When Judith Crittenden completed her law degree in 1970, she was one of only two women in her graduating class. Fifty years later she is the leader, advisor and mentor to five phenomenal female attorneys. She is regarded as one of the top domestic relations attorneys in the state of Alabama, and the firm she built continues to flourish under her name.
Crittenden entered private practice in 1977 and began building what is known today as Crittenden Partners. Crittenden Partners, P.C. was formed in 2014 out of The Crittenden Firm with Crittenden, Laura Montgomery Lee and Paige Yarbrough as three of the original partners. Since that time, the firm has expanded to add three additional partners in Deborah Gregory, joining in 2017, and Kathryn Henry and Nicole Saia, both joining in 2019.
Lee, the Managing Partner of Crittenden Partners, describes herself and her partners as mediators for and champions of families in crisis. Lee’s passion for family law began early in her career when she helped a young father win custody of his son during her third year of law school in the University of Alabama civil law clinic.
“It gave me a lot of passion to work with someone on an issue that was the most important thing in this man’s world,” Lee said.
This past year has presented Crittenden Partners with challenges much the same as it has for other business owners.
“We are in an unusual and isolated circumstance,” Lee said before elaborating on the measures that she and her team have taken to keep their clients safe while still providing superb presentation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the unique challenges of the current time is evaluating income of individuals and marital businesses during divorce disputes. During the pandemic, many businesses have seen a decrease in profit that may not reflect the potential of the business long term. In addition, may individuals have seen a decrease in income and find themselves unsure of when, if ever, their income will return to its prior level. While one party cannot commit to payments that exceed their current income, the other party does not want to commit to receiving less than what would be appropriate should that income return.
Despite the unprecedented nature of the past year, Lee has faith in her team's abilities.
“We have a really dynamic group of lawyers,” Lee said. “We have over 100 years of experience collectively and a diverse set of skills that can handle any matter with the utmost expertise.”
Lee explained that having a diverse group of lawyers to assess problems has enabled them to formulate responses to unique issues in the past to resolve cases in the best interest of their clients.
Crittenden Partners specializes in domestic relations, divorce, child custody, estate planning, paternity matters, adoptions, and prenuptial, postnuptial and appeals in the family law arena.
“To our practice we bring sympathy and compassion, but we also bring experience, diplomacy, integrity and strength,” Lee said. “Our benchmark of success is when a client’s case is resolved in a way that the client can feel confident, secure and emotionally capable of moving forward. We want to ensure that our clients feel that we have made one of the most difficult times in their lives easier to manage and that they have come through that time stronger.”
