Our firm routinely handles step-parent adoptions, including contested adoptions. Our experience includes successfully representing step-parents at trial and on appeal. We particularly enjoy the signing ceremonies when the adoption process is complete.

Lorena has been handling appeals for many years. Her published cases include Sisson and Sisson, Newton and Thomas, Baker and Baker, and Jones and Lindsey.

Oregon courts have the option of appointing attorneys to represent children who are involved in certain kinds of legal proceedings, including divorce, custody and paternity cases. However, Oregon law requires the Court to appoint an attorney for a child who is involved in these types of cases when it is the child who requests a lawyer. The Court can order one or both of the parents to pay for that attorney - ORS 107.425(6). We are committed to children and to their having a voice in the legal system. As part of this commitment, we are ready and willing to serve as the attorney for a child whose parents are involved in high conflict litigation when we are asked to by a court.

We know that dissolving a marriage or relationship can be challenging. Still, in most cases, we find that the parties can treat each other with respect and come to a reasonable resolution that everyone can live with. We encourage our clients to settle cases that can be settled. We know that mediation and negotiation, besides often reducing the emotional stress of a divorce or custody case, can be an economical alternative to litigation.

However, we also recognize that both parties must be willing to compromise and treat each other respectfully or any settlement reached will not be fair. In those situations, litigation may be the only alternative. We have represented hundreds of clients in contested divorce and custody cases, including ones with complex financial situations or interpersonal dynamics. Our Firm is uniquely qualified to handle cases involving abuse (or allegations of abuse), drug or alcohol addiction, and mental illness. We are dedicated to our clients and their children, no matter how difficult the issues are that they face.

We are experienced in helping couples, regardless of the type of family structure, the genders of the parties, or the value of the assets involved. We help couples who are entering cohabitation situations or who are dissolving these living arrangements.

Lorena has experience in planning for the estate, including wills, revocable living trusts, advanced directives for health care, and durable powers of attorney. We are committed to creating individual plans for all family structures.

In developing a pre-marital agreement, we believe that the best and most ethical approach is for our firm to represent one of the parties involved. We have developed relationships with other firms to work cooperatively and efficiently to draft and review agreements that are clear, enforceable, and which both parties feel good about signing.

Our attorneys, in conjunction with our probate paralegal, represent clients in administering, contesting, or monitoring probate proceedings. Lorena also provides representation to trustees and trust beneficiaries relating the trusts.

At The Reynolds Law Firm, we are committed to assisting same-sex couples, whether they are drafting cohabitation agreements and estate plans or dissolving formal or informal relationships. We are committed to social justice for gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, and transgendered individuals and have experience handling the specialized legal needs that arise in these cases, including name and sex changes.

In addition to representing countless victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and abuse, and stalking, Lorena has served on the Board of the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDVA) since 2000. She previously served on the Advisory Committee for Communities in Partnership to End Violence Against Women, and on the Oregon Legislature's Interim Committee on Stalking. She has testified at the Oregon Legislature in support of changes to the anti-stalking laws. She helps victims navigate the criminal justice system, providing information, advocacy, and support through the process.

Lorena provides Mediation on a wide variety of areas, including custody and parenting time, division of property and debt in divorce cases, support, and in probate and trust administration disputes.

Lorena also serves as an arbitrator on the Linn County Domestic Relations Arbitration Panel and can be hired as a private arbitrator to resolve disputes more quickly than the Court can.