Peter M. Walzer

Peter M. Walzer’s father, Stuart B. Walzer, founded Walzer, Weinstock & Manion in 1958 and became known as the “Dean of Divorce Lawyers.” The younger Walzer, a Certified Family Law Specialist, joined his father’s practice in 1992.

“In about 2000, Chris Melcher joined me and, about 2005, he became a partner. We based our practice on being teachers of family law,” Walzer wrote. “We wrote articles and lectured to thousands of family lawyers. In 2016, Steven Yoda, joined the firm and, in 2020, he became partner.”

He said one of the highlights of his career was his appointment to the Elkins Task Force, which promulgated reforms to family law.

Walzer’s firm handles issues ranging from custody and domestic violence to prenuptial agreements and cohabitation. His cases include complex jurisdictional issues between states or countries.

In a complex interstate jurisdiction case between California and Texas, Walzer said he was able to lock down California jurisdiction.

“If Texas prevailed, the client’s right to support would have been limited,” he said. “Family law cases have multiple jurisdictional elements – custody jurisdiction, support jurisdiction, jurisdiction over status, and jurisdiction over property. Because the parties had connections with Minnesota, Texas and California, the parties were vying for the most favorable jurisdiction to file in. A strategy developed to get the best result for the client.”

Walzer noted although the parties had agreed in mediation to a joint valuation of the family business, so much time had passed since the valuation, they could not agree to its current value.

“We were able to resolve the matter without doing an additional costly valuation,” he said.

Walzer has served as president of the Association of Certified Family Law Specialist, chair of the Family Law Section of the State Bar, chair of the LACBA Family Law Section, president of the So Cal Chapter of the AAML and President of the AAML.

Looking to the future, Walzer said he believes the judicial council is needed to implement the findings of the Elkins Task Force which was to appoint attorneys as jurists who want to be in family law.

“Many jurists are assigned who do not want the assignment,” he said. “Another step would be to require some prior judicial experience before the assignment. Often this assignment is the judges first assignment. Another is to require judges to stay in the assignment. Some judges use family law as a stepping stone to private practice.”