South Florida & Colorado family law attorney, mediator and guardian ad litem.
Lori Barkus is a cum laude graduate of the University of Miami School of Law. She is admitted to practice in Florida, Colorado, Georgia and the District of Columbia. She also is admitted to practice in the Southern and Middle Districts of Florida and the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Appeals.
Ms. Barkus is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil and Family Law Mediator, a member of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and the Collaborative Family Lawyers of South Florida.
Ms. Barkus was a law clerk for the Honorable Sam I. Silver. She also clerked for General Master Robert Jones of the Family Court Division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Miami-Dade County and worked as a certified legal intern for the Legal Aid Society.
Ms. Barkus handled primarily family law and commercial litigation matters and has handled hundreds of contested and uncontested divorce matters. Through this experience, and through extensive training as a mediator, a collaborative divorce professional and a guardian ad litem, she has learned that a lawyers’ most important task in a divorce matter is to encourage clients to seek the most cost-effective solutions to minimize the trauma experienced not only by the divorcing parties but also by their children.
Since 2005, Ms. Barkus has concentrated almost exclusively in the areas of divorce; alimony; division of assets and valuation of businesses; child support and paternity. She has litigated family law matters in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Pinellas counties.
Ms. Barkus also has been an advocate for family law reform and has provided advice on how to modify the current laws to make the divorce process more streamlined and the outcomes more certain. Through these efforts, she has met with numerous Florida representatives, political groups and individuals to discuss the current alimony and timesharing laws and help to promote change. Ms. Barkus remains active in these efforts and continues to remain on the forefront of the family law reform movement in Florida.
Certification and Training
- Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator
- Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator
- Florida Family Law Guardian Ad Litem Pilot Training Program – September 2013
Memberships and Organizations
- Florida Bar – Family Law Section
- District of Columbia Bar
- Georgia Bar
- International Academy of Collaborative Professionals
- Collaborative Family Lawyers of South Florida (Board of Directors)- Former Member
- Florida Academy of Professional Mediators
- Broward County Bar Association – Legislative Affairs Committee
- Leading Women for Shared Parenting
Lectures and Speaking Engagements
- Adjunct Professor: University of Miami Paralegal Studies Program, Spring, 2008-2011.
- Collaborative Divorce – Where are we today?: Palm Beach County Bar Association ADR Seminar
- What is Collaborative Family Law? North Dade Bar Association.
- Guest Lecturer- Mediation and Family Law – Keiser College, Plantation, Florida
Publications
The Duty to Inform: Ragsdale and Beyond: Advanced Topics in the Family And Medical Leave Act, Lorman Educational Services
Reported Cases
- Bravo v. Hoover Industries, 978 So.2d 835 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008).
- Cordell v. Cordell, 30 So.3d 647 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010).
Honors and Awards
- South Florida Legal Guide, Up and Coming Attorney 2015
- Leaders In Law- Finalist, Family Law, 2014
- Florida Trend Legal Elite: Up and Coming Attorney, 2008
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