Inquire

Your name, a phone number or email, and a short description of the situation. One or two sentences is plenty. Please do not attach financial records, court filings, or anything sensitive in a first message, and do not include details you would not want read before a conflicts check is complete.

No. Reaching out does not create an attorney-client relationship, and neither does a first conversation. That relationship begins only when both you and the firm sign a written engagement agreement. Until then, what you send is not protected the way communications with your own attorney are.

Family law matters where complexity is the defining feature: divorces involving a closely held business, executive compensation, significant or hard-to-value assets, high-conflict parenting disputes, prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, parentage matters, and post-decree issues. She also handles cross-border and multi-jurisdictional family matters.

If a case is straightforward, she will usually tell you so and point you somewhere that fits better. That is a better outcome for you than being over-lawyered.

Katy works with a team by design. It is efficient, it keeps costs sensible when a task does not require a partner's rate, and it means more than one person knows your case well enough to answer the phone. What does not change is that she directs the strategy on every matter she takes and stays accountable to you for it.

If you want to know exactly who does what, ask. It is a fair question and you should get a specific answer before you sign anything.

Family law in Illinois is billed hourly, against a retainer that is replenished as it is used. Time is tracked in tenth-of-an-hour increments, so a six-minute call bills as 0.1 and a forty-minute document review bills as 0.7. Expenses such as filing fees, court reporters, and expert witnesses are billed separately.

No ethical attorney can promise you a total cost, because the other side's choices drive a large part of it. What you should get is a clear explanation of the structure and a realistic range based on comparable matters. For more on what to ask, read 10 Questions to Ask an Illinois Divorce Attorney.

No, and earlier is usually better. Most of the decisions that shape a case happen before anything is filed: how accounts are organized, what gets documented, what you do and do not put in writing. A conversation before you act can prevent problems that are expensive to undo later.

Yes, and a large share of her matters arrive that way, from other attorneys, financial advisors, and accountants. Send the shape of the matter rather than the confidential details, and she will tell you candidly whether it is a fit for her practice or better placed elsewhere.

Yes. She teaches trial skills as a faculty member of the National Family Law Trial Institute and presents to attorneys, CLE programs, and professional audiences. The speaker kit has her bio, preferred introduction, topics, and downloadable photos. Email her with the date, audience, and format.