FAMILY LAW

Brenda Feigen began her practice of Family Law in New York in 1974. Out of her experience as Director (with now Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg) of the Women's Rights Project of the ACLU came one of her first matters in private practice: a case she brought on behalf of fathers employed by the New York City Board of Education who wanted equal rights with mothers to take parental leaves of absence. She and her then husband went on to handle a variety of family law cases including some that required courts to take seriously requests by fathers that they be given shared custody of their children with the wives from whom they were separating. As Justice Ginsburg has been fond of saying, equality under the law is a double-edged sword: women cannot be expected to be treated equally if men are discriminated against because of their gender.

Now, many years later, Ms. Feigen represents both women and men in divorce and custody cases. She also emphasizes her interest in the evolving California law of Domestic Partnerships, drawing up the necessary documents to ensure the validity of the Partnership as well as helping partners dissolve their partnerships should they so desire. Part of Ms. Feigen's practice is devoted to facilitating the sharing of child custody in such cases where that is appropriate and in the best interests of the children.

Today, Ms. Feigen continues to work for equal rights for lesbians and gay men and, in particular, has fought for same-sex marriage whenever the occasion has arisen. She has contributed five articles to the well-known website: www.WowOWow.com, the most recent of which discussed California's infamous Proposition 8 that denies marriage rights to gay men and lesbians, DOMA (the, in her strong opinion, highly unconstitutional "Defense of Marriage Act", "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (mentioned in the EMPLOYMENT page on this site. Because of DOMA, older gays and lesbians are denied the right to each other's Social Security benefits, and Ms. Feigen is on the front lines of that fight, as well.