Elizabeth Voorhees

In every case she handles, Elizabeth prepares two strategies simultaneously: litigation and settlement. Elizabeth encourages her clients to settle where appropriate because it saves the clients money. Elizabeth recognizes that so much of Family Law is driven by emotion, and she really listens to her clients, creating a space for those emotions to be acknowledged. Elizabeth knows, though, that allowing emotions to lead the case strategy only increases the animosity between the parties and churns legal fees. Elizabeth’s approach to client consultation is highly empathetic but also directive with the clients to ensure they are informed and making the best and most logical decisions with regard to the path through their contested issues.

Elizabeth is a highly skilled mediator. Though she prepares for litigation in every case, she is also, at the same time looking for ways to settle the matter. Mediation keeps parties out of the courtroom, where the outcome is always uncertain, and allows parties to create their own agreements. This can be highly empowering for both parties and easier to live with, as the agreement they are then following is one they came up with rather than one forced upon them by a Judge.

Elizabeth believes it is important to prepare on two fronts simultaneously and maintain reasonable and cordial relationships with other attorneys in the Bay Area. Elizabeth’s clients are benefited from Elizabeth’s sympathetic and empathetic case management styles. Elizabeth is highly responsive and always happy to listen to her clients.

Elizabeth graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1998, where she double-majored in Legal Studies and Sociology. As part of her graduation requirements, Elizabeth chose to prepare two thesis papers on the Best Interest of the Child Standard applied in the late 1990s by Family Courts in Domestic Violence cases where custody of the children was the primary issue.

Upon graduation from UCSC, Elizabeth received Honors in Legal Studies, College Honors, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, the national honor society. She was admitted on Early Admission to Santa Clara University School of Law to complete her Juris Doctor degree.

Elizabeth attended Santa Clara University School of Law, where she was honored with a scholarship from the Women in Law sorority for her outstanding work in the field of domestic violence advocacy.

While working as a Domestic Violence advocate in Santa Cruz County, the County of Santa Cruz honored her four years in a row for Outstanding Community Service.

Participating in Moot Court in her first year of law school, she earned the award for “Best Oral Advocate” and the top score in her class for Client Counseling at Santa Clara University.

Elizabeth earned a specialty certificate for Public Interest/Social Justice from the Santa Clara School of Law. Elizabeth interned for the Northern California Innocence Project all four years of law school and helped free a man wrongly incarcerated for 17 years. The story of this journey is told in the movie “Witchhunt,” available on Prime Video.

Post-law school, Elizabeth trained at the Strauss Institute For Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University School of Law, where she completed two courses: Mediating the Litigated Case and Domestic Relations Mediation, a mediation course specific to Family Law.

In 2005, Elizabeth completed both levels of advanced training in Collaborative Divorce.

• Elite Lawyer, 2021 and 2022
• Member California Bar Association