“I value the opportunity to help people get through family law challenges to emerge strong and prepared to face the future.”

Focusing on Your Needs and Goals to Build the Best Possible Future

Dedicated family law attorney Lauren E. Riley is committed to helping clients achieve their objectives while preserving relationships. When working with clients on child custody arrangements, she strives to find creative ways to keep relationships functioning so that everyone can work together to support the best interests of the children involved.

Compassion for clients is her hallmark, whether she is developing a plan to help a divorcing spouse retain the assets that mean most, guiding a parent through the process of determining a timesharing plan, or developing a Prenuptial Agreement to strengthen a couple’s relationship. She vigorously defends the rights of her clients and promotes their interests while working to minimize conflict and other stress factors that can be destructive when families are undergoing critical transitions.

A firm believer in the value of pre-and postnuptial agreements, she finds great satisfaction in helping couples develop an understanding of their financial situation and priorities so that they can form a strong foundation for their marriage.

Lauren’s dedication to serve others led her to earn her Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from Colorado State University, and to pursue a career in social work serving individuals with chronic homelessness in Pennsylvania before she returned to her home in the State of New Mexico to work as the Housing and Program Manager for New Mexico AIDS Services.

Realizing that her passion for advocacy and justice could be furthered through the legal field, she earned her Juris Doctorate degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law, where she was honored with the Dean’s Award for her outstanding contributions to the law school community, and Outstanding Student Award from the Clinical Legal Education Association. She served as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Tribal Law Journal and Vice President of the Association for Public Interest Law, and later received advanced training in Collaborative Divorce Representation.

In addition to her work with clients on issues involving divorce, child custody, child support, kinship-guardianship, and divorce modification, Lauren serves as the American Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division District Representative for New Mexico and Arizona. In this position, she coordinates Disaster Legal Service programs in partnership with FEMA and acts as a liaison to ensure equal access to information.

Lauren also holds the Director-at-Large, Position 2, on the New Mexico State Bar Young Lawyers Division Board. Lauren chairs the UNM School of Law Mentorship and Programming committee, the Membership Outreach committee, and the Podcast committee. Additionally, she advocates for children by serving on the board of the Wesley Kids Early Education Center.

Realizing that she works with clients at a time when they are facing some of the greatest challenges of their lives, she prides herself on remaining sensitive to their needs in all situations, including the need to keep costs to a minimum.