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Kith & Kin Family Law · Oakland
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Our team

The people on your side

Four attorneys and two staff who do family formation work every day. Pronouns and languages are on every profile, and you can ask for the person who fits you best.

Attorneys and staff

Profiles

A little more about each of us

Maren Okafor

Founding attorney · she/her

Licensed in California since 2008

  • Second-parent and confirmatory adoption
  • Agency and private adoption
  • Parentage judgments

Maren opened Kith & Kin in 2014 after years at a general family law firm, where she kept meeting parents who had been told they would be fine without a court order. Some of them were not.

She and her wife have two children, one born with a known donor and one through adoption, so she has sat on your side of the table. She is calm, exact and allergic to jargon.

Speaks English.

Teo Barrientos

Partner, assisted reproduction · he/him

Licensed in California since 2011

  • Surrogacy agreements for intended parents
  • Independent counsel for surrogates
  • International intended parents

Teo leads our surrogacy and donor work. He explains agreements line by line and is careful to say which questions belong to a lawyer in another country.

When he serves as a surrogate's independent counsel, he works for the surrogate only. He says so in the first sentence of every engagement letter.

Speaks English and Spanish.

Jules Whitcombe

Attorney and mediator · they/them

Licensed in California since 2015

  • LGBTQ+ divorce and custody
  • Mediation
  • Donor and co-parenting agreements

Jules handles separations, custody and co-parenting plans. They trained as a mediator first, and they still believe most families do better with an agreement than with a judge's order.

When court is the safer answer, Jules prepares carefully and says plainly what is likely and what is not.

Speaks English.

Priya Raman

Associate attorney · she/her

Licensed in California since 2020

  • Stepparent adoption
  • Parentage judgments
  • Finalization hearings

Priya runs our stepparent and finalization calendar. She is the one who calls the day before a hearing to walk everyone through it, kids included.

Before law school she worked at a family resource center, and it shows in how she explains things.

Speaks English and Tamil.

Dee Castillo

Intake coordinator · she/her

  • Free 20-minute calls
  • Scheduling
  • First questions

Dee answers most first calls and books the free 20-minute consultations. If you tell her it is not safe to leave a voicemail, she will never leave one.

Speaks English, Spanish and Tagalog.

Sam Ortiz-Hale

Senior paralegal · he/they

  • Court filings
  • Document checklists
  • Certified copies

Sam keeps every filing on track and sends the checklists you will be glad to have after the order, from passports to school records.

Speaks English.

Initials stand in for photos on this sample site. Every person, licence date and story here is fictional.

Free 20-minute call

Ask for the person who fits you.

Tell us in the form who you would like to speak with, or let Dee pass your question to the right attorney. The first 20 minutes are free.

Book a consultation (510) 555-0162

Prefer to text? (510) 555-0163. Dee replies within one business day.

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