Michele Zavos | Estate Planning

Zavos Law

Michele Zavos | Zavos Law

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Firm Summary

Michele Zavos has almost 40 years of experience as an attorney in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. She works very closely with her clients and is known for her creativity and passion when helping her clients solve problems. Clients have said she treats their cases as if they were her own, and many clients return to work with her over the entire course of their lives. She does not offer cookie-cutter solutions, but instead listens carefully to a client’s situation and works with them to create a solution tailored to them.

Michele works primarily in the areas of adoption, parenting, assisted reproductive technology, construction, family formation, and probate matters. Her practice is particularly focused on developing legal protections for families, including families headed by same-sex couples. She has gone through many of the same family law issues that her clients face and, therefore, relates to her clients on a personal level.

Michele was counsel to Jessica Port in the landmark case, Port v. Cowan, which established that Maryland must recognize marriages between same-sex couples that were validly entered into in another jurisdiction. Michele was instrumental in changing the law in the District of Columbia so that adoptions can be granted solely based on the birth of a child in the District. She also helped amend the D.C. divorce law so that couples married in D.C. who were later unable to divorce in their home jurisdictions may return to D.C. to divorce. Clients have said that if Michele cannot find a way to help a client within the current legal system, she will create it.

Michele has successfully represented clients in close to 1,000 adoptions in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Michele has served on the Adoption Rules Committee for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Michele was elected to the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys in the spring of 2005 and to the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys in 2010. She was named an “Angel in Adoption” by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton in 2009.

Michele has represented LGBT clients for almost 40 years. She served on the first Board of Directors for the Mautner Project, The National Lesbian Health Organization, and the Board of Directors for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force for three years. In 1982, she was one of the founders of the first “Maybe Baby” group for lesbians in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Michele was one of the first co-chairs of the Gay and Lesbian Subcommittee of the D.C. Bar, the precursor to GAYLAW, and is a founder of the National LGBT Bar Association. Michele also supervised and edited the work on “Marriage Inequality in Maryland” for Equality Maryland, which was on a review of the Maryland Constitution and Code for discrimination against same-sex couples. Michele’s work on behalf of LGBT families in the Washington metropolitan area was recognized in 2005 when she received the District of Columbia Capitol Pride Director’s Award for Family. She was recently named a Community Pioneer by the Rainbow History Project and voted the Best Lawyer in the Washington Blade’s Best of Gay DC contest.

For many years, Michele taught as an adjunct professor for the Women’s Studies Program at the George Washington University and the Washington College of Law at American University. The American University named her Outstanding Adjunct Professor in 1999. She is the author of many articles on AIDS and HIV and sexual orientation and the law.

In 2012 and every year thereafter, Michele has been recognized as a Super Lawyer. In 2013, Michele was named Family Lawyer of the Year by the Family Law Section of the Bar Association of Montgomery County, Maryland. She was appointed to the D.C. Taxicab Commission by Mayor Marion Barry in 1985 and the D.C. Commission on Child Support Guidelines by the D.C. City Council in the spring of 2010. She served on the District of Columbia Federal Judicial Nominating Commission for more than eight years by appointment of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. She has won numerous awards for community service from LGBT organizations in the Washington area. Michele was awarded the William J. Brennan Jr. Award from the District of Columbia Bar 2019 for her work in Family Law as Civil Rights work.

Michele lives in Washington, D.C. with her wife Ellen and her sixth collie, Charlie. Michele’s father was in the Air Force, so she grew up all over the world, living in Germany, Japan, and Switzerland before she was 18. Michele spends as much time as she can in Montmartre, Paris, where her heart is. She reads extensively about the Holocaust and the Second World War in Europe and its aftermath. She is trying to improve her French. Her daughter is 35 and a professional cook who specializes in sweet and savory baked goods and caramels.

