Gina N. Policastri

Lonich Patton Ehrlich Policastri -- San Jose

For good or ill, the pandemic had a noticeable effect on Policastri's practice. She and her family-law firm experienced a definite increase in the number of new cases.

When couples were required to shelter in place together for months, "I think a lot of people kind of looked at their spouse like, 'Who are you?'" she said. "And that drove a lot of people to make decisions maybe they would not have if they'd continued on in their separate lives."

Policastri has been practicing family law since 2003 and now is the lone female equity partner at one of the largest family law firms in San Jose. Given the firm's location, many of her clients are wealthy entrepreneurs, investors, lawyers and others working in and around the hightech industry.

Occasionally, that can be a bit of a disadvantage. "People who are very tech savvy have ways to make things disappear," she said. A current example of that phenomenon is a case she is handling in which some of the community property was invested in cryptocurrency, which she and her experts are having difficulty locating. "It definitely makes for a challenging process when you're trying to divide that [asset] in a divorce," she said.

In this case, one spouse has offered the defense that the "wallet" holding the cryptocurrency was hacked. Policastri is subpoenaing Coinbase and other crypto services and her experts are poring through records. Their response to the defense is, "You're saying you were hacked, but all of these transactions happened on your computer from your home."

In another challenging case, Policastri represented an employee with a major tech company for the woman's divorce. After a lengthy mediation process involving complicated stock and IPO issues and long-term spousal support issues, the matter settled last spring.

In a more complicated matter, she represented a partner with a high-profile law firm that works with major tech companies. He had been with the firm for many years before his marriage, so there were issues of separate property and partnership interests. The couple also had assorted investments that had to be examined. After a lengthy process before a private judge, the matter settled in mid-2020.

The settlement also included an agreement that Policastri's client is an "extraordinarily high earner" under California law. That means the child support he pays should not be calculated using the formulas and software employed for more typical earners. Otherwise, the program would spit out "an insanely high amount in support to a child," she said. "Clearly, no child needs $100,000 a month to maintain their standard of living."

The settlement capped his support obligation.

- Don Debenedictis