Laura Alvarez

ABOUT LAURA ALVAREZ — INLAND EMPIRE FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY

Laura Alvarez is an Associate Attorney at Reel Fathers Rights APC whose trial record is, by any objective measure, exceptional. Before joining the firm’s Inland Empire practice, Laura spent 25 years as a Deputy Public Defender in San Bernardino County — litigating over 200 jury trials and conducting more than 1,000 preliminary hearings across matters ranging from complex fraud to high-profile homicide cases. This is not a credential that can be obtained through any path other than 25 years of sustained trial work in one of California’s busiest criminal court systems. That depth of courtroom experience — the instinct for evidentiary strategy, the discipline of cross-examination, the command of contested proceedings — is carried directly into every family law hearing and trial she handles for the fathers of the Inland Empire.

Laura earned her Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law and her Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Linguistics and Sociology from the University of California, Riverside. She is fluent in Spanish — a material asset for the large Spanish-speaking communities of Riverside County, San Bernardino County, and the broader Inland Empire. At Reel Fathers Rights, operating from the firm’s Corona office, she focuses her practice on divorce, child custody, child support, and domestic violence restraining orders (DVROs) for fathers across the Inland Empire.

 

25 YEARS AS A SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY DEPUTY PUBLIC DEFENDER: 200+ JURY TRIALS

Laura’s 25-year career as a San Bernardino County Deputy Public Defender is a credential of immense practical value in family law. Over 200 jury trials and 1,000-plus preliminary hearings represent a volume of courtroom experience that virtually no civil practitioner accumulates. Every one of those trials required Laura to assess evidence critically, challenge witness credibility, develop effective cross-examination strategies, and argue persuasively to judges and juries — the precise skills that make a family law attorney effective in contested hearings.

From 2013 to 2015, Laura practiced in the Specialized Civil Litigation Unit, successfully defending clients in serious matters including homicide and rape allegations. From 2020 to 2023, she served in the Sexually Violent Predator Unit, where she successfully defended motions resulting in the removal of Penal Code 290 sex offender registration requirements — some of the most consequential and legally complex proceedings the California criminal system produces.

Following her public defender career, Laura spent time at two respected Inland Empire family law firms handling complex divorce matters and both prosecuting and defending Domestic Violence Restraining Order requests — bridging her criminal law expertise directly into the family law arena before joining Reel Fathers Rights.

 

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RESTRAINING ORDER DEFENSE: A CRITICAL SKILL SET

Laura’s combined criminal defense and family law experience gives her a uniquely powerful skill set in DVRO proceedings — cases where a father’s liberty, custody rights, and professional life can be dramatically affected by allegations made in an emergency ex parte hearing before the father even has an opportunity to be heard.

Her criminal defense background means she approaches DVRO hearings with the rigor of a criminal defense attorney: scrutinizing the evidentiary basis of the application, identifying inconsistencies in the petitioner’s declaration, preparing effective cross-examination, and ensuring the court hears the complete factual picture. Fathers facing DVROs in San Bernardino County, Riverside County, and the Inland Empire will find in Laura Alvarez an attorney whose 25 years of criminal defense trial experience are a formidable asset in the most adversarial family court proceedings.

 

INLAND EMPIRE FAMILY COURTHOUSES

Laura appears from the firm’s Corona office before all Riverside County family law venues: the Riverside Family Court at 4175 Main Street, the Menifee Courthouse serving the Menifee and Sun City communities, the Indio Courthouse at 46-200 Oasis Street, and the Blythe Courthouse serving eastern Riverside County.

For San Bernardino County matters, she appears at the San Bernardino Historic Courthouse at 351 North Arrowhead Avenue, the Rancho Cucamonga Courthouse at 8303 Haven Avenue, the Barstow Courthouse serving the High Desert, and the 29 Palms Courthouse at 6527 White Feather Road serving Twentynine Palms and Yucca Valley.

Fathers in Riverside, Corona, Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Hemet, San Bernardino, Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, Fontana, Palm Desert, Indio, Blythe, Barstow, and throughout the Inland Empire can contact Laura Alvarez at Reel Fathers Rights APC at 951-339-3826.