Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Joanna Beck Wilkinson. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Joanna, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.
Infertility is financially and emotionally costly. The growing trend in the family building field is concern with cost-management and reduction, as well as financial assistance measures like insurance coverage and employee benefits.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a family building lawyer, which means I represent clients in the legal process of building their families via adoption and collaborative reproduction. Our adoption practice is primarily independent adoption, which is the scenario where people who are not situated to parent select adoptive parents to adopt their child without government involvement. Collaborative reproduction means sperm, egg, and embryo donation and/or gestational surrogacy. I practice with my mom who is my law partner.
Our firm has an exceptional depth of experience in this area. I’ve been practicing for 17 years; my mom for about 35. We are also unique in our participation in and contribution to the academic, legislative and judicial spheres that have shaped the field of family building law. My mom wrote the adoption law in Missouri and eight other states. I authored an Amicus brief that was quoted in a United States Supreme Court majority opinion. My mom taught at the University of Missouri law school for 30 years and I just finished writing the Missouri bar manual on parentage and assisted reproduction. I’m afraid we have not done much to develop a brand and spent more time writing laws and SCOTUS briefs than we did developing our website. But when clients hire us, they can feel confident that they are getting conscientious, timely, professional advocates who are chiefly concerned with the ethical practice of law, protecting our clients and promoting their interests.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Since I started in this field 17 years ago, I’ve noticed growing emphasis on networking and advertising in my field. I know many attorneys invest a lot of time and money into networking and advertising. However, I’ve found that the best way to attract new business is to build a reputation for careful and thorough representation.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Collaborative reproduction medicine is constantly evolving. Also, it is a relatively new option for family building; the most seminal case occurred only about 10 years before I started practicing! For this reason, the entire field of family building lawyers are constantly learning, developing and changing our practices. For example, I don’t think any of us realized 17 years ago that gamete donors could not remain anonymous, that donor-conceived persons (“DCPs”) would find their sperm/egg or embryo donors. As a result of the growing availability of genetic background information, multiple jurisdictions have shifted to require that DCPs receive identifying information at the age of majority. The lawyers have also learned that we need to advise clients who are entering into these donation agreements that anonymity is essentially impossible now, that their children will likely have access to their genetic background information at the age of majority and that they should consider a known or identified donation.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://marybecklaw.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/familybuildinglawyer/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009007129776
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joanna-beck-wilkinson-7375b55/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@familybuildinglawyer
Image Credits
Nathan Parker, https://www.nathannparker.com/about-1