Emily Doskow has been practicing law in the Bay Area since 1989. She was among the first wave of lawyers to represent lesbian parents in second parent adoptions, and has completed (or helped clients represent themselves in) many hundreds of second parent and domestic partner adoptions. She is a frequent speaker about LGBTQI adoption and parenting issues, a Board member of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and a member of NCLR’s National Family Law Advisory Council. She is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Women Lawyers of Alameda County and the Center for Understanding in Conflict.
A 1989 graduate of Berkeley Law (formerly Boalt Hall School of Law), Emily spent years litigating cases on behalf of HIV and cancer patients wrongly denied insurance benefits, and on behalf of women and girls who suffered sexual abuse by landlords, teachers, doctors, and therapists. One of these cases resulted in a settlement with the Berkeley Unified School District that required thorough training of all district employees in abuse issues. Another resulted in a published opinion of the federal court, setting out a significant new rule in ADA accessibility for people associating with HIV-positive individuals.
Emily now focuses her practice exclusively on family law, including mediation, collaborative practice, and services for the LGBTQI community.
Emily’s commitment has always been to using the law for the dual goals of furthering social justice and helping individuals protect their rights to live free from discrimination, in their family structure of choice.
In addition to her private law practice, Emily worked for over eight years as an author and editor for Nolo, the nation’s premier legal publisher of legal and business self-help books and software. She is the author of Nolo’s Essential Guide to Divorce and Nolo’s Essential Guide to Child Custody and Support, and coauthor (with Frederick Hertz) of A Legal Guide for Lesbian & Gay Couples, Making it Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Partnership, and Civil Unions, and numerous other Nolo titles.
Emily has practiced mindfulness meditation for 20 years and teachers mindfulness to other attorneys at Mindfulness Over Matters.