Leyla Tabatabaie
Meet Leyla
Leyla is a Certified Family Law Specialist dedicated to helping clients navigate some of the most difficult and personal transitions in their lives. She has been practicing family law for a decade, bringing a strategic, practical, and results-driven approach to every case. Her clients can expect honest advice, clear communication, and an attorney who will advocate fiercely for them while always keeping their long-term goals in focus. Clients appreciate working with Leyla because she is responsive, straightforward, and genuinely invested in achieving the best possible outcome for them.
Attorney Specialties: High-Net-Worth Divorce, Child Custody and Child Support, Civil Restraining Orders, Legal Separation, Domestic Violence Restraining Orders
Leyla has practiced family law for a decade, building her career at prominent family law firms in both Orange County and San Diego. Practicing in both communities has given her valuable experience with different courts, judicial officers, and approaches to family law litigation.
Throughout Leyla’s career, she has pursued advanced family law education and extensive trial advocacy training, graduating three times from the prestigious Kolodny Family Law Trial Institute and earning her designation as a Certified Family Law Specialist. She will further her trial advocacy training by attending Roger Dodd’s two-day Trial Skills Clinic in San Diego, an intensive, hands-on program focused on cross-examination and trial advocacy led by one of the country’s nationally recognized trial attorneys. This continued training, combined with her courtroom experience, has shaped Leyla into a strategic and confident advocate who is equally focused on resolving cases efficiently and prepared to litigate when necessary.
Leyla has significant experience handling complex, high-stakes family law matters involving substantial assets, business interests, forensic accounting, contested custody, domestic violence, and complex support issues. She regularly works with forensic accountants, business valuation professionals, and other experts to develop effective strategies in cases involving sophisticated financial and evidentiary issues.
Leyla's approach to representing clients is strategic, direct, and solution-focused. She believes in advocating aggressively when necessary while remaining practical and focused on achieving the best possible outcome for each client. Representative matters include:
- Successfully enforced a $2.5 million judgment in contested post-judgment proceedings, securing payment for the client after the opposing party failed to comply with the judgment.
- Obtained $51,000 in Family Code section 271 sanctions against an opposing party through two separate sanctions awards arising from litigation misconduct in a highly contested family law matter.
- Successfully rebutted the Family Code section 3044 presumption less than one year after a finding of domestic violence, securing favorable custody orders for the client in a complex and heavily contested custody proceeding.
- Successfully obtained domestic violence restraining orders on behalf of clients in highly contested proceedings, including securing a five-year restraining order protecting a client and the client’s children following a multi-day trial.
- Successfully defeated a request for spousal support following a long-term marriage, obtaining a zero-support order despite a significant disparity in the parties’ incomes.
- Achieved favorable results for clients in sophisticated, high-asset family law matters involving multimillion-dollar marital estates, closely held businesses, complex compensation structures, business valuation, separate-property tracing, characterization disputes, reimbursement claims, and contested support issues.
Leyla is a thought leader in family law, contributing to publications and presenting at seminars and professional programs on legal developments and emerging issues in the field.
- Author, Daily Journal: “Deepfakes in Family Law: The Attorney as Digital Gatekeeper” (March 2026), addressing the emerging evidentiary challenges presented by AI-generated and manipulated digital evidence in family law.
- Speaker, NIPOC: Presented to the Network of Iranian-American Professionals of Orange County on family law issues and practical considerations in navigating the California family law process.
- Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America — Family Law, 2024–2027
- Super Lawyers — Rising Stars, Family Law, 2021–2024, 2026
- Daily Journal — Top Family Lawyers, 2026
- San Diego Business Journal — Business Women of the Year Finalist, 2025
- Association of Certified Family Law Specialists (ACFLS) — Member; Board of Directors; Editor
- Iranian American Bar Association (IABA) — Member; Board of Directors
- San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA) — Member
- State Bar of California — Member
- Kolodny Family Law Trial Institute: Three time graduate of the Kolodny Family Law Trial Institute, an intensive program focused on advanced family law trial skills and litigation strategy.
- Project Youth: Involved in supporting programs and initiatives serving youth and families in the community.
- Domestic Violence Advocacy: Provided pro bono legal services through an Orange County domestic violence organization, assisting survivors with family law matters and access to legal resources.
- Mentorship and Legal Education: Actively involved in mentoring and supporting law students, interns, and newer attorneys as they develop their legal and advocacy skills.
Outside of practicing law, Leyla enjoys spending time with her family and being actively involved in her children’s school and activities. She also loves traveling, exploring new places, and staying connected to her community.
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