Kathy Minella, Minella Law Group, APC, San Diego

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

Few 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.

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.

ATTORNEY OF THE MONTH 2021

The firm doesn’t shy away from complex or controversial cases. For example, they recently represented a man who had donated his sperm to a woman to conceive a child. The donor and recipient did not have a contract to make it a legal donation whereby negating her ability to request child support from him. They made the agreement on their own with no legal contracts involved. He just wanted to help her out and she really wanted to get pregnant. She was diagnosed with a condition that affected her fertility. She could not wait to get pregnant, and she could not afford to go the legal way. Not only had the client had sex with her but also gave sperm for her to inseminate herself. He retained Minella and the case went all the way to trial.

At trial she presented several arguments on why the court should not legally declare him the father and presented a lot of case law and authority on this point. She invested a lot of time trying to show that science could not have resulted in the pregnancy from the sexual act. However, it could not definitively be determined that it was from the donation and the law is clear on that. They lost the case, but the court was very sympathetic to her client’s position. The judge admonished the mother for her actions in court and stated the child was the one who was ultimately going to suffer as she was going to be forced to see a man who she didn’t know. The child was age three by this time and didn’t know the man as her father. It was clear to the court that the woman intended to use their client as a sperm donor and the sex was only for her request to conceive a child.

“It was disappointing, but a few months after the court gave its orders the mother did agree to forgo child support as she didn’t want to have the child visit with father. So, while we ultimately lost, the final outcome was what we wanted,” Minella says.

Clients agree that the decision was a wise one. Years ago, I would have told you that you were crazy if you thought I would write a review for a divorce lawyer. Let’s be honest: Divorce is one of the most personal, awful experiences of your life; and who wants to tell the world about it? And then a special person comes into your life and makes that awful experience better. And they let you know that it’s going to be okay. Guess what? It was actually BETTER than okay. For me, that person is Kathy Minella. Kathy is the full package: Smart, articulate, extremely knowledgeable on California Family Law (both California Family Codes, as well as case law), and is a bulldog with opposing council. Before

I hired Kathy, I interviewed six other attorneys (hey, this is a serious decision!). Let me do all the work for you: Just go ahead and give Kathy a call now. She’ll give you a free consultation, and I guarantee you’ll be hooked after you talk to her. Thank you Kathy, for everything you’ve done for my daughter and me! Hiring Kathy was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

We are changing the way law firms do business. We represent all walks of life, gender, race, and orientation.

The Amateur Stand-Up Takes a Professional Stand

Minella says, “I made the decision to open my own firm because I wanted more autonomy in who I represent. My previous jobs didn’t allow me a say in who I represented and that really bothered me. I sometimes had to represent clients I did not believe in. I also had to take positions based on what my boss stated rather than what I believed to be right. I decided to form my own firm.”

Changing the Way by Pointing the Way

“We are changing the way law firms do business. We represent all walks of life, gender, race, and orientation. Our typical client is one who has a problem that needs solving whether it be access to their children or a pending restraining order, we gravitate towards people who have been experiencing injustice because they didn’t have representation in court. We do that by working with proven traditions, but at the same time innovating constantly to improve what we can do for our clients,” Minella says.

For example, she was involved in a case where a father was accused of disturbing allegations against their threeyear-old daughter. The allegations involved sexual abuse and molestation of his adopted daughter. She was appointed to represent the three-year-old girl to assist the court in determining if these allegations were legitimate. Minella relied on the experts, the therapists and their psychological evaluations, the doctors and their forensic evaluations and the evidence to underscore her legal positions. The father had professionally supervised visitation for almost a year while

The Minella Law Group Team: Jocelyn Heredia (Associate), Kathy Minella (Partner/Founder) and Elizabeth Lefiti (Associate).

the investigation was going on, which was hard on him. The allegations ended up being false and Minella presented evidence that gave full custody to the father and supervised visitation to the mother. “Seeing this type of injustice and the ultimate outcome really gave me the motivation to stay in family law and continue my expertise in this area. That is why I became a certified family law specialist, as I wanted to be the best in my practice area,” Minella says.

