Please note: In November 2019, the Leading Practitioners Award was renamed to the Leading Family Law Practitioner Award.
The National LGBTQ+ Bar Leading Family Law Practitioner Award recognizes lawyers whose work supports LGBTQ+ families, in all of their configurations. Family law involves more than family creation and relationship dissolution. LGBTQ+ family law may also include allied practices in immigration, tax, military, benefits, children’s rights and welfare, disability rights, employment, bankruptcy, landlord-tenant, health care, decision-making and managing costs.
The Award is given each year to one individual who is in the private practice of law, and has improved the lives of members of LGBTQ+ families, parents or children through outstanding legal work, demonstrated by a longstanding commitment to providing legal services of a high quality to the LGBTQ+ community; by commitment to significant pro bono work for LGBTQ+ families, parents or children; or by leadership in significant impact litigation or advocacy affecting or in support of LGBTQ+ families, parents, or children while engaged in the private practice of law.
Each year, the Director of the LGBT Family Law Institute will appoint a committee to make a single nomination subject to approval of the LGBTQ+ Bar.
2024 Winner
Kim Surratt embarked on her legal career in 2002, founding her own practice in 2007 with licenses to practice in both Nevada and California. Her journey in Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) law began in 2004 with her first surrogacy case. Kim is a distinguished ART Fellow at the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, where she is serving her second term on the Board of Trustees and has earned the prestigious President’s Award.
Her pro bono efforts commenced in 2003 with the Nevada Justice Association, through which she has significantly impacted LGBTQ+ family law. Her advocacy has facilitated numerous legislative achievements, including the Nevada Domestic Partnership law, comprehensive revisions to pro-LGBTQ+ family law statutes, a surrogacy insurance bill, and gender-neutral revisions across all Nevada statutes. Her work also led to the establishment of the first voluntary acknowledgment of parentage statute and enhancements to adoption laws.
Kimberly’s dedication to justice has been recognized with several awards, including the Nevada Legal Services Champion of Justice Award, and she has been honored six times with the Nevada Legal Services Pro Bono Law Firm of the Year award. Additional accolades include the Washoe Legal Services Children’s Attorney Pro Bono Award and the Nevada Supreme Court Access to Justice Pro Bono Services Award.
Since 2017, she has chaired the State of Nevada Child Support Commission and has previously led the State of Nevada Family Law Section Executive Council and served as president of the Nevada Justice Association. A pioneer in her field, Kim was a founding member of the LGBTQ+ Bar Section of the Nevada State Bar in 2013. She has been a member of the NCLR National Family Law Advisory Council since 2008, and her expertise in reproductive law has taken her to international stages and media, where she has educated numerous attorneys on surrogacy law.
Past Winners:
2023 | Lavender Law - Chicago
Keith Doniphan Elston – Elston Law Office, PLLC
2022 | Lavender Law - Los Angeles
Deborah H. Wald – The Wald Group
2021 | Lavender Law - Virtual
Carrington “Rusty” Madison Mead – Carrington Madison Mead, Esq.
2020 | Lavender Law - Virtual
Abby Rubenfeld – Rubenfeld Law Office, PC
2019 | Lavender Law - Philadelphia
Tiffany L. Palmer – Jerner & Palmer, P.C.
Fabiana Quaini – Quaini Law Firm2018 | Lavender Law - New York City
Elizabeth Schwartz – Elizabeth F. Schwartz, P.A.
Zack Paakkonen – Portland Legal, LLC2017 | Lavender Law - San Francisco
Debra E. Guston – Guston and Guston, LLP
Heather Fann – Fann Law, LLC2016 | Lavender Law - Washington, D.C.
Noemi Masliah – The Masliah Firm
Cynthia Barrett – Cynthia Barrett, Attorney at Law2015 | Lavender Law - Chicago
Bridget Wilson – The Dean Law Group, APLC
2014 | Lavender Law – New York
Carol Buell, Partner, Weiss, Buell & Buell
Judith Turkel, Turkel Forman LLP2013 | Lavender Law – San Francisco
Bill Singer, Partner, Singer & Fedun, LLC