modern family formation & dissolution • estate planning & probate • divorce

who we are

elizabeth f. schwartz, esq.

Elizabeth Schwartz, in her 16th year of law practice, is one of Miami's best known advocates for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. While her South Beach-based firm equally works with straight and gay clients in matters of family law, estate planning and probate, she has made a name for herself representing the LGBT community, with a focus on family formation (adoption, insemination, surrogacy) and dissolution matters. She lectures locally and nationally about the importance of LGBT couples protecting their loved ones through estate planning and contract (especially in the absence of true marriage rights.) Elizabeth was a contributor to the recently-published book "Making It Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Partnerships and Civil Unions," by Frederick Hertz, Esq.

Also a certified family mediator and a member of the Collaborative Family Law Institute, she treats the law as a therapeutic profession, facilitating, for example, relationship dissolution with minimal investment of emotional and financial resources.  Elizabeth serves as an adoption intermediary helping make forever families of all kinds.

Elizabeth, a native of Miami Beach, received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993. She received her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the University of Miami in 1997.  She served as pro-bono counsel in several cases that helped overturn Florida's uniquely bigoted 1977 ban forbidding gays and lesbians from adopting children and has been on the forefront of providing crucial legal protections for LGBT families.

For her years of service, she received the 2012 National Gay & Lesbian Task Force's prestigious Eddy McIntyre Community Service Award at the Task Force's annual Miami Recognition Dinner. Also in 2012, Elizabeth was tapped for membership into Iron Arrow, the highest honor attained at the University of Miami. In 2010, Elizabeth received the Women Worth Knowing Award from the City of Miami Beach Commission for Women and was named by the National LGBT Bar Association as one of the country's Best LGBT Lawyers Under 40. In 2008 she was honored with the "Valuing Our Families" Community Award, presented by Sunserve. In 2007, she received the Dade County Bar Association's Sookie Williams Award and the Aqua Foundation for Women Leadership Award. And in 2005, she received the Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Community Award.

She is a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, serves as President of the Miami Beach Bar Association and is the Parliamentarian of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation's Women's Philanthropy.  Elizabeth is co-chair of the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association of South Florida and is the immediate past-chair of the City of Miami Beach's Human Rights Committee. Elizabeth is also a board member of Next @ 19th, which aims to move Jewish culture forward and is a founding member of the Aqua Foundation for Women, raising money by and for South Florida's lesbian community.

A lefty and a Scorpio, Elizabeth lives with her partner, journalist Lydia Martin, and their dog Buttercup, in downtown Miami's urban core.

elizabeth's professional memberships

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elizabeth's honors and recognitions

kira e. willig, esq.

Kira Elise Willig has been practicing marital and family law since 2000.  Kira represents parties in actions concerning Dissolution of Marriage; Paternity; Parenting Plans; Relocation; Modification; Enforcement; Child Support; and Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements.  

An adjunct faculty member of the University of Miami School of Law since January of 2007, Kira teaches Family Law and a Florida Family Law workshop series.  She has lectured on various legal topics throughout Florida and internationally, and served as a Florida Family Law Instructor for Kaplan PMBR.  She has been quoted in the Miami Herald regarding family law, contributed to The Law School Decision Game: A Playbook for Prospective Lawyers, and was a Content Editor for Kaplan PMBR Florida Family Law Bar Preparation Materials and Multi-State Family Law Bar Preparation Materials

Kira assists parties to amicably resolve their family law issues as a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator and member of the Collaborative Family Law Institute.  She is frequently court-appointed to serve as a Guardian ad Litem for children whose parents are involved in family or domestic violence proceedings.  Kira has extensively testified in circuit court, county court, and arbitration proceedings as an expert witness on the issue of attorney fees in marital and family law proceedings and served as an expert on Florida Family Law for Hague Convention proceedings in South Africa.

