DALLAS, Texas (BusinessWire) – Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson took home most of the major awards given at the Advanced Family Law Course last week in San Antonio.
Ike Vanden Eykel, president of the Dallas Bar Association and managing partner of Koons Fuller, brought home the Sam Emison Award, given each year for meritorious service to family law in Texas. Bill Koons, founding partner of the firm, was elected to the Family Law Hall of Legends. And Heather King, manager of the firm’s Southlake office, assumed the presidency of the Texas Association of Family Law Specialists.
The Sam Emison Award is bestowed upon a person “who has demonstrated a significant commitment and made significant contributions to the practice of family law in the State of Texas.” Vanden Eykel, who will be Dallas bar president through 2010, has distinguished himself for his advocacy of the Dallas Volunteer Attorney Program (DVAP), which provides free legal assistance to poor citizens of the city.
The Hall of Legends is reserved for attorneys who have practiced family law for 40 years or more. Koons is one of the pioneers of family law in the state.
Heather King accepted the gavel as head of the Texas Association of Family Law Specialists (TAFLS) from the outgoing head, Charla Bradshaw Conner, her best friend and manager of Koons Fuller’s Denton office.
In addition to earning these awards, Koons Fuller attorneys saw the state’s top pro bono award renamed for one of their own. Ken Fuller, a partner at the firm, has devoted much of his time and energy over the past decade to the free services effort of DVAP.
Best Lawyers Honor Nine KF Attorneys
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Firm Listed Tops in Texas Family Law Has Greatest Number of Divorce Attorneys Chosen for Honor
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nine lawyers from the Texas divorce firm of Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson PC were selected by their peers for honors in The Best Lawyers in America® 2011 (Copyright 2010 by Woodward/White, Inc., of Aiken, S.C.).
This is the greatest number of divorce attorneys in a Texas firm cited by Best Lawyers for the 2011 family law list.
The Koons Fuller attorneys getting honors are Aubrey Connatser, Charla Bradshaw Conner, Julie Crawford, Mike DeBruin, Kevin Fuller, Heather King, Rick Robertson, Karen Turner and Ike Vanden Eykel. The firm is top listed in Texas in divorce law and collaborative law by Best Lawyers.
Six Koons Fuller attorneys were featured in Texas’ Best Lawyers last year and Fuller was honored as the Family Lawyer of the Year in 2009. Koons Fuller is the southwest’s largest family law firm with 27 attorneys in four North Texas locations – Dallas, Plano, Southlake and Denton. The firm is top listed in each location among divorce firms for complex divorce litigation and other services.
Since its inception in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence.
Because Best Lawyers is based on an exhaustive peer-review survey in which more than 39,000 leading attorneys cast almost 3.1 million votes on the legal abilities of other lawyers in their practice areas, and because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor. Corporate Counsel magazine has called Best Lawyers “the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice.”
Dallas, TX (PRWEB) February 15, 2010 -- During hard economic times, the rigors of divorce can strip unprepared people of money and dignity. That's the message of the new book, Protecting Your Assets From A Texas Divorce, from four of the state's most acclaimed family attorneys.
The 336-page book (PSG Books, $19.95) details the financial issues that can complicate a modern divorce. The co-authors are Ike Vanden Eykel, Rick Robertson, Heather King and Charla Conner, partners at Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson, the largest family law firm in the southwest.
Besides telling how to divorce successfully in good times and bad, the authors explain ...
How to organize a winning case
How to calculate child support
What to do with a family business
Who gets retirement accounts, stock options, personal property
How to get the most from the marital residence
When to choose a collaborative law divorce
How to use mediation
How to enforce a decree
"Too many times people go into divorce not knowing anything about the process, and that can be scary,¨ says Vanden Eykel. "This book is meant to educate people about the things divorce attorneys know and see all too often.¨
Studies show that as many as 80% of all people who go through a divorce believe the other side has cheated them out of money. What this shows, Vanden Eykel says, is that people on both sides of a divorce need to know how to divorce in a financially responsible manner.
