Erin Rhames-Childs, Attorney

Erin Rhames-Childs is a respected family litigator, collaborative/mediation and real estate litigator to whom fellow attorneys unreservedly refer clients. A determined and energetic litigator, Ms. Childs is the first attorney north of Los Angeles to successfully litigate County of Los Angeles v. Navarro, a landmark case that changed the future for many men in California who have had their pay checks, IRS refund checks and other income wrongfully taken from them by the Department of Child Support Services.

Ms. Childs has been trained by one of the founding collaborative law attorneys, Pauline Tesler, in collaborative law and has had extensive training in mediation of disputes. She is on the board of directors of the Central Valley Collaborative Law Affiliates (http://www.collaborativelawyers.org) and a certified collaborative lawyer with the International Association of Collaborative Professionals (http://www.collaborativepractice.com   http://www.collaborativepractice.com/t2.asp?)  Ms. Childs is passionate about collaborative practice and believes that one day in the near future, collaborative practice will be the first choice for all divorcing couples.

Ms. Childs graduated in the top five of her law school class with a Juris Doctorate with distinction from San Joaquin College of Law in 2002. She was Executive Editor and Professional Articles Editor of the Law Review and an officer in Delta Theta Phi Law Fraternity. She participated in the Juris Doctorate Summer Program in Paris, France and Barcelona, Spain sponsored by the University of San Diego Institute of International and Comparative Law in 2000. In 1999, she received her Diploma in Spanish Fluency from the University of Salamanca, Spain. Her undergraduate degree is from the University of California, Santa Barbara in Psychology with honors.

Ms. Childs was admitted to the State Bar of California in December, 2002, Bar No. 222942 and worked at one of the largest Fresno law firms until opening her own law office in the Fall of 2003. She is fluent in written and spoken Spanish.