Kira has been selected four times for inclusion in Super Lawyers - Rising Stars Edition and was honored as a stand out attorney by her selection to the "Top 40 Lawyers under 40 in Miami-Dade County" by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Kira graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University with a degree in Women's Studies and Political Science.  Her undergraduate achievements landed her a full scholarship to the University of Miami School of Law, where she was an Associate Editor of the University of Miami Inter-American Law Review and took first place in the Moot Court Competition. 

While attending the University of Miami School of Law, Kira was a two-time recipient of the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Family Law and Women and the Law; a three time recipient of the Dean's Certificate of Achievement Award in Family Law, Women and the Law, and Professional Responsibility; and a two-time recipient of the Honors designation in Litigation Skills and Alternative Dispute Resolution. 

Kira served as a Dean's Fellow for Civil Procedure, Executive Editor of the Amicus Curiae, President of the Family Law Society, Vice-President of Miami Law Women, Vice-Chair of Orientation, contributed to the Res Ipsa Loquitur and was involved with the Center for Ethics & Public Service and the Spellman-Hoeveler American Inn of Court. 

As a research assistant to Professor Anthony V. Alfieri, Kira assisted with numerous law review articles, including articles appearing in Stanford Law Review and other publications; Professor Clark J. Freshman's article entitled "What  Ever Happened to 'Anti-Semitism?' in the Cornell Law Review. How Social Science Theories Identify Discrimination and Promote 'Coalitions' Between 'Different' Minorities,'"; and Professor Michael D. Graham with a new edition of the Handbook of Federal Evidence.

Kira graduated magna cum laude from the University of Miami School of Law and was named to the Order of the Coif, a national honor society that recognizes outstanding academic achievement in the study of the law.

When not practicing law or teaching, Kira enjoys Miami Hurricane football games and traveling around the world.  Kira is the left-handed sibling to her twin brother, Sander Galt, a Miami-based artist, furniture designer, and Vizcaya restorer who is the lead singer and guitarist for Axe and the Oak.  Both were born in Coral Gables on New Year's Day.

kira's certifications and professional memberships: Show || Hide

kira's professional presentations and publications have included: Show || Hide

robert j. hanreck, esq.

Robert J. Hanreck is currently in his eleventh year of law practice.  Robert focuses his practice on products liability, personal injury, consumer law, family law, professional malpractice and commercial litigation.  Robert has been recognized by his peers in Florida Trends Magazine on numerous occasions and in Florida Super Lawyers Magazine as a Rising Star.  He spent in excess of six years at one of Florida's most prestigious law firms, Rumberger, Kirk & Caldwell, P.A. before establishing his own firm.

Robert graduated from the University of Miami School of Law, magna cum laude, in 2000, where he was an Associate Editor of the University of Miami Business Law Review and represented the law school at several national moot court competitions in negotiation and mediation.

jerry simon chasen, esq.

Jerry Chasen is an estate planning attorney with 35 years of experience. Admitted to the bar in New York, Florida, New Mexico, and California, he has a Master's degree in estate planning from the University of Miami School of Law, where he was also on the adjunct faculty in the graduate estate planning and taxation programs. His practice focused on estate & charitable gift planning, estate administration & probate, intellectual property, and small business corporations.

Jerry left the full-time practice of law to serve as Vice President of the Alliance for Global Good, a non-profit organization. The Alliance is a grant-making and fundraising philanthropy that convenes and coordinates programs and organizations that give a priority to innovation and collaboration in order to increase their impact and efficiency. Jerry also created The Advisors Project, an initiative that encourages professional advisers to create client relationships that are both satisfying to clients and advantageous for philanthropy, as a means for growing resources going to philanthropy.

Past President of the Miami-Dade County Planned Giving Council and longtime member of the Council's Board of Directors, Jerry served as a member of the national Board of Directors of Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund. He on the Professional Advisory Committee of the Foundation of Jewish Philanthropies, the United Way of Miami-Dade County, and the Miami Foundation, and is also chair of the Miami Foundation's LGBT Community Projects Fund Committee.