Walther Family Law attorneys, David Walther, Gretchen Walther and Kathryn Terry are among the most respected in the state. They are assisted by an experienced staff of paralegals and office personnel. Professional honors and acknowledgements for individual lawyers at the firm include:

• Listed in the Best Lawyers in America since 1986
• Former Chair of the New Mexico Bar Family Law Section
• President of the New Mexico Collaborative Practice Group
• Founding member of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers and only New Mexican to sit on its Executive Committee
• Co-author of the book that sets the national standards for Domestic Relations lawyers, The Bounds of Advocacy, published by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers
• Articles cited by the United States Supreme Court

Together with a top notch team of paralegals, WFL attorneys are dedicated to guiding clients through mediation, arbitration, collaborative divorce, negotiated settlement or litigation. Experience has taught WFL that many personal issues frequently accompany domestic relations cases and WFL attorneys are responsive to those needs.

As the senior partner of WFL, David Walther brings the expertise, temperance and skills honed by forty-three years of practice. He is a seasoned professional and has handled hundreds of complex cases, including fifty in which the opinions were officially reported by state and federal courts. Often referred to as a “lawyers’ lawyer”, Mr. Walther enjoys a high rate of referral from other lawyers and professionals.

David Walther has written several books and numerous articles on complex legal subjects and is co-author of The Bounds of Advocacy, the book that sets national standards for Domestic Relations law. Many of Mr. Walther’s articles and books have been used both by courts in their official case reports and by authors of other legal articles. The United States Supreme Court has cited his articles.

Mr. Walther frequently teaches classes at the University of New Mexico Law School on topics that have included Ethics, Family Law and Community Property, and has hosted the state’s only radio show dedicated to disseminating legal knowledge to the general public.

Mr. Walther’s other professional accomplishments include:

• Founding member of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers, a group limited to the top 100 divorce and family law litigators in the country.
• Rated “A” by Martindale-Hubbell consistently since 1967 (the first New Mexico Family Law Specialist to have received this rating).
• Listed in the Best Lawyers in America since 1986.
• A fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and the most senior New Mexico board recognized family law specialist.
  

J.D., Marquette University School of Law, Milwaukee, WI
B.S., Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI

David Walther can be reached via email at davidw@waltherfamilylaw.com

Gretchen Walther brings a strong commitment to helping clients understand their choices during separation and divorce. After earning a reputation as a tough negotiator and litigator, Ms. Walther sought alternatives to the often deleterious process of divorce. She is author of Power Imbalances in Divorce Mediation, a definitive source for attorneys seeking to understand the potential pitfalls of mediated settlements. She is President and co-founder of the New Mexico Collaborative Practice Group, an association of lawyers and counselors committed to offering an alternative to litigious divorce, while fully representing the best interests of clients.

Ms. Walther focuses on and is well versed in several complex areas of divorce law, including asset discovery, valuation and distribution of retirement benefits and privately owned businesses of high net worth individuals.

Ms. Walther has taught classes on the divorce process and is frequently sought as a speaker on subjects for other lawyers, including speaking at the prestigious Law Education Institute Aspen Conference.

Ms. Walther is

• Founding member and President of the New Mexico Collaborative Practice Group.
• Former chair of the State Bar of New Mexico Family Law Section
• Former chair of the Family Law Continuing Legal Education Committee, which provides educational programs for domestic relations lawyers in New Mexico on current and innovative areas of divorce and family law.
• Former Chair of the Annual New Mexico Family Law Institute which brings concentrated learning programs to New Mexico divorce lawyers, judges, and other family law related professionals.
• Committee member of the Second Judicial District Pro Se Challenge Project, a project designed to assist domestic relations litigants who do not have attorneys.
• Appointed by the New Mexico Supreme Court as a Committee member of the New Mexico Domestic Relations Task Force.
• Committee member for the drafting of the Uniform Collaborative Law Act sponsored by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
• Gretchen is the chair of the Albuquerque Practice Group Public Education Committee which seeks to educate the public about the benefits of Collaborative Divorce.

J.D., Pace University School of Law, New York, NY, Dean’s List
B.A., New York University, New York, NY, Cum Laude
Franklin College, Lugano, Switzerland

Gretchen Walther can be reached via email at gretchenw@waltherfamilylaw.com.

Kathryn Terry's commitment to childrens' advocacy has greatly influenced her career choices, including her decision to join Walther Family Law in October, 2007. Ms. Terry's interest in childrens' rights was established early in her career. In Law School, she completed advanced training in mediation, which she continues to view as an important alternative or adjunct to litigation, and critical to childrens' well being during a non collaborative divorce. She has been published in the American Journal of Bioethics on the topic of adolescent law and serves as Guardian ad Litem for abused or neglected children in Torrance and Bernalillo counties. She is a member of the Children's Law Section of the State Bar, where she served as a member of the Board as the Young Lawyers Division Liaison and Secretary. She is currently the Chair of the New Mexico State Bar Children's Law Section. In 2005, Ms. Terry was selected to serve as a Settlement Facilitator in the settlement of difficult domestic relations cases by the Judges in the Second Judicial District Court.

Ms. Terry's continued interest in Family Law, both through traditional litigation and Collaborative Practice, and in Children's law, including Adoption and Kinship Guardianship, complement and enhance the ability of Walther Family Law to deliver compasionate family dispute resolution.

Ms. Terry is also well versed in Community Property Law and will begin teaching the subject at UNM Law School in the Spring of 2008.

Ms. Terry is fluent in Spanish.

J.D., New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque, NM
B.A., Tulane University, New Orleans, LA
University of Minnesota, Semester Abroad, Toledo, Spain

Kathryn Terry can be reached at kathrynt@waltherfamilylaw.com

Paralegals and Office Personnel

Nina Patel, Administrative Assistant

Emily Oskins, Legal Assistant

Audra Burdwell, Paralegal

Amber Mayo, Paralegal

Glenda McGuire, Executive Director

Walther Family Law offices in Santa Fe and Albuquerque are staffed by a team of paralegals and other professionals with years of experience. A paralegal is assigned to each Walther Family Law case and remains up to date on case status through the resolution of the case. WFL’s certified paralegals ensure that clients always have access to their legal team, even when the attorney is in court or otherwise out of the office. By handling many of the routine aspects of a case, paralegals are also instrumental in seeing that client expenses are minimized.