Our Team

Experienced, compassionate and discreet representation for the most important things in life.

Our Attorneys and Staff

Steven B. Epstein

Steve, a third-generation Colorado lawyer, limits his practice to all areas of family law including dissolution of marriage (divorce) and civil unions, custody, nuptial agreements, co-habitation agreements, partition of real estate, adoption, and international cases under the Hague Convention.

Steve has been honored since 2006 as a Colorado Super Lawyer and has earned the peer-chosen designation as a Best Lawyer in America.

Steven B. Epstein

Rated by Super Lawyers

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Tina Patierno

Tina Patierno, a shareholder, founding partner, and Secretary of Family Law Practice, Epstein Patierno, LLP brings more than two decades of family law and courtroom experience to the firm. She is well known and respected in the family law community for her outstanding work in combining various disciplines of the family law practice to address complex financial issues as well as difficult parental responsibility and parenting time disputes.

Tina has been honored as a Colorado Super Lawyer and has earned the peer-chosen designation as a Best Lawyer in America.

Christina Patierno

Rated by Super Lawyers

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Wendy Smock

Before Wendy could drive, she knew she wanted to become an attorney. Today, Wendy is a shareholder and founding member of Family Law Practice, Epstein Patierno, LLP, a boutique law firm dedicated exclusively to all areas of family law in Denver, CO.

Wendy’s approach to her cases is one of compassion, dedication and collaboration. She brings over 12 years of experience in the courtroom and in practice with family law, plus another 5 years as a child support paralegal – allowing a complete understanding of all the ins and outs of every case. Family law has been her passion since the beginning, and this experience and passion allows for confidence and successful leadership navigating the individual complexities that come with every valued client.

Courtney Leathers Allen

Courtney Leathers Allen is a shareholder and founding member of Family Law Practice, Epstein Patierno, LLP, practicing exclusively in all aspects of family law.

Courtney has been named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers for each year since 2009, for her professional achievement and high-degree of peer recognition.

Courtney Leathers Allen

Rated by Super Lawyers

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JOHN H. TATLOCK

John H. Tatlock, a shareholder, has been named one of Super Lawyers’ Top 100 Colorado attorneys, one of the Best Lawyers in America in Family Law from 2014 through 2020, and a Colorado Super Lawyer for more than a decade – for Family Law from 2012 through 2020 and for Business Litigation in 2006 and 2007.

John H. Tatlock

Rated by Super Lawyers

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John C. Haas

John’s practice covers a wide-breadth of family law issues including not only dissolution of marriage and allocation of parental rights issues but also marital agreements, child relocation, common law marriage and same-sex relationships. John is an experienced trial attorney and has settled and tried cases in all areas of family law.

Lauren Wylie Gempel was raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado and is a proud graduate of Air Academy High School. Lauren graduated from Colorado State University with a double major in Social Work and Human Development and Family Studies. After college, Lauren worked for a non profit organization in Fort Collins, Colorado, providing case management and independent living support for youth in the juvenile justice system and youth who were emancipating from foster care. After three years, Lauren left this position to attend law school at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University where she was awarded a Child and Family Advocacy Fellowship.


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Eric Herr

Eric Herr specializes in family law as an associate for Epstein Patierno, LLC. He has nearly a decade of experience serving the Colorado community with regards to divorce, custody, bankruptcy, criminal defense, landlord-tenant issues, and wills and estates in addition to consumer and general civil litigation.

Both in and out of the courtroom, Eric has a reputation as a strong advocate for those he represents. He is skilled at seeing the big picture, and effectively navigates clients to their best possible outcome.

Morgan Paterson

Morgan Paterson is an associate attorney at Epstein Patierno, LLP She represents clients in divorce litigation, adoptions, child custody disputes, and modifications of child support and parental responsibilities.

Morgan grew up in California’s Silicon Valley and graduated from the University of California in Davis where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science before obtaining her Juris Doctor from Santa Clara University School of Law.

Jim R. Vigil

Jim received his Associate of Applied Science Degree in Paralegal from the Community College of Denver in 1995, and he brings a wealth of experience to the firm. He has extensive experience working on highly complex cases, financial and otherwise.

Jim enjoys working with our clients, and he works diligently and efficiently to meet their individual needs and goals.

Jessika Krueger

Jessika received her A.A.S in Paralegal Studies from Salt Lake Community College in 2006 and began working in criminal law. After graduating from the University of Utah with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, Jessika relocated from Salt Lake City to work in the Denver County Court as a court clerk.

Amie Conger

Amie Conger joins us after stepping out of the legal industry for a few years. She worked with Mr. Epstein and Ms. Smock in the past. She thoroughly enjoys Family Law and all the aspects that come with caring for the client in a difficult time in their lives. She is empathetic and can always be counted on to make sure the client is taken care of.

Kristen Keller

Kristen earned a BA Degree in psychology from California State University, Northridge and a paralegal certificate from UCLA. While completing her degree, she won a spot in the prestigious Judicial Internship Program through CSUN. She relocated back to her hometown of Highlands Ranch, Colorado in 2011 and has been working as a family law paralegal ever since.

Jennifer Dunn

Jennifer has nearly 30 years of legal secretarial and paralegal experience.
After taking time off for 10 years to raise her 3 children, her specialty for the last decade has exclusively been family law. She has worked for some of Denver’s pre-eminent law firms and mediators since the 1980s. She has recent experience working with very high value marital estate dissolutions, and also has experience in complex APR and post-decree cases. 

Aurora Barich

Accounting and Office Manager

Aurora grew up in Cheyenne, Wyoming and moved to the Denver area to complete her undergraduate degree. She received her B.A. in Science from Regis University in Professional Accounting and has her CPA certification.

She is an accounting professional with over 20 years of experience from corporate level accounting functions to small business accounting services. After graduating college, she remained in the Denver area and worked for a local CPA firm and a Corporate homebuilder for several years before deciding to dedicate her time to her four children and family on a full-time basis while still maintaining her professional career part-time.

Contact us for a consultation and to learn more about how we can help.