A Stand-Up Comedian Stands Out in Family Law A Part-Time Hobby Provides Serious Insight for a Full-Time Family Law Practice by Dan Baldwin
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ew people would consider the part-time hobby of stand-up comedy practical ground for honing one’s skill as an attorney, but attorney Kathy A. Minella, Certified Family Law Specialist, disagrees. “A lot of people want to be creative in settling their case and therefore avoid going to court, so creative thinking is a big part of being a family law attorney. You can try to achieve settlement out of court and that is a creative act. Thinking out of the box is an essential element of standup comedy and it’s also essential in being a good family law attorney. Everybody can go to court, but I think it takes a person who can think creatively to get things settled so people can get on with their lives,” she says. Minella is the founding attorney of Minella Law Group, APC. The firm’s focus is on family law, including divorce, adoption, child custody, child support, division of marital assets, domestic partnerships, military divorce, restraining orders, spousal support and visitation, family formation, and mediation. Board certified in family law by the State Bar of California, she has more than ten years of experience in family law. She is also on the minors counsel panel and is appointed by the court to represent children going through high conflict divorce and custody issues.
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Attorney Journals San Diego | Volume 216, 2021
Always Backing Up Back Talk “I was outspoken as a kid and I got in trouble a lot for speaking up. My parents said I back talked a lot. But I was always the one who could formulate a reason for my argument. I was always trying to justify what I did. I always backed up my arguments with facts,” Minella says. She felt the drive to become an advocate in her early years, but it took an experience in an altogether different arena to come to the determination that she wanted to be an attorney. Her creative drive took her to art school in Chicago and then to owning and operating her own wedding video business. The legal needs of setting up and managing a business kept bringing her back to the legal field. “Even if you’re in a creative business, there is still a need for the law.” After graduating from Columbia College Chicago with a BFA in interactive media in 2003, she earned her J.D. at the California Western School of Law in 2009. While attending law school, she gained invaluable family law experience volunteering at the Madge Bradley domestic violence clinic. After law school she worked at a large San Diego-based family law firm, a smaller firm, and then founded Minella Law Group, APC, in 2014. She employs two attorneys, two paralegals and a support staff.
