We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nina Shayan Depatie a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Talk to us about building a team – did you hire quickly, how’d you recruit the first few team members? Any interesting lessons?

I didn’t originally appreciate how difficult it would be to build a a good team.

To me, a good team is not only made of people who care about their work product but also who care about their other team members. Building trust and supporting one another keeps the entire team working toward the same goal efficiently. In a field like family law, where our clients are dealing with complex issues and look to us for emotional support in addition to legal support, having an organized and united approach is essential.

Hiring team members takes a lot of time and effort, and there are no guarantees that they are the right people for your specific team. Hiring was a challenge for us and it took time to find the right team members and to train them on how we handle cases.

Ultimately, I learned that the most important take away is being patient. Finding the right people takes time, as does growing meaningful relationships. I am very proud of the team I am building.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m the principal attorney at Shayan Family Law, APC, which is a boutique family law firm based in Century City. I pursued a career in family law to help clients navigate complex life events with clarity and dignity. The cases I handle range from high-asset divorce litigation to child custody mediation, prenuptial agreements, and domestic violence matters.

Growing up, I was very in tune with the different family and relationship dynamics of the adults around me. This sparked my initial interest in psychology, and eventually, in family law. A core tenet of Shayan Family Law is a dedication to reducing emotional and financial strain for families. As a local and life-long Angeleno, I’m particularly proud that this career has allowed me to make a meaningful impact in my community, helping my clients turn a new leaf with confidence.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think my reputation in the family law world has been the result of a taking a “client-first” approach, strategic problem-solving, and nurturing relationships within the family law community. My background in psychology helps me handle cases with emotional intelligence, which has resonated with clients. I know that clients also appreciate that I am personally involved in each case. People recognize the difference between lip-service and sincere commitment, and that’s an area where Shayan Family Law really sets itself apart.

Reputation is also important amongst your peer group and with judges. It takes a lifetime to build a reputation and a moment to destroy it, so I’m very deliberate in the way that I treat people and I make an effort to interact with my counterparts at various industry events. I’ve been fortunate to have built strong bonds in the community, which has translated into many fellow family law attorneys referring cases to me. That’s validating.

Insofar as awards are concerned, peer-reviewed ones obviously hold special meaning. I couldn’t tell you how I ended up on the Forbes list of ten best divorce attorneys in Los Angeles, but I am certainly grateful for it. At the end of the day though, client testimonials – both on public domains and in private conversations – carry the most weight. Knowing that you’ve made a difference and done a good job for someone is the ultimate reward.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I came into law school wanting to be a family law attorney but, somewhere along the way, I took an interest in real estate and pursued a career as a real estate attorney. I had the opportunity to work for a prominent real estate investor while in law school and eventually became the real estate chair for Pepperdine’s Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law. I refined my family law skills in parallel, getting a certificate in dispute resolution from the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution and working at the Harriet Buhai Center for Family Law, but I ended up accepting a position at a publicly-traded REIT after graduation.

While real estate work was interesting, it didn’t take me long to realize that my passion remained in family law. Against the advice of mentors who cautioned me against trading a position at a prominent REIT for the emotional demands of family law, I made the decision to leave my real estate job and go all-in on family law in 2018. This decision was daunting at the time, but it has been profoundly fulfilling and I’ve never looked back. If anything, the real estate detour has actually been helpful when negotiating prenups for real estate developers or handling divorce cases involving real estate.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shayanlegal.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/shayanfamilylaw/
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/people/Shayan-Family-Law-APC/61551058262329
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/shayanfamilylaw
• Twitter: https://x.com/ShayanFamilyLaw
• Yelp: https://yelp.com/biz/shayan-family-law-apc-los-angeles
• Other: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/legal/divorce/best-divorce-lawyers-los-angeles-ca/
  https://profiles.superlawyers.com/california/los-angeles/lawyer/nina-shayan-depatie/48ed20f2-474d-4f27-865f-c13d4d25024c.html
  https://www.bestlawyers.com/lawyers/nina-shayan-depatie/416343
  https://doylesguide.com/business-directory/nina-shayan-depatie/

Image Credits

Olena Seregina