PHILOSOPHY:

Meredith McKell Graff, the founder of McKELL GRAFF, PLLC, has experienced the trauma, cost, and potential unfairness of contested family law matters first hand. In the years following that experience, she has committed herself to learning alternate methods of resolving disputes in order to help other people avoid situations like hers.

Ms. Graff believes in "reality-based" legal representation, that is, she strives to educate her clients about the risks involved with contested litigation: financial, emotional, and decisional. She refuses to act as a "hired gun" for parties whose goal is to "spend down" the other party or "make the other party's life a hell" via the legal process. She requires that her clients have the goal of settling their legal matter at the earliest, most-advantageous juncture, before emotions run so high that settlement is next to impossible.

CLIENTS OF McKELL GRAFF, PLLC, HAVE THE OPTION OF HIRING THE FIRM FOR:

• Coaching to represent themselves in a contested setting;
• Coaching to properly fill out state-mandated court documents;
• Mediate their legal disputes to a signed final agreement;
• Mediate to a final agreement, then assist the agreed parties with the state-mandated documents;
• Collaborative representation in a legal matter with another collaborative attorney;
• Representation in a legal matter that is not contested, such as family agreements or estate planning; or
• Representation in a legal matter that is contested with the goal of settlement prior to a trial.