John Fredric Staley

Mr. Staley's education and extensive experience in business and public service has provided a foundation as a family law expert, with special emphasis on settlement and litigation of complicated family law matters ranging from child custody to multi-million dollar asset cases. 

Mr. Staley is among the group of lawyers that established the specialty field for family law in 1980.  He attained his certification as a Specialist in Family Law in 1980, which was the first year wherein legal practice specialties were recognized by the State Bar of California.   Mr. Staley is a founding member and Past President of the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists and was inducted into the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists Hall of Fame in 1994.

Mr. Staley is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a national organization that recognizes expertise in family law.  Fellowship in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers is exclusive and limited to select family law attorneys throughout California and the United States.

Mr. Staley has been recognized as a Northern California Super Lawyer since 2006 (a rating service of outstanding lawyers who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement).  

Mr. Staley  is a co-author of California Child Custody Litigation and Practice, published through the Continuing Education of the Bar, State Bar of California.  

He has prevailed in several appellate cases, including the published case of In re Marriage of Worth (1987) 195 768 [241 Cal. Rptr. 135], which established community property claims to  copyrights acquired during marriage