A Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML) and an experienced and creative courtroom litigator for over 15 years, Brendan Hammer works with and represents a wide variety of individuals, from executives, entrepreneurs, and medical, legal and creative professionals to political figures, professional athletes and their spouses or intimate partners. Seeing up-close the toxicity, emotional toll and financial cost of litigation, Brendan concentrates his practice on finding intelligent, pragmatic resolutions to sophisticated family law matters including high-conflict custody disputes, complicated domestic and international child-relocation matters, the valuation and division of assets, fraud, tort and dissipation claims, complex compensation structures, spousal challenges to trust and estate plans and high net worth maintenance and child support. Brendan is also an AAML Certified Arbitrator (one of less than a dozen in Illinois), a Court-approved Mediator in the Domestic Relations Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, and a Court-approved guardian ad litem/child representative in DuPage County.
In addition to working on behalf of individual clients and attorneys in litigation and alternative dispute resolution processes, Brendan provides nationwide strategic consulting and litigation support to private clients as well as family law and related professionals. Often teaming with a wide array of custody and financial consultants and experts, Brendan assists private clients and attorneys in the creation, development and deployment of litigation strategies for complex family law matters; and he helps facilitate the maximization and optimization of client and attorney performance – with a specific focus on the psycho-social and performative aspects of litigation.
Brendan Hammer is a Board Certified Family Trial Law Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Selected to Crain’s Most Influential Minority Lawyers in Chicago (2017), the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin’s 40 Illinois Attorneys Under 40 to Watch (2012) and other honors, Brendan speaks, teaches, lectures, and publishes on various family law matters—including ADR (mediation, arbitration and hybrid processes), cross examination, discovery, evidence, the intersection of forensic psychology with family law, performance aspects of litigation, trial techniques and oral argument. Certified in divorce mediation through Northwestern University over a decade ago, he also completed the family law trial advocacy program and the Advanced Cross Examination Program of the National Family Law Trial Institute with Roger Dodd. Brendan also previously served on the Faculty of the National Family Law Trial Institute.
Brendan brings a unique background, perspective and set of abilities to his practice, drawing equally upon his wealth of experience in complicated family law matters, his own divorce, relocation and coparenting experience, his three decades of practice in both Tibetan and Zen (Rinzai and Soto) meditation, and his background in the performing arts. While recognized by his peers and the judiciary as a zealous, effective, and articulate advocate, Brendan also is proud of his reputation in non-litigated settings as a practical, emotionally intelligent, and collegial professional. Brendan is frequently cited in mainstream media on divorce and family law matters, including in The New York Times and the Chicago Tribune.
Brendan is admitted to practice law in Illinois and Texas
Prior Pro Hac Vice Admission – Commonwealth of Virginia
Prior Pro Hac Vice Admission – District of Columbia
Prior Chair, Advisory Board of DePaul University College of Law Family Law Center
Member, Advisory Council – David Lynch Foundation (Chicago)
Fellow, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers
Founding Member, American Academy for Certified Financial Litigators
American Bar Association – Family Law and Dispute Resolution Sections
Illinois State Bar Association – Family Law and Dispute Resolution Sections
State Bar of Texas – Family Law and Dispute Resolution Sections
Call or email Hammer Serna & Quinn, LLC today to schedule a consultation.