Evelyn M. Rodriguez

Evelyn M. Rodriguez brings more than 30 years of legal experience and over two decades of dedicated advocacy in complex family law. Rooted in San Francisco and Silicon Valley family law, Evelyn provides strategic representation for tech entrepreneurs, C suite executives, founders, business owners, professionals, physicians, investors, and international families throughout San Francisco, Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, Alameda County, and Contra Costa County.

Clients turn to Evelyn when their marital dissolution, custody dispute, or marital agreement requires far more than routine legal advice. Her cases often involve sophisticated financial structures, high conflict personal dynamics, business ownership, executive compensation, family wealth, domestic violence concerns, immigration crossover issues, and multijurisdictional complexities across the Greater Bay Area.

International Corporate and Tech Business Fluency

Before dedicating her career exclusively to family law, Evelyn spent years serving as international corporate counsel for businesses operating throughout the United States, Europe, and Latin America. As international general counsel, she managed legal operations for affiliated companies operating in more than twelve countries, including contracts, corporate governance, risk management, commercial transactions, leases, acquisitions, licensing, regulatory compliance, and outside counsel.

This rare corporate background gives Evelyn an exceptional advantage in high asset divorce matters. Living and working in Silicon Valley has given her the sophisticated financial literacy required to navigate tech corporate structures, startup equity, business ownership interests, complex tax returns, executive compensation, and disputed financial disclosures.

Evelyn understands how businesses work. She understands how sophisticated compensation is structured. She understands why corporate documents, equity grants, financial records, business valuations, and fiduciary duties can become central to the outcome of a divorce case. Her clients benefit from rigorous analysis, strategic protection, and a clear understanding of the financial issues that matter most.

Formidable Courtroom Authority and Trial Strategy

As a seasoned family law litigator, Evelyn brings decades of courtroom experience to high stakes divorce, custody, support, domestic violence, property, discovery, financial disclosure, and jurisdictional disputes.

Clients rely on Evelyn when they need an attorney who can quickly identify the real issues, build a disciplined strategy, protect leverage, and move the case forward with composure and force.

Evelyn understands that the best litigation strategy is not always the loudest one. High stakes family law requires preparation, timing, judgment, and the ability to know when to negotiate, when to press, and when to take the fight to court.

Her meticulous case preparation signals to opposing counsel that she is ready to advocate forcefully when litigation becomes necessary. That preparation also creates leverage at the negotiating table, positioning her clients to pursue favorable resolutions while avoiding unnecessary emotional and financial drain whenever possible.

Focus Areas in Expert-Driven Custody Litigation & Child Advocacy

As a mother raising her own family in Silicon Valley, Evelyn brings both courtroom strength and profound human understanding to complex child custody disputes. She recognizes that high-stakes custody matters are won through thorough preparation and objective, trial-ready evidence rather than courtroom theater.

Evelyn’s unique approach centers on heavily coaching clients and integrating a premier network of independent professionals including confidential custody consultants, private custody evaluators, specialized child therapists, and co-parenting coaches. This strategic, multi-disciplinary preparation ensures that her clients enter mediation, depositions, or trial with a disciplined, child-centered presentation. Her expert-driven advocacy excels in cases involving:

Comprehensive Domestic Violence Defense & Restraining Orders

Evelyn has handled hundreds of Domestic Violence Restraining Order (DVRO) matters across the Bay Area, routinely representing clients seeking essential protection as well as parents defending against unfair or strategically manipulated allegations.

When representing an alleged perpetrator, Evelyn rejects the standard, overly aggressive “blanket denial” approach, a strategy that frequently backfires in court. Instead, she utilizes a highly effective path to normalizing custody rooted in real accountability, rehabilitation, and utilization of the right mental health experts. By guiding clients to actively participate in therapy, anger management, and self-reflective education, she builds an undeniable record of personal growth that judges trust. In one success highlight, after a client initially lost parenting time due to a temporary restraining order, Evelyn  compelled a judge to fully restore the father to 50/50 custody within just six months.

Cross-Border Wealth, Immigration, and Global Parent Reunification

For international families, Evelyn’s dual background as a family law practitioner and a former international general counsel provides a vital global lens. She is experienced at handling international service under the Hague Convention, and obtaining international travel authorization for clients falsely accused of attempting to abscond internationally with their children. 

Her deep crossover knowledge includes working directly with the Child Abduction Unit of the District Attorney’s office both to establish pre-emptive good-faith records for clients fleeing abusive households and to successfully locate and reunite parents with children who have been wrongfully removed across international borders.

Education

Admissions & Affiliations

Prior Experience Highlights