Brandes S.G. Ash
EXPERIENCE
Brandes’ practice engages all areas of family law, including divorce, custody, child and spousal support, property allocation, and matters involving same-sex couples. Brandes is a trained Collaborative lawyer as well as a trained mediator and serves in both capacities in family law matters.
Brandes also serves as an Administrative Law Judge at the District of Columbia Commission on Human Rights. In that position she adjudicates discrimination complaints brought under the D.C. Human Rights Act and Fair Criminal Record Screening Act, as well as appellate matters involving the Criminal Background Checks for the Protection of Children Act.
Prior to joining the Burr Law Firm in 2016, Brandes served for three years as an Assistant Attorney General in the Litigation Section of the Child Support Services Division of the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia. There she focused on establishing and enforcing parentage, child-support, and medical-support orders.
COMMITMENT AND PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS
Brandes is an active member of the D.C. Bar Family Law Community. She previously served on the Family Law Section Steering Committee and the Board of the Collaborative Access Project of DC. Brandes has held several additional leadership positions in local and national professional organizations including: Chief of Communications for the National Bar Association; President of the Greater Washington Area Chapter of the National Bar Association’s Women Lawyers Division; Second Vice President of the Washington Bar Association; Chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Family Law Section Child Support Committee; Vice Chair of the ABA Family Law Section Diversity Committee; Continuing Legal Education and Finance Committee Member for the ABA Family Law Section; Liaison to the ABA Commission on Racial and Ethnic Diversity; and a Board member of the non-profit organization Foundations for Home & Community. Brandes also served as an inaugural class member of both the D.C. Bar John Payton Leadership Academy and the ABA Family Law Section Diversity Fellowship program. Among other activities, Brandes has also been a longtime volunteer at the D.C. Bar Advice and Referral Clinic.
ACCOLADES
Throughout her career Brandes has received numerous professional accolades. In 2018, 2019, and 2020, Judge Ash was named a Rising Star in family law by Washington, D.C., Super Lawyers. In 2017, the National Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division established an award in Brandes’ honor, and, since then, recognizes an NBA affiliate chapter President, each year, for his/her/their commitment to leadership and service. Judge Ash is a recipient of both the National Bar Association’s 40 Under 40 Nation’s Best Advocate Award and two-time recipient of the Greater Washington Area Chapter’s Rising Star Award.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Brandes received her law degree from Howard University School of Law, where she served as a founding member and President of the Howard Family Law Society. She received her MPA from George Mason University and her bachelor’s degree from Virginia Commonwealth University. Brandes clerked for the Honorable Herman Dawson of the Circuit Court for Prince Georges County, Maryland, and is admitted to practice in Maryland and the District of Columbia.