AREAS OF PRACTICE
Family Law
Adoption
Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)
Egg/Sperm/Parentage Agreements
Estate Planning
LGBT Family Law
Parentage
Probate
Surrogacy
Wills
Powers of Attorney

BAR ADMISSIONS
District of Columbia
Maryland

EDUCATION
Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, Washington, D.C.
J.D. – 1979
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
B.A. – 1974
Major: History and Journalism

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
Bar Association of Montgomery County, Maryland
Gay and Lesbian Attorneys of Washington (GAYLAW)
National LGBT Bar Association
National Family Law Advisory Council, National Center for Lesbian Rights

LANGUAGES
English
Semi-Conversational French

Why Law

I went to law school because I wanted to work for social justice. Eventually, that desire turned into helping individual clients solve their family law problems. I began my legal career with Georgia Legal Services in Statesboro, Georgia, working in the Georgia countryside to assist poor clients. I loved hearing what my clients were going through and trying to figure out how I could help them address those issues. I take great satisfaction when my work results in a better life for my clients.

From Georgia, I went to Baltimore and worked for Maryland Legal Aid Bureau, Inc., representing clients in state prisons throughout Maryland. Then I clerked for Judge Gladys Kessler when she was a judge on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. While working for Judge Kessler, I learned how a court really works. After that clerkship, I became an Associate for a small firm, Garfinkle & Dranitzke, where I represented clients in divorce, estate, real estate, and LGBT matters. I also became a pro bono attorney for the Whitman-Walker Clinic in 1983, working with men with HIV and AIDS. By 1985, I decided I wanted to have my own law firm and I opened Dolkart & Zavos with my law partner, Jane Dolkart, who was my professor in law school.

I also gave birth to my daughter while we opened the practice. I worked with clients in their construction, divorce, real estate, and other matters affecting individuals, particularly those in the LGBT community. At that firm, I realized how much I enjoyed working with clients to solve the legal problems that arise in their everyday lives. I left the firm to care for my daughter when she was young and worked as a consultant with the American Bar Association on AIDS-related legal issues for six years, but I missed the interaction with clients. I went back into private practice over time and worked from my home so I could be with my daughter after school. I concentrated on construction and adoption work. When she went off to college, my practice seemed to double overnight.

I founded Zavos Jucker Law Group in 2011, then I became a partner with Delaney McKinney LLP in 2019. Delaney McKinney LLP dissolved in April 2020. I am now back in solo private practice and I cannot imagine better work than helping clients figure out how to address their family law issues and go forward with their lives.

Speaking Engagements

Adoptions Together, Inc.
All Souls Church
Anne Arundel County Bar Association
Atticus
Baltimore County Bar Association
Bet Mishpachah
Bingham McCutcheon
Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church
Columbia Fertility Associates, Inc.
D.C. ACP Program
D.C. Bar D.C. Affairs Section
D.C. Bar Estate Section
D.C. Bar LGBT CLB Seminar
D.C. Capital Pride
D.C. Center for the LGBT Community
D.C. Superior Court Judges Training
Equality Virginia
Fairfax Bar Association
Family Forward Surrogacy
Family Pride Parenting Conference – Lesbian Services Project
Federal Trade Commission
Freddie Mac
George Washington University Law School
GLOBE – Gay, Lesbian or Bisexual Employee Association (US Government)
Hartford County Bar Association
Howard County Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
Howard University School of Law
Human Rights Campaign
LGBT Wedding Expo
Marry Me in D.C.
Maryland Fifth Judicial Circuit Training
Maryland State Bar Association
Mautner Project, The National Lesbian Health Organization
Methodist Home
Metropolitan Community Church – Boyds
MICPEL
Montgomery County Bar Association
Montgomery County Cable Show – “Making it Last”
Montgomery County Law Day
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
National LGBT Law Association
O’Melveny & Myers
Rainbow Families D.C. Annual Conference
Rainbow Families D.C. Maybe Baby Groups
Say I Do
School Equality Alliance and American Constitution Society Conference
Sidwell Friends School
Strafford Publications National Webinars
State Farm Insurance
SunTrust Bank Construction Seminars
Temple Shalom
U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs
Wanda’s Wills Project
Washington College of Law, American University
Whitman-Walker Clinic
Whitman-Walker Lesbian Services Program “Maybe-Baby” class
William & Mary Law School
WPFW Inside Out Program
Yours Truly

