a small number of clients and believe the attorney-client relationship, which is the basis of your comfort and success in the dissolution process, needs to be a strong fit. To that end, this is a slightly non-traditional attorney bio intended to help the right clients find me and the rest to find the perfect fit somewhere else.

Family is everything. People often speculate that as a divorce lawyer I must be cynical about marriage and family but nothing could be further from the truth. We live in a society that makes co-creating an enduring marriage very difficult and many of us were not raised with the skills to find and identify the right partner or to maintain a lifelong marriage. That doesn’t change the fact that creating a family is among the most noble things we will ever do. Ending a marriage and altering the shape of a family system must be handled with the same sanctity of purpose as starting one.

A divorce is painful, terrifying, and sometimes overwhelming…but it can also be an opportunity for growth and healing. You know the metaphor: a caterpillar becomes terrified, unrecognizable mush before reorganizing itself and emerging as a butterfly. It might feel like your world is ending right now but it is a privilege for me to help you land solidly on the other side of this enormous change ready to thrive.

I am also a divorcée and mother. I have been through the exact same process my clients are going through now and understand, in the deepest sense, what it is like to be divorcing. I represent my clients with the same sensitivity and diligence I applied to my own dissolution. Beyond that, I understand the fragility and fear that often accompanies the end of a marriage. Clients need an honest, kind, sharp, and gutsy counselor to advise them. I honor the dignity of every client by providing legal excellence, candor, emotional skill, and a grounded, focused presence of advocacy.

I am a dedicated family law practitioner because it’s all about family for me. Before law school when I was exploring the possibility of a career in law, I worked as a paralegal for Meakins Law, a family law firm based in Berkeley where I fell in love with divorce law, our clients, and my colleagues. During law school, I worked in family court as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Roberta S. Hayashi in Santa Clara County and I served as President of Santa Clara Law’s Family Law Society and Student Bar Association. After graduation, I returned to Meakins Law as an attorney where I stayed until I set out to build my own practice.

I am an alumna of UC Berkeley and Santa Clara University School of Law. After graduating law school in 2017, I joined the Santa Clara Law faculty and taught Appellate Advocacy, Advanced Legal Writing, and co-taught Civil Procedure. My legal scholarship and publications focus on reproductive and life-extension biotechnologies, competitive governance, and economic analysis of law. I have also coached ABA Negotiation Competition teams for Santa Clara’s Honors Moot Court program. My work has been featured in The Recorder, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, and MSNBC, among others.

In my free time, I enjoy songwriting and playing guitar, lifting weights, and taking my 4 year old daughter on adventures.

My relationships with my clients are truly collaborative. I have specialized legal knowledge and experience in the unique ecosystem of family law. You know your history, your family, and what you need to thrive during and after this enormous transition. If you are looking for a family attorney who will work with you and guide you through these changes, I’m your girl. Send me an email or use my website form to schedule a consultation!