Giselle Ashcombe
Founding partner, adoption
Giselle founded the firm after a career spent on adoption files. She handles agency and independent adoptions, stepparent and relative adoptions, and the interstate paperwork that goes with them.
Giselle reads every agency contract that comes through the door, because the clause that matters is rarely the one the agency points to. She prepares families for the home study the way a good teacher prepares students for a test they will pass: by explaining what is being asked and why.
She is the lawyer in the room for most finalization hearings at the firm, and keeps a drawer of the small gifts families have sent afterward.
Giselle’s admissions and education
- Bar admissions
- California2000
- Courts
- California Court of AppealU.S. District Court, Central District of California
- Education
- J.D., Loyola Law School, Los AngelesB.A., Pomona College
- Languages
- EnglishFrenchconversational
- Memberships
- Los Angeles County Bar Association
In her words
The one thing I tell every family
Keep a folder. Not for me; for you. A year from now, I will not be in the room when a school secretary asks for proof of your relationship to your own child. The folder will.
Put in it the decree, three certified copies, the signed agreements, and a page with the dates you would otherwise forget. Then put it with the passports.
Write to Giselle
A short note about your plans is enough. Giselle will read it.