Appointments & Honors
Member, Board of Rainbow Families D.C., 2010 to 2013
Co-Chair, Gala, Mautner Project, The National Lesbian Health Organization, 2011
Elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys, 2010
Member, D.C. Commission on Child Support Guidelines, appointed by the D.C. City Council, 2010 to 2012
Elected as a Member, Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, 2005
Selected as Member, National Family Law Advisory Council of the National Center of Lesbian Rights, 2004
Member, Board of Advisors, Georgetown University Law Center Journal of Gender and the Law, November, 2005
Member, District of Columbia Federal Judicial Nominating Commission, by appointment of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, served from 1993 to 2001
Member, Board of Directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, January 1997 to September 2000
Member, Adoption Rules Committee for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, 1995
Faculty, Workshop for Judges on AIDS and Tuberculosis, sponsored by User Liaison Program, U.S. Public Health Service, April 15-17, 1993
Member, Board of Directors for the Mautner Project, The National Lesbian Health Organization, 1990 to 1993
Vice-Chair, D.C. Taxicab Commission, appointed by Mayor Marion Barry, 1985 to 1990
Co-Chair, Gay and Lesbian Subcommittee of the D.C. Bar, precursor to GAYLAW, 1982
Founder, First “Maybe Baby” group for lesbians in the Washington metropolitan area, 1982

HONORS

Named Community Pioneer by the Rainbow History Project
Voted Best Lawyer by Gay D.C. XIV, through the Washington Blade
Named one of the 25 Best Divorce Lawyers in Montgomery County, Bethesda Magazine, 2013
Bar Association of Montgomery County Family Law Practitioner of the Year, 2013
Named Best Lawyer, 2012 – 2019
Named Super Lawyer, 2019
Honoree, D.C. Center for the LGBT Community, 2012
Recipient, Wanda’s Warrior Award, Wanda’s Will Project, 2009
Recipient, District of Columbia Capitol Pride Director’s Award for Family, 2005
Recipient, Incredible Parent Award, And Baby Magazine, July/August 2003
Recipient, Woman’s Monthly Community Service Award, 2000
Recipient, American University Outstanding Adjunct Professor Award, 1999
Recipient, Community Service Award, Whitman-Walker Lesbian Services Program, 1998
Recipient, Jerome Heilman Award, Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, 1987

Publications
Parentage, Parental Rights, and the LGBT Community, Maryland Bar Journal, September 2013. Read the article>>
What the Court Didn’t Do in DOMA Case, Washington Blade, July 2013. Read the article >>
New D.C. Divorce Statute Aids Gay Couples, Washington Blade, May 2012. Read the article >>
MD Divorce Case Holds Broad Implications, Washington Blade, May 2012. Read the article >>
Update of LGBT Family Law, Washington Blade, March 2013. Read the article >>
Starting D.C.’s First ‘Maybe Baby’ Group, Washington Blade, March 2013. Read the article >>
13 Incredible Parents, And Baby, July 2003.
Sexual Orientation Law in the 1990s, Trial, ATLA, Washington, D.C., August 1995.
AIDS Benchbook Supplement, National Judicial College, Reno, Nevada, February 1995.
Federal ADA Protections for People with HIV, Trial, ATLA, Washington, D.C., December 1994.
AIDS and Health Care Reform, 27 J. Marshall L. Rev. 279, Winter 1994.
AIDS and Insurance: No Guarantees, Human Rights, ABA, Chicago, Winter 1993.
Legal Considerations, Until the Cure: Caring for Women with HIV, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut, October 1993.
Creating a Pro Bono Program for People with AIDS & HIV (training manual), ABA, Washington, D.C., September 1993.
Right to Work: Job Protections for People with HIV, Trial, ATLA, Washington, D.C., July 1993.
“Pro Bono in the AIDS Epidemic” (30 minute videotape), ABA, Washington, D.C., December 1992.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (brochure), Centers for Disease Control “Business Responds to AIDS” Program, Atlanta, Fall 1992.
Women in the Shadow of AIDS, Human Rights, ABA, Chicago, Spring 1992.
Directory of Legal Resources for People with AIDS & HIV (first edition), ABA, Washington, D.C., July 1991.
AIDS Benchbook, National Judicial College, Reno, Nevada 1991.
“United States v. Windsor and Its Aftermath: Same-Sex Marriage in Transition,” Trial Reporter: Journal of the Maryland Association for Justice, 2014