Contact

Gerald Maggio 

Maggio Law 

Orange County Divorce Attorneys 

420 Exchange, Suite 270

Irvine, CA 92602

(949) 553-0304

team@maggiolawfirm.com

www.maggiolawfirm.com

As with many firms, Maggio Law Orange County Divorce Attorneys found the pandemic a major challenge to not only serving clients, but also to survive as a business. In adapting and making the necessary changes, the firm found itself in a position of providing even better, more flexible, and more personal service to its family law clients. 

Founder Gerald Maggio says, “Covid has marked the biggest changes in our firm, how we operate and how we interact with our clients and the legal system. We had to react in a very short time period. The changes were tough, but we’re a much better firm for taking on the challenge.”

The process of making the transition from a standard office to a remotely connected operation took several weeks. Not only did Maggio have to set up people for remote work, but he also had to purchase new equipment to enable staff to work remotely. The firm purchased an internet-based phone system that allowed the staff to have all calls routed to individual attorneys or support staff. They bought another set of computers along with printers and scanners for every staff member to be able to work remotely. The process was made an even bigger challenge because, due to the lockdown, all the changes had to be made remotely. Eventually, the lawyers and staff communicated in virtually the same manner as standard inter-office communication regardless of distance.

Clients, suppliers, and members of the legal system took to the process quickly and appreciated their efforts and proved to be enthusiastic about the transition. 

Maggio Law also handles mediation cases, usually a face-to-face process, but those challenges too were readily handled. “We’re able to conduct mediation by video conferencing. In many ways, the process is more efficient. The participants can be anywhere, at home at the office, anywhere. There is a lot more flexibility now for clients,” Maggio says.



The other big change was using remote video in family law court. Maggio has been to court physically only four or five times since March of last year. He says that his firm has found the remote video process in many ways better for clients because they didn’t have to travel to court, wait around in court, or pay attorneys for that travel and wait time.

He says, “Many of us in this area of the legal community hope they keep up some process for some hearings to be conducted via remote video post-Covid. More complex hearings can be handled in person; it’s better that way. For simple hearings and so on, I hope the court will keep something in place in that regard. Overall, the challenge of making the transition has proven to be a significant benefit to the firm and especially to our clients.”

Keeping It Real

The typical client for Maggio Law Orange County Divorce Attorneys is someone looking to file for divorce or respond to a filing for divorce—someone who has a job or is self-employed, has at least one child, owns a home, and has assets and debts to divide. There are usually issues of child custody, child support, spousal support, division of assets and debts, and in cases of people that are self-employed, there can be issues of business valuation and cash flow analysis. The firm handles paternity cases that involve custody and child support issues as well as stepparent adoptions.

Maggio says, “We keep it real. I do not try to over-complicate matters just to drag out cases and churn out more legal fees. I have a practical approach to all cases and where it makes sense to settle, we always make strong efforts to do so. It makes no sense to spend one to two years in litigation to end up settling based on what could have been worked out the same way in the first six months. Divorce is expensive and can cause clients and their families financial damage in the process, which should be avoided if it can be. But when cases or issues need to be litigated, we don’t hesitate to do so.”

For example, he handled a complicated case involving division of assets including three business plus custody and more. The spouse was horrible to his client and very contentious throughout the process. Ultimately, the case went to trial, which ended with a good outcome for his client. Justice was served because the other spouse didn’t get what they were asking for and in fact, the court didn’t even require his client to pay legal fees. That spouse left with a lot of legal bills and expert bills because Maggio and his team were able to get the court to see that person for who they were.

Maggio practices patience, real caring for clients, and being a good listener when working with clients. “When I take a case, I have to understand what a client wants and why and really listen to them while also making sure they understand the ramifications of what they may want in a case, because in the end, it’s really their case and their life. I need to advocate for their rights and what they want while also making sure that they are not asking for something that would be considered completely unreasonable or not credible in the eyes of the Court. I’ve said it often, an attorney has to ‘keep it real.’”

Learning from and Gaining Experience

Maggio stresses to his attorneys and staff the importance of learning from every case and every work experience. He cites his own work record as proof. He had worked for a number of law firms while going to law school and after passing the Bar, developing a lot of experience in several areas of law. He went to work for several firms for about five years before going out on his own. “I knew the week that I went to work at the last firm I worked for that I had made a mistake and within a year, I decided to open my own law firm with only a few cases in hand. That was a risk since I had three young children at that time. However, it proved to be worth it the first year, I started my own practice in 2005 and I never looked back or regretted my decision.”

