Burgos Santoyo Smith co-founders Rosario Burgos Santoyo and Gretel Smith recently sat down with KUSI’s Good Business San Diego to talk about what makes the firm’s approach to family law and estate planning different. It was a wide-ranging conversation, touching on community service, the human side of family law, mediation, and how immigration law can intersect with a family law case. You can watch the full segment here: BSS Legal on KUSI’s Good Business San Diego.
What Does It Mean to Be a Community-Focused Firm?
When the conversation turned to what “community focused” actually looks like day to day, Rosario explained that it starts inside the firm itself. Every attorney at Burgos Santoyo Smith is required to put in volunteer hours at community service programs throughout San Diego County, working alongside organizations like Mama’s Kitchen, Father Joe’s Villages, and Feeding San Diego. As Rosario put it, that commitment traces back to why she and Gretel decided to practice law in the first place: to help people. Building that value into how the firm operates was, in her words, a natural extension of that goal.
Why Compassion Matters in Family Law
Gretel picked up on that theme when asked how community involvement shows up in the actual work the firm does for clients. Family law can look purely theoretical on paper, but practicing it well takes more than legal knowledge. It takes a compassionate attorney. Spending time out in the community, Gretel explained, helps the firm’s attorneys stay connected to that compassion so they can see the human side of a case, not just the legal one. That perspective shift, she noted, changes how an attorney approaches a client’s situation whether they’re working with the public or representing someone directly.