Another way she keeps the firm on the leading edge is exemplified by making the firm completely paperless, where everything is maintained online. This gives clients the ability to access their client file at anytime by logging onto their platform. The attorneys maintain all calendars online, so clients always know what is going on in their case. “This sets us apart and takes away the secrecy in your case and need to constantly contact your attorney and then worry about being billed for it. We often hear complaints about attorneys and the most common is a lack of information being shared about their case, we have taken that information and put it right into the hands of the client, which allows them to be as informed as they want to be.”

Another innovation is her recent expansion into mediation, which now provides approximately 25 percent of the firm’s business. “I’m a problem solver and mediation is a great avenue for that. You can provide a real neutral viewpoint. You can get the parties together and find a solution without having to go to court.”

Minella is adding a new practice area by assisting with family formation. She has a lot of experience with handling adoptions, and she finds real joy in putting families together

—the fun part of her practice. “With families coming in all different shapes and sizes I would love to be a part of that as well. California has very liberal laws and families come from all over who live in different parts of the country that are not as accepting. IVF and surrogacy are matters a lot of families need to explore in order to become parents and having access to attorneys that can assist them and navigate the system is important.”

She takes a very down-to-earth, client-friendly approach to face-to-face encounters. “I consider myself a very creative person and not your average lawyer. I like to wear jeans to the office, and you will rarely catch me in a suit. I didn’t move across the country to a beach town to wear a suit to work every day. I like to be real and down to earth with my clients, not lawyerly.”

Putting Life in the San Diego Lifestyle

Minella moved to San Diego in July 2007 for law school and never looked back. She and husband of five years, Chris, and their 22-month-old son, Carter, and a rescue dog named Zoey live in the Del Cerro area. The couple is expecting their second child in December.

They enjoy going to the zoo and exploring the sights of San Diego, such as the beach. Her hobbies include gardening, baking, and rescuing dogs, especially senior dogs.

The success she finds in her own family serves to enhance her drive for success in her chosen field. “I find that I am really good at family law, and I enjoy it. Helping people see the bigger picture and focus on the light at the end of the tunnel. You get to be a life coach in a way, helping people understand how to live their life again after this time in their life is done. I like to say it is one chapter in their book. Also, with family law you participate in everything, so you get to assist with all aspects of the law, giving you experience in a wealth of different practice areas,” Minella says. n

Contact Kathy Minella, CFLS Minella Law Group, APC 1450 Frazee Road, Unit 305 San Diego, CA 92108 (619) 289-7948 www.minellalawgroup.com

EXPERIENCE

» EDUCATION

• Columbia College Chicago BFA—2003 • California Western School of Law—2009

» HONORS, AWARDS AND PUBLICATIONS

• Super Lawyers Rising Stars 2019 and 2020 • Best of the Bar SDBJ—2016

• Better Business Bureau®—A+ Rating

» REVIEWS (AS OF 7/20/2021)

• Avvo: (26+ 5 Star Reviews) • Yelp: (31+ 5 Star Reviews) • Google: (26+ 4.5 Star Reviews)

• Facebook: (5+ 5 Star Reviews)

» ASSOCIATIONS

• San Diego County Bar Association • San Diego Family Law Bar Association

The University of San Diego School of Law Congratulates the 2020-21 Law Firm Challenge Winners!

Firms with 10+ Alumni

100% Alumni Participation Finch, Thornton & Baird, LLP * Morrison & Foerster LLP Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP Greatest Number of Alumni Participating Higgs Fletcher & Mack LLP * Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP Most Dollars Raised Qualcomm * Procopio *

Firms with 6-9 Alumni

100% Alumni Participation Delphi Law Group, LLP * Greatest Number of Alumni Participating Delphi Law Group, LLP * Most Dollars Raised Delphi Law Group, LLP *

Firms with 2-5 Alumni

100% Alumni Participation CaseyGerry Attorneys * Dallo Law Group, APC Fell Law RJS Law – A Tax Law Firm * Wingert, Grebing, Brubaker & Juskie, LLP Witham Mahoney & Abbott, LLP Greatest Number of Alumni Participating Witham Mahoney & Abbott, LLP Most Dollars Raised CaseyGerry Attorneys * RJS Law – A Tax Law Firm *

To see the list of all participating firms and to join the Law Firm Challenge, visit law.sandiego.edu/lawfirmchallenge. *Special thanks to firms that have funded private student scholarships.