Dennis M. Wasser

Los Angeles

Practice: family law

Specialty: divorce, marital property

The contentious divorce proceedings between Jamie and Frank McCourt and their battle over ownership of the Los Angeles Dodgers have grabbed headlines and generated headaches for everyone involved. But for Wasser, it's just the latest in a series of high-profile marital squabbles with high stakes.

He represents Jamie McCourt in a 2009 divorce case that continues to simmer. At the heart of the dispute is Frank McCourt's claim that a martial property agreement signed by the parties in 2004 made him the sole owner of the baseball team, Dodger Stadium and the surrounding 27 acres. On Dec. 7, 2010, the court ruled that the agreement was invalid. On Jamie McCourt's behalf, Wasser has requested that the court order the Dodgers to be sold. In Re Marriage of McCourt, BD 514 309, (L.A. Super. Ct., filed Oct. 27, 2009).

"We're still on the litigation path and the parties continue to confer about the possibility of settling," Wasser said. "From what I've seen so far, that's not likely. If they don't settle, I think it will be a disaster for both of them. The legal fees would be extraordinary."

Wasser said that much has changed since he entered the family law field, after California became a no-fault divorce state in 1970.

"I had been trained as a business lawyer," he said. "When no fault came in, people were looking for business litigators, which was a natural for me. So I got into the field."

Since then, divorce cases have gotten "much, much bigger," Wasser said, noting the number of lawyers involved in some of the high-profile disputes.

Most of Wasser's divorce cases have property stakes valued in the $5 million to $100 million range or higher.

"We've represented several billionaires," he said. "There is a concentration of wealth in Los Angeles."

What concerns Wasser is that divorce cases are getting "more contentious," with some attorneys pursuing what he calls "the scorched earth" approach to dissolutions that overloads the system.

Wasser said he takes a different approach. "If we can take a family and have them come out on the other side amicably, we feel like we've done a really good job."

- PAT BRODERICK