In the book, the authors list 10 ways to control legal fees, 12 steps to a more productive divorce and 14 financial planning suggestions for a better life after divorce.
Since the first edition of Protecting Your Assets From A Texas Divorce was published in 2005, a deep recession with high unemployment has made divorce more difficult and forced attorneys to think more creatively.
"Many people who want to divorce have been forced to hold off until the economy improves,¨ says Robertson. "They soon realize that if they are having trouble paying for one household, maintaining two separate homes on the same amount of money is almost impossible. For people with closely held businesses, though, their assets are at a low point and divorcing now makes sense because they don¡¦t have to pay their spouses as much from the community estate. We¡¦ve seen all of these scenarios.¨
The authors say that no one would go into another type of business deal without preparation, so participants should take every opportunity to acquaint themselves with the divorce process.
Protecting Your Assets From A Texas Divorce is available in most area bookstores or online at Amazon.com, bn.com, and PSGBooks.com.
Vanden Eykel Inaugurated as Bar President
Friday, February 12, 2010
DALLAS, TX -- Ike Vanden Eykel, managing partner of the law firm of Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson, became president of the Dallas Bar Association and immediately dedicated his term to expanding the bar campaign of legal aid to the poor.
Widely recognized as one of the best known and most respected family lawyers in the country, Vanden Eykel was inaugurated as DBA president at an evening gala Saturday, January 23 at the Belo Mansion, headquarters of the law organization, in the Dallas Arts District.
Cheryl Hall, business columnist for The Dallas Morning News, commemmorated the Vanden Eykel presidency as follows:
"As head of the bar association, he intends to strong-arm those at the top of the legal system so that those at the bottom of society can have access to it.
'This sounds soupy, but I happen to believe it: To whom much is given, much is expected. The license to practice law is a privilege, and with the privilege comes the moral obligation.'
The problem here has never been greater, he says. Federal and state assistance for legal aid is evaporating while the need for legal help grows exponentially in this downturn."
Koons Fuller Rated #1 Among Texas Family Firms
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson has been rated the top family law firm in the state by the definitive guide to legal excellence in the United States.
The Best Lawyers in America, which bases its selections on exhaustive and rigorous peer-review surveys in every legal practice area, named Koons Fuller #1 after six firm attorneys were featured in the referral organization’s publication, Texas' Best Lawyers.
Honored Koons Fuller attorneys for 2009-2010 are Julie Crawford, Mike DeBruin, Kevin Fuller, Heather King, Rick Robertson and Ike Vanden Eykel. In addition, Fuller was named the Family Lawyer of the Year in Dallas for 2009.
Because honorees are not required to purchase anything to be included, The American Lawyer has described Texas' Best Lawyers as "the most respected referral list of attorneys in practice."
The attorneys of Koons Fuller, the largest family law firm in the southwest, often receive such honors. DeBruin, Fuller, King, Robertson and Vanden Eykel have all made the list of Texas Super Lawyers, displayed in Texas Monthly, and Crawford has been named to the list of younger Texas Rising Stars.
Four of the attorneys – Fuller, King, Robertson and Vanden Eykel – have been named among the Top 100 Lawyers in the state.
"We are the only family law firm in Texas with more than 20 attorneys in four separate offices," says managing partner Ike Vanden Eykel. "But as many heavy hitters as we have among the partners, we have some incredibly talented associates who are experienced beyond their years. This gives us a firm that is perfect for cases of every size, and every client."
Kevin Fuller Named North Texas’ Top Family Lawyer
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Dallas – May 15, 2009 – Veteran attorney Kevin Fuller has been selected the family lawyer of the year for 2009 in the North Texas area and is featured in the publication, Texas’ Best Lawyers.
Fuller is a partner in the Dallas office of Koons, Fuller, Vanden Eykel & Robertson, the southwest’s largest family law firm. He is one of six Koons Fuller attorneys spotlighted in the publication, the most of any Texas family law firm.
Texas’ Best Lawyers is a compilation of attorneys selected by their peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America, a highly acclaimed rating service for attorneys all across the country. The guide was distributed this morning in newspapers all across the state. An introduction to the list explains, “Lawyers cannot buy their way into this guide. They must earn a spot through exemplary legal work that attracts and maintains the notice of their colleagues.”
Texas' Best Lawyers honorees from Koons Fuller are, from left, Heather King, Kevin Fuller, Julie Crawford, Rick Robertson, Mike DeBruin and Ike Vanden Eykel.
Fuller is one of three attorneys named 2009 Lawyers of the Year for the Dallas area based on an extraordinarily high level of peer recognition. Other Koons Fuller attorneys listed in the guide include Julie Crawford, Mike DeBruin, Heather King, Rick Robertson and Ike Vanden Eykel.
About Fuller, the guide says, “The 50-year-old lawyer caters to a clientele of high net worth individuals, and families dealing with complex custody battles and division of assets. But, having weathered many a courtroom battle, Fuller’s practice is now trending more toward the collaborative law approach. Even with winning jury verdicts, Fuller says he noticed a lot of ‘post-verdict carnage’ that tore families apart.”
A 25-year veteran of the divorce wars, Fuller is board certified in family law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He is president of the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas, a member of the Dallas Collaborative Alliance and served on the board of directors of the Dallas Child Guidance Clinic, where he helped to initiate the first divorce recovery classes for parents and children.
KF Attorney Foils International Kidnapping
Saturday, April 25, 2009
DENTON -- Nothing upsets Charla Bradshaw Conner quite so much as parents who disregard their children’s interests in order to do outright war with a spouse. Recently she helped uncover a trans-Atlantic parental kidnapping case in which the husband did just that.
A French woman, Cecile Sharp, was Conner’s client. There had been trouble between Ms. Sharp and her husband, Texas computer consultant Tim Sharp, but not enough to affect his visitation with their three children; Simon, 6; Emma, 7; and Chloe, 11. At the end of the weekend, Mr. Sharp did not return the children to their mother’s care and this set off an international game of divorce intrigue that ended recently when the husband and children were found in North Texas.
In a story in The Dallas Morning News on this case, Dallas County family court Judge David Hanschen said: “This is about as egregious a crime as you can commit without bodily injury.” Because of her husband's action, Mrs. Sharp did not see her children for more than nine months. During that time, she filed for divorce in France and French authorities indicted Mr. Sharp on charges of parental kidnapping.
Some time later, Mr. Sharp filed a divorce petition in Dallas County and that's when his wife got some idea where they were, since the court notified her of the impending action. She then hired Conner, who put a private investigator to work finding exactly where her husband and the kids where living.
"The investogator staked out Mr. Sharp's attorney's office and followed Mr. Sharp to Covenant Church in Carrollton," Conner says. "He picked up the kids at the school affiliated with the church and went a few blocks away to a house that we later learned was owned by the church."
Conner handles divorces in Denton, Tarrant and Dallas counties. She was on hand at the courthouse in Dallas when Mr. Sharp was apprehended by U.S. State Department officials just before a hearing was to take place in the divorce case. What happened next has a surreal quality that Conner says she will never forget.
"Judge Hanschen's concern was for the kids' safety," she says, "so he wrote out an order by hand on the back of a docket sheet that allowed me to go get the children at American Heritage Academy, the church-affiliated school they attended."
The Sharp children, from left: Emma, 7; Simon, 6; and Chloe, 11, are back in France with their mother.
But school officials didn't believe the handwritten order was legitimate, and neither did the Carrollton police who soon arrived. They all felt this would be handled by federal marshals. Conner suggested they call the judge, who got in his car in the middle of a heavy rainstorm and drove to the school to sort things out.
To Conner, these actions occured none too soon. "When we got to the house where they were staying," she remembers, "there were three bags packed and sitting next to the door. They were ready to leave at a moment's notice."
Conner told the kids their father was working and they were going to go see their mother for spring break. "Doesn't that sound like fun?" she asked, and the children agreed. Conner took them to her home in Westlake and they were on their way back to France the next day. Soon, Tim Sharp was extradited back to France to face several charges, including kidnapping.
