Reel Fathers Rights, the #1 ranked law firm on the 2025 Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies and California’s most recognized fathers’ rights law firm, today announced the addition of Merritt McKeon as a Senior Trial Attorney. McKeon joins the firm’s Irvine office, where she will serve fathers across Orange County and Los Angeles County in both trial court and appellate proceedings.
McKeon brings one of the most distinguished and multidisciplinary family law careers in Southern California. Over 28 years of exclusive family law practice, she has filed more than 125 appellate briefs and writ petitions in California’s Courts of Appeal, obtained three published appellate opinions that now form part of California’s permanent body of family law precedent, and authored the first published law review article in the United States addressing the intersection of child custody determinations and domestic violence — published in the Whittier Law Review in 1998, just two years into her career.
“Merritt McKeon is exactly the kind of attorney that makes Reel Fathers Rights an extraordinary resource for fathers across Southern California,” said Mark Reel Jr., Founder and CEO of Reel Fathers Rights APC. “Her 28 years of trial and appellate experience, her published opinions that have shaped California family law, and her nationally recognized expertise in international Hague Convention cases give the fathers we represent access to a level of legal firepower that very few firms in the country can offer. We are honored to have her as part of our team.”
A Career Defined by Published Excellence and National Recognition
McKeon’s published appellate decisions include the landmark Noergaard v. Noergaard (2015) 197 Cal.Rptr.3d 546, in which she established that in international child abduction proceedings under the Hague Convention, California courts must conduct a fair hearing considering all relevant evidence of abuse — and that where the status quo in the home country was abusive, speedy return is not the governing goal. This decision now governs Hague Convention proceedings in California courts and reflects McKeon’s command of both international family law and the California appellate process at its most consequential.
Her additional published decisions — Plummer v. Day Eisenberg (2010) on attorney liens and quantum meruit, and Wilson v. Shea (2001) on child support and travel credits — span the full financial and procedural breadth of family law. Her national publication record includes two chapters in the Matthew Bender Child Custody and Visitation Guide for 50 States (2002, 2003), a contributing authorship in the Continuing Education of the Bar’s Domestic Violence Remedies in California Family Law Cases (2008), and the co-authored mainstream press book Stop Domestic Violence: An Action Plan for Saving Lives (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1997).
McKeon received the American Bar Association’s Schwab Legal Writing Award in 1995 and has been recognized five times by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for her pro bono work on behalf of missing children and vulnerable families. She is the former Chair of the Appellate Section of the Orange County Bar Association (2012–13), where she created programming on oral argument technique, bonds on appeal, and appellate practice in federal court. She has appeared as a legal expert on Larry King Live, Good Morning America, MSNBC, and Burden of Proof, and has litigated international custody matters in collaboration with cases spanning Australia and Rome, Italy.
About Reel Fathers Rights APC
Reel Fathers Rights APC is California’s most recognized fathers’ rights law firm, named the #1 Law Firm on the 2025 Inc. 5000 List of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies and ranked #9 on the 2026 Inc. Regionals: Pacific list. The firm operates from nine offices across Southern California, serving fathers in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego Counties. Its team of more than 20 attorneys carries a collective portfolio that includes Super Lawyers Rising Stars, a Certified Family Law Specialist, Best Lawyers in America honorees, National Mock Trial Competition winners, NITA Family Law Program graduates, and nationally published practitioners.
Founded by Mark Reel Jr. — himself a Super Lawyers Rising Star (2026), Best Lawyers Ones to Watch honoree (2026), Elite Lawyer (2022–2026), and President of the Board of the National Council for Equal and Shared Parenting (NCESP) — the firm is built around a single mission: ensuring that every father who walks through its doors receives the most experienced, most credentialed, and most committed legal representation available anywhere in California.
Reel Fathers Rights APC holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell — the highest peer review designation in the legal profession — and is recognized by Elite Lawyers, Expertise.com, and Lawyers of Distinction as a top Southern California family law firm.
