Oct. 27, 2016
Ideal Legal Group Inc.
See more on Ideal Legal Group Inc.Alhambra, San Francisco and New York / Family law
Evie P. Jeang's Ideal Legal Group Inc. specializes in international family law with an emphasis on divorce, custody and surrogacy law for a largely Asian clientele. In an unusual example of a practice grounded fully in experience, Jeang has lived what she offers clients. She is an immigrant from Taiwan who has married and divorced in the U.S. and now has a 2-year-old son who was carried by a surrogate using Jeang's eggs and sperm from her then-husband.
"I came here at age 12," she said. "I have learned that the best way to know something was to have had personal life experiences myself. When I froze my eggs at age 30, people thought I was crazy." She explained that her hectic life running a firm, aided by four associates with offices in Alhambra, San Francisco and New York, left her fearing she would never have time to give birth the conventional way. Then she developed a medical condition that made it dangerous for her to give birth. Surrogacy worked for her, and the legal complexities of the process translate to a strong client service model for clients, she said.
"I learned by going through it," she said. "And I have the cultural awareness to help others in the community." As a bonus, she speaks Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese.
As an example, her firm is helping a wealthy Chinese man find an egg donor and surrogate in the U.S. He has been unable to start a family in China due to strict surrogacy laws barring single men from using egg donors. "About 40 percent of my practice is surrogacy," she said. "Often, older gentlemen want to pass on their genes and carry on their name to the next generation. We can arrange an egg donor and find someone to carry the child. We can deal with local laws. There are egg and sperm donor contracts. It can get very complex. It's fascinating work."
Her firm is also representing a Chinese couple that has one child but was unable to have more due to China's one-child policy, a rule that ended about a year ago but has altered many families' plans. "Now that the couple lives in New Zealand," Jeang said, "they can have a second child but would like to use a U.S. surrogate to avoid complications arising from the wife's age."
She gets interesting requests. "I want an Asian egg donor who is college educated," she quoted a familiar request. "I feel almost like we're helping to clone people. It seems we might be getting to that stage, and if we do, I'll be well-positioned to help."
In an international divorce matter, Jeang said she obtained a favorable judgment on behalf of a Taiwanese doctor in an initial divorce and property settlement in the U.S. However, the wife attempted to invalidate the judgment by filing suit in Taiwan. The court there affirmed the original U.S. decision, but the wife has yet to transfer a deed and title to the contested property. Jeang said she continues to litigate to ensure the property is transferred to the U.S.
Jeang founded Ideal Legal Group in 2006 after working in private practice and practicing workers compensation law for a state agency. "I was bored," she said. "I wanted to see how much I could grow serving my community." Over the past year, Jeang said she has successfully handled complicated family law matters involving courts in the U.S., China, Taiwan and India. She represented a client of Indian descent who wished to establish custody of his 10-year-old son in the U.S. The wife filed for divorce in India to regain her dowry and ensure that her son, who had been living in the U.S., would return to India with her. Jeang assisted with the U.S. divorce and moved the case to the Indian court system.
"Dealing with the creation of human life is very rewarding," she said. "We see how science advances and the law tries to keep up." She provides pro bono legal services through her recently launched Raised by a Village, a nonprofit project that works with community organizations to mentor and provide resources to children whose families are going through divorce. She spends a week each month in her San Francisco office. "And I have the only New York license [in the office], so I fly there, too," she said. "My eyes are red a lot."
— John Roemer
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