Autumn D. Adams

Background

Autumn’s main areas of practice are family law, juvenile dependency/neglect/abuse, and special education law. After spending 13 years as a treatment group home parent caring for developmentally delayed foster children, her passion for helping families and children having access to a fair education pushed her to go to law school. Autumn took everything she learned from her years as a foster parent and built a practice to help families and children.

Autumn’s family law practice is client-centered. She spends a lot of time getting to know her clients, their family, their plans for the future, and their reasons for seeking legal counsel. There are times litigation is not the answer, and as a certified mediator, Autumn encourages mediation and collaborative process whenever possible. When mediation is not possible, Autumn is an experienced litigator and trial attorney who greatly enjoys being in front of a jury. Autumn’s family law practice focuses on divorce, child custody and visitation/parenting time, child and spousal support (alimony), property division, draft and review prenuptial (premarital agreements), and postnuptial (post-marital) agreements.

Autumn’s experience in the child welfare system is unparalleled.  She has represented parents facing accusations of abuse, neglect, or dependency. She has argued against orders of permanent custody in the Court of Appeals and trains new attorneys on the unknown pitfalls in a dependency case and how to avoid those pitfalls so reunification can occur.

Autumn has decades of experience navigating the complex maze of 504 Plans, Individual Education Plans, and Manifestation and Due Process hearings. Her special education practice developed naturally from her experience with her foster kids. Parents often feel special education is structured to keep children from receiving their education in the least restrictive environment, and without an advocate constantly pushing the school to provide those accommodations your child might not be receiving a free and appropriate education.

Autumn is licensed in California, Ohio, and Illinois. She has experience representing clients in Southern and Northern California.