I started out as an attorney in a medium-sized firm doing family law, worker’s compensation and personal injury, but rarely have I found a client who doesn’t need services in another legal area. When there is divorce, often there is bankruptcy, there are changes in deeds to property, and people want to create new wills and trusts. Maybe a year or so later, that client has a parent who is in failing health and needs an adult guardianship. If the parent passes away, then my client needs an attorney to assist with the probate process. I have worked with families on custody and child support issues where the children who were being litigated over have matured to adulthood and had their own legal issues: car accidents as teenaged drivers, starting their own businesses after college, having their own children who require custody litigation, and even appealing family law cases. When I litigate a termination of parental rights case, there is often an associated adoption. When I litigate an employment discrimination claim for a company, there are often reformation of business policies and sometimes even restructuring of the business itself. When I litigate an employment issue for a worker, there are often professional licensing issues involved as well.

After years of serving these clients, inevitably some want to challenge the legal system and then my practice branched out into appeals. Due to the strong relationships that I have developed with my clients and their desire to continue working with me, I’ve pushed my practice into other areas over the years to meet their needs.

This wide breadth of legal experience is made possible by developing relationships: with other attorneys for their expertise and input, with other professionals who assist in fully developing your case in specialized areas, and with paralegals who make it possible to address a wide diversity of legal areas and to keep costs down for the client. I’ve worked with these people and developed these relationships beginning before I was even an attorney, when I used to be a legal assistant throughout high school, college and then law school. When I first started as an attorney 17 years ago, I already felt like my legal practice was well under way. My clients feel secure in asking me any type of legal question, knowing that if I do not have the answer, I will get the answer.

This experience is also gained by refusing to be afraid, pushing an issue to get it in front of a judge, and hashing it out the difficult way in the court room. I will always tell my client what their options are: if settlement is in their interests or if a day in court is necessary. I am flattered that this honesty and tenacity have paid off and now other attorneys hire me to attend court for them, conduct research for them and represent them on their professional licensing issues.

Some attorneys are good at hype but being the schoolyard bully is not very impressive to the Judge. My approach is to be good at practicing law. I find that this policy gets the best results for my clients.

• University of Georgia
  Athens, GA
  Attended 1997-2001
  Bachelor of Arts Journalism, major in Public Relations, minor in English
• Thomas Jefferson School of Law
  San Diego, CA
  Attended 2001-2004
  Juris Doctor
• State Bar of Nevada
  Admitted to practice 2005
  Bar #9329
• Associate Attorney 2005-2018
  Represented clients in civil litigation matters and appeals; client communication; prepared for and attended hearings and trials; prepared pleadings; conducted discovery. Management of law firm: track case load for 3 attorneys; supervise and designate duties/tasks for support staff and other associate attorneys; interview and hire attorneys and staff; implement technological changes to optimize case management; create forms for information gathering from clients and create materials to provide information to clients on frequently asked question topics.
• Bittner Legal, LLC
  Established my own law firm in 2018
• Bittner & Widdis Law
  Merged law firms to establish existing firm in 2022
• Nevada State Bar Family Law Section member
• Nevada State Bar Appellate Litigation Section member

We are always negotiating in life - from the time we start interacting with other people - and usually our parents are the first target. Maybe you can convince them to bend the rules for you as a tradeoff for something they have shown an interest in: cooperation, orderliness, success at mastering a skill. My parents quickly picked up on the fact that I was negotiating with them from a very young age. At first they found the serious commitment of their offspring humorous and charming. I believe this waned within a few years. I was around five years old when I first heard, “you know, I think you’d make a good lawyer.” It was repeated throughout the following years, and not always as a compliment. My willingness to question authority and investigate why things were the way they were in order to poke holes in logic and persuade for change was an annoying quality as a teenager. A healthy imagination helps when trying to find a persuasive angle, as does careful observation of the human condition. What motivates people, who are you trying to persuade and what do they find captivating, interesting or entertaining?

A natural fit for the focus of my college studies was Journalism and my area of specialty was Public Relations. Hoping to use my natural abilities for good, I focused on the non-profit sector, practicing promotion of altruistic causes. It was ingrained in me from a young age that, naturally, I should go to law school, and I figured that promoting your cause was going to be the name of the game no matter what area of law I ended up practicing. So true. Getting a law degree is mostly background information: how did we get to the law of today, what is the method by which laws can change and evolve over time, and what roles in the legal system are the checks and balances of that change.

The law itself is the skeletal frame and we dress it up to suit the occasion. Every case is a different set of facts, and a different outfit is required for that particular occasion. To me, the most interesting part of the day-to-day practice of law is the stories. Your stories matter. How your stories are told matters.

Every case has an audience: if you are litigating, then they are the judge, opposing attorney, adversary, even support staff who chatter and have the ear of the decision-makers; if you are preparing documents that hopefully no one will have to look at for years to come, then your audience is in the future and that means you need to explain the context and motivation for why the document was prepared the way it was.

For all of these audiences, the foundation of your effectiveness is created by the details of your story. Those details should be truthful, concise and make your position relatable. You want the decision- maker to agree with you, so that means they have to understand your story.

Being engaged with our community boosts our ability to empathize and be compassionate. To care about those around you is a muscle that must be exercised. Even a small contribution to service within our community creates a ripple effect and can be the momentum someone else needs to build change, to gain confidence, or learn helpful life skills.

For over a decade, I have volunteered my time to “Lawyer in the Library,” a program facilitated by the Washoe County Law Library. I have also served on the board of directors for Urban Roots Garden Classroom. I’ve volunteered for the annual Truckee Meadows River Cleanup. If there is a particularly grave injustice that I can address with my professional skills, I have dedicated my professional services to work on cases that would otherwise get no legal support.

Generally, I champion the charitable causes of my friends and peers, because sometimes just using your own platform to spread information is a service in and of itself. Being present for others and rising to the occasion are the currency of building a healthy community.