Attorney at Law
1484 Pollard Road #191, Los Gatos, CA 95032
(408) 867-8137
CURRICULUM VITAE
PROFESSIONAL
San Jose Superior Court, Judge Pro Tempore, volunteer program, 1986 to present.
Attorney specialist certified by the California State Bar Association Board of Legal Specialization
Family Law Specialist, 1980 to present.
Appellate Law Specialist, 2004 to present.
Legal Aid Society of Sacramento, Attorney, 1970.
Sacramento State University extension, Instructor of course titled "Women and Law," 1970.
EDUCATION
Stanford Law School, graduated 1969;
member of the 1968 Stanford Law Review.
University of Southern California, graduated 1966;
Magna Cum Laude Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Beta Kappa.
ADMISSION TO PRACTICE
California
United States Supreme Court
9th Circuit Court of Appeal
Federal Eastern, Southern, and Northern District Courts of Appeal of California
HONORS AND AWARDS
Special Award for Pro Bono Legal Services awarded by the Pro Bono Project of Santa Clara County for leading community efforts to reform family court in relation to abuse of women & children, 1997.
San Jose Mercury News Silver Pen Award, for letter headed "Children must Testify Against Molesters," 1984 (based on my helping a child testify in criminal court).
Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship, focus "Poverty Law," 1969.
LEGAL PUBLICATIONS
BOOKS:
Here's How You Get a Divorce in Santa Clara County, over 20,000 copies of this book have been sold.
1979 served as an adviser to local National Organization for Women (NOW) in writing "Dissolution--A Handbook in Divorce for Santa Clara County Women" under CETA and corporate grants.
ARTICLES:
"Constitutional Attacks on Vagrancy Laws", Stanford Law Review."Creativity and Legal Education", Journal of Legal Education.
"Defenses When District Attorney is Collecting Child Support", In Brief, the magazine of the Santa Clara County Bar Association.
PUBLICATIONS & PRESENTATIONS RELATED TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
January 2004 & 2005 & 2006 presented at National Battered Mothers Custody Conferences at Siena College in Albany, NY.
2002 presented "Dissecting Psychological/Custody Evaluations," at the Family Violence And Sexual Assault Institute, San Diego, CA, qualifying for DV MCLE for custody evaluators under state law.
1980 published "A Political-Legal Analysis of Pornography," an article in the anthology "Take Back the Night--Women and Pornography," (sold in the U.S. and other countries).
AFFILIATIONS
Rotary Club, San Jose, 1990-1999.
Community Companions, a nonprofit organization to assist the severely mentally ill, Board of Directors, 1989-1995.
1986-1988 chair, San Jose/South Bay chapter of National Organization for Women (NOW).
2004 to present, board member, Coalition for Family Justice, headquartered in New York.
Feb. 2005---Chair of national Advisory Board
2004 to present, Saratoga, CA Chamber of Commerce Feb. 2005---Member, board of directors
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
1988 ran for State Assembly and received approximately 38,000 votes.
BACKGROUND
Robin has helped many a child whose parents are tangled in a California divorce law web, an adult who is fighting for custody of their kid, people undergoing the horrors of sexual abuse or domestic violence etc. As intelligent as she is careful with the victims, Robin and her shtick for being a great consultant and confidante for her clients has won her many trusting clients for whom, she in return has won many cases. Many California Divorces have been handled and settled to the benefit of her clients.
Robin is known across the country as one of the foremost attorneys capable of attacking an inaccurate custody psychological evaluation. Robin discovered other local attorneys were losing their child custody trials while she won several in a row even though the court's 730 evaluators had recommended against her clients. This was done by a skillful combination of discovery and cross examination of the experts along with presenting positive testimony supporting the clients' cases.
Robin’s method is completely different from attorneys who receive unfavorable psychological evaluations and think, “I didn’t know my client was so crazy,” and just try to make a deal to settle the case. If the client and others indicate that the psychological evaluation does not correctly reflect the client and/or other party, Robin scientifically scrutinizes it. She subpoenas the psychologist’s entire file and takes the psychologist's deposition.
But Robin has gone way beyond this and has even evaluated bias written into the lines of the computer program that scored the psychological test. Robin has obtained testimony from someone who wrote the program to expose problems far underneath the surface of the psychological evaluation. This method was successful in the case referred to below (emochila-Statement of Decision link here).
Robin has evaluated psychological reports which used the MMPI-2, MCMI-3, Rorschach, the TAT, the Bender Gestalt, ADD/ADHD testing, DAPS and other PTSD testing. Robin has also researched the ethics of mental health personnel and obtained expert testimony on this subject
Robin is very well versed with all the facets of California Divorce and has helped ease many a client's painful process of divorce. California Divorce may be complicated but with the expertise and experience of Robin's, she will aid you.
While doing cases involving juveniles who have been abused, child custody, sexual abuse and/or domestic violence, Robin has managed over the years to remain caring yet professional, with an attitude like the best of medical emergency room personnel. It is this combination of legal skill and professional commitment that places Robin at the top of her profession.