Maggio Law Orange County Divorce Attorneys now employs a full-time associate attorney, a paralegal and two other legal assistants. He recently changed the name of the firm to reflect the growth and direction of the firm. “Our firm is a team. Changing the firm name reflects how we’ve survived, how we’ve grown, and where we are going.”

He cites an example of a divorce case that worked out fine for his client but a case in which both parties spent more money than they should have. They were a lower middle-class family and could not afford to spend what they spent. The problem was basic; neither side could agree on anything. 

“I believe that their attitude in that case likely affects them and their children financially to this day. That experience led me to become a trained divorce mediator. Divorce mediation is something I really believe in and can save parties a tremendous amount of money over traditional divorce litigation if the parties are willing to be reasonable and compromise. I created a saying from that experience: not every marriage can be saved, but every family can. That’s especially true when it comes to using divorce mediation as a cost-effective way to end a marriage.

Learning from experience pays off in many ways. For example, the firm’s newest attorney, Ellie Fazeli, met Maggio when they were on opposing sides during a case. She says, “I found him to be a great attorney. He was very professional, and I enjoyed working with him even though he was on the opposite side. We met again by pure luck. He had a blind job posting. I applied not knowing it was for his firm. From the way the job posting was worded I felt that the office really cared about their clients. When I applied, he remembered me and the case and he called me. It has now been over a year that I have been part of this amazing team and it is one of the positive things that has happened during the pandemic.”

“I realize that there are a lot of lives, particularly the children’s, who are impacted by what we do every single day. I am dedicated to our clients and the children. I enjoy my work because I am constantly learning something new. It’s a great professional environment. We get things done,” she says.

Looking Forward to Thriving in Future Challenges

In the end, the turmoil created by the pandemic has created a stronger legal firm. “Now because of what has happened we’re more flexible because we don’t have to go into the office. We can work anywhere. 

Maggio believes the Covid situation was a wakeup call to the court system as to the desirability of using the latest in communication technology. He notes that family court was technology-wise behind in many ways and didn’t keep pace. Covid changed all that. Although he doesn’t predict that the advances will replace all court appearances, he firmly believes that overall, they will improve the system for everybody. Cases will be handled faster, better and more efficiently in the future.

His plans for the firm include hiring more staff as their case load increases. He is also seeking to expand their divorce mediation practice not only in Orange County but other counties, which is now much more plausible with the ability to use remote video that most people are now comfortable with after the last year and a half of Covid restrictions. He notes that although the number of divorce cases has gone down the past year, the firm hasn’t noticed that at the office. There was a lull in the first months of the Covid lockdown, but once it worked its way through, everybody adjusted to the new reality and people began returning to family court. Their case load has actually increased.

“When you practice family law and divorce, you wear a lot of different hats, which can include almost being a therapist and having compassion for what clients are going through. It can be a very emotional and personal area of law and I have colleagues and friends that practice other areas of law that say that because of that, they could never practice divorce and family law. However, I came to realize that my personality and interpersonal skills are best suited for this area of law. Moreover, what I do feels more real to me than other areas of law because I’m dealing with people’s lives and I have the ability to help make a difference in those lives more than I ever could practicing another area of law,” Maggio says. 

Experience

» Education

• Graduated from San Diego State University 1990
• Graduated from Western State University College of Law 1998

» Awards and Reviews

• OC Metro Top Attorneys 
• Prime Buyers Report Top 10 Certified 
• American Institute of Family Law Attorneys 10 Best Attorneys for California for 2017–2021
• American Society of Legal Advocates Top 100 Family Lawyer for California 2018–2021
• Lawyers of Distinction 2019–2021
• National Association of Distinguished Counsel Nation’s Top One Percent 2015–present
• AVVO Rating: “Excellent” 10.0 rating with 103 client reviews as of August 2021
• Google Reviews: “Excellent” 5.0 Star rating with 60 client reviews as of August 2021

» Associations

• Member, Orange County Bar Association, 1996–present
• Member, the American Society of Legal Advocates
• Member, the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys
• Member, the National Association of Distinguished Counsel