Ms Rachel Adrienne Saunders, Senior Counsel

Rachel Saunders, over the course of her legal career, has maintained an active litigation and advisory practice focused on addressing the legal needs of  families in the Bay Area, including  pre and post-nuptial agreements, complex child custody and visitation disputes, child relocation cases, parentage matters, child and spousal support, and complex property division. The appeal of a family-focused practice for Ms. Saunders is the opportunity to have an immediate impact on the lives of real people.

Ms. Saunders brings compassion and dedication to each matter.  She understands how difficult family law litigation can be for the entire family and believes that her role as attorney is to work together as a team with her clients, keeping them fully informed so that they can make wise decisions about when it makes sense to litigate and when there are other ways to solve family law problems. She helps client’s prioritize their goals and focus strategically on the most important aspects of their case so that she can represent them in the most efficient and knowledgeable way and achieve the best results possible for them and their family.

Rachel also believes that the best way to address family law issues is to prevent them in the first place. As such, Ms. Saunders brings her extensive litigation and divorce experience to bear on an active prenuptial agreement practice that helps parties figure out how to separate respectfully if the need arises through thoughtful planning and precision draftsmanship.

Before joining SFLG, Ms. Saunders had a law partnership in San Francisco and went on to work as an independent attorney with her own firm in San Francisco.   As a member of SFLG, Ms. Saunders enjoys working with a team of Family Law attorneys so that she can bring that collective experience to bear on complex family law cases.

Ms. Saunders received her Juris Doctor degree from the UC College of Law, San Francisco, finishing magna cum laude. Prior to that, she obtained both her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts from Stanford University in International Relations with a focus on Economics.

Always eager to make a difference in the lives of working families who might not otherwise be able to afford legal counsel, Ms. Saunders volunteers in the Family Law Facilitator’s Office of the Superior Court helping individuals who are self-represented  navigate the legal system. She has also provides the court with her services as a court neutral, helping bring the parties and attorneys involved in complex legal matters together to find solutions to the contentious legal disputes, helping the parties narrow the issues for trial, or avoid trial all together.

When not working on legal issues, Ms. Saunders spends her time with her family, something that reminds her what is at stake for her clients when they come to her for help.

School	Degree	Major	Graduation
University of California, Hastings College of the Law	J.D.	Law School	N/A
Stanford University	M.A.	International Relations with a focus on Economics
Stanford University	B.A.	International Relations with a focus on Economics

State / Court	Date
California	2008