Top best Wills Lawyers in Washington | 16 available

The Law Offices of Richard S. Sternberg is dedicated to the principle that bigger is not always better. Instead, it rests on a tradition that actually antedates the rise of the “mega-firm”-the solo practice. Emulating a country lawyer in a big-city environment allows Mr. Sternberg to provide more individualized service to his clients, and, at the same time, pursue more collegial relations with other members of the Bar.. Since 1984, Mr. Sternberg has dedicated his practice to representing individuals and smaller businesses. For those corporate clients who have larger needs, he is affiliated with the Metropolitan Washington Law Consortium, PLLC. The larger affiliation allows you to benefit from a close relationship with your lawyer, but it allows easy connection to specific expertise and more economic approaches to handling easier day-to-day matters requiring competence with a lighter hand on the billing rates. If your matter requires multiple areas of practice and a limited practice, such as tax or immigration law, Mr. Sternberg can get you to the lawyers he knows to be the best through MWLC.

Robert S. Bullock, Esq., CELA, CAP is the principal of the Elder & Disability Law Center and is licensed to practice in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. His practice focuses in the areas of Medicaid planning and eligibility, public benefits, Life Care Planning and Management, guardianships, conservatorships, disability planning, supplemental needs trusts, estate planning and general legal issue of competency, insurance coverage, Medicare and Elder Law issues.  He is recognized as a Certified Elder Law Attorney by the National Elder Law Foundation (CELA) is a member of the Counsel of Advanced Planners (CAP), Chairperson of the District of Columbia Senior Resource Group (DCSRG) and a former Director of Shared Horizons, the Vimer Pooled Trust in the District of Columbia. He recently completed his term as a Commissioner on the Virginia Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Commission. Previously he served as Chairperson of the Special Education Advisory Committee to the Alexandria, Virginia School Board for two terms and as a member of the Governor's Advisory Committee on Special Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2004, 2006, 2009 and 2011 he was recognized as one of the top Elder Law attorneys in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area by the Washingtonian. He received the Education and Leadership Award from the Association of Retarded Citizens - Riggs Bank.  Mr. Bullock is qualified to serve as a guardian ad litem in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. In 2007, he served on the Estates, Trusts and Probate Committee of the District of Columbia Bar and was recognized by that Committee for, “his extraordinary contribution and dedicated leadership in the field of Elder Law.”  He also was recognized by the United States Department of Agriculture for his expertise in the field of Elder Law.  Mr. Bullock is an honors graduate of Lafayette College, and received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.  He is the only Certified Elder Law Attorney (CELA) practicing fulltime in the District of Columbia.

Michele has over 40 years of experience as an attorney in the Washington metropolitan area. She works very closely with her clients, and is known for her personal service. She generally is available to her clients after regular business hours and on weekends as necessary. Michele focuses her practice on adoptions, estate planning and the preparation of personal planning documents, including Wills, Powers of Attorney, and Living Wills, probate, surrogacy, and assisted reproductive technology.. Michele has successfully represented clients in over one thousand adoptions in Maryland and the District of Columbia, including second-parent and joint adoptions, readoptions after a foreign adoption, step-parent adoptions, foster care adoptions, direct placements, and agency adoptions. She has worked with thousands of clients to establish estate plans, including drafting Wills and other personal planning documents. She has also negotiated property and custody agreements for separating couples. Michele now has a family mediation practice to assist couples in resolving their disputes without going to Court. Based on her work in adoption matters, Michele was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys in the spring of 2005. She was also elected to the American Academy of Assisted Reproductive Attorneys for her work on surrogacy and other assisted reproduction issues.  Because of her extensive contacts, Michele can provide clients with appropriate referrals for any legal matter.. Michele has been a pioneer in creating legal protections for LGBT headed families and families headed by unmarried opposite sex couples. She was one of the founders in 1982 of the first "maybe baby" group for lesbians in the Washington metropolitan area. She was also a founder of the National LGBT Bar Association in 1987.  She has been representing LGBT families in second-parent and joint adoptions since these adoptions were established in Maryland and the District of Columbia in 1994 and has been in the forefront nationally and locally in developing legal protections for LGBT and other families outside of the mainstream.  Michele is particularly sensitive to these issues as she has a now adult daughter from a same-sex relationship.. 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. American University named her Outstanding Adjunct Professor in 1999. Michele has won many awards from LGBT organizations for her longstanding service to the LGBT community, including being the recipient of Capital Pride's Director's Award for Family, Woman's Monthly Community Service Award, Whitman-Walker Lesbian Services Program Community Service Award, Wanda's Warrior's Award, Community Pioneers Award, and the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club Jerome Heilman Community Service Award.  Michele received the William J. Brennan Award from the District of Columbia Bar in 2019 for her lifetime of work with LGBT and other families.. Michele was also one of the first co-chairs of the Gay and Lesbian Subcommittee of the D.C. Bar, the precursor to GAYLAW. She served on the District of Columbia Federal Judicial Nominating Commission for more than 8 years by appointment of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Michele served on the Adoption Rules Committee for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and worked with Equality Maryland on a review of the Maryland Constitution and Code for discrimination against same-sex couples. She volunteers regularly with the Whitman-Walker Clinic. She is also a selected member of the National Family Law Advisory Council for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.. For many years Michele has given presentations on adoption, estate, and same-sex family issues to all kinds of audiences, both national and local, including Unitarian Universalist Churches, Metropolitan Community Churches, Wanda's Will Project, "Maybe Baby" classes, Gay Family Foundation, the Passages Conference, National Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Association, the District of Columbia Bar, the D.C. Center, Whitman-Walker Clinic, and others. She has also written extensively on LGBT family law, sexual orientation and the law, and AIDS and the law.. Prior to building her own law practice, Michele worked for Georgia Legal Services in Statesboro, Georgia; Legal Aid in Baltimore, Maryland; as a law clerk to Judge Gladys Kessler when she was on the bench of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia; a small law firm in the District of Columbia, and the American Bar Association as Director of the AIDS Coordination Project. Michele was also a partner in the firm of Dolkart and Zavos.  She established the Zavos Juncker Law Group PLLC in 2012, then became a partner in Delaney McKinney LLP in 2019.  She restablished her solo practice in May, 2020.. She is an active member of the Bars of the District of Columbia and Maryland, and received her J.D. degree from the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1979, and her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in 1974.

Live in Northern Virginia, and enjoy travelling and sports.   Fishing, Golf, Skiing, to name a few.   A dog lover as well.    Hope that my practice has assisted many in their search for justice in each case.

I believe that being active in community affairs is an important part of an attorney’s responsibility to give back to the community. I have captained an American Diabetes Association team the last7 years raising over $130,000 and I am a committee member on the Washington D.C. chapter of the American Diabetes Association’s Step Out Fundraising Committee. I am a member of the McLean Estate Planning Council and the American Bar Association. I am also Vice-President of the Prengaman Family Foundation.  I am a registered patent attorney and eligible to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.. I currently reside in Arlington, Virginia with my wife, daughter and two dogs. One of my true passions in life is brewing my own beer at home.

Experienced Wills attorney serving clients in Washington and surrounding areas.

Experienced Wills attorney serving clients in Washington and surrounding areas.

Experienced Wills attorney serving clients in Washington and surrounding areas.

Experienced Wills attorney serving clients in Washington and surrounding areas.

Experienced Wills attorney serving clients in Washington and surrounding areas.

Experienced Wills attorney serving clients in Washington and surrounding areas.