Laura Matsie Chickering
Esq | Senior Counsel
Laura joined the firm’s Bay Area office led by partners and family law attorneys Kimberly Lewellen and Michael Strebe, representing clients primarily in San Francisco, Marin, Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Alameda, San Mateo, Solano, Sonoma, Napa, and the surrounding counties in Northern California.
Laura’s focus is family law litigation and alternative dispute resolution. She assists clients in dissolution of marriage, legal separation, child custody and visitation, spousal support and child support, domestic violence, and post-judgment modifications.
Laura understands that active listening and understanding are critical to negotiating solutions tailored to each client’s case while also providing an optimal outcome.
Before pursuing her family law career, Laura interned for the United States Senate in 2009, where she conducted policy research and corresponded with constituents. She was nominated to the Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship.
She graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2010, received her Paralegal Certificate in 2011 from Loyola University Chicago, and obtained her Doctor of Law degree from the Chicago-Kent College of Law at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2016.
Depth of Experience
Laura began her family law career as a Judicial Extern with the Domestic Relations Trial Division of the Cook County Circuit Court in 2014. She assisted in legal research, preparation of judicial opinions, and general correspondence.
Shortly after obtaining her law degree and passing the Illinois State Bar in 2016, she moved to the Bay Area and passed the California State Bar in 2017.
Laura went on to work as a legal consultant and family law associate attorney in the Bay Area for five years before joining Lewellen | Strebe | Hopper Family Law Group.
Laura is a member of the San Francisco Bar Association. She and another litigator wrote about the benefits of new comprehensive language in the California Family Code that included “coercive control” in the definition of abuse for DVPA restraining orders for the association’s Justice and Diversity Center.
She is also a San Mateo County Bar Association member.
Professional Awards & Recognition
- 2020, 2021, 2022 Super Lawyer Rising Star (Northern California)
- 2015 CALI Award for Sexual Orientation and the Law
Publications
- Coercive Control and the 2020 Amendments to the DVPA | Bar Association of San Francisco Justice and Diversity Center I 2021
Education
2010 | BA Political Science | University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne (Illinois)
2011 | Paralegal Certificate | Loyola University Chicago (Illinois)
2016 | Juris Doctorate | Chicago-Kent College of Law (Illinois)
Member, Pi Sigma Alpha Honors Fraternity
Member, Delta Zeta sorority
Bar Admissions
- State Bar of California
- State Bar of Illinois
Associations & Memberships
- San Francisco Bar Association
- San Mateo County Bar Association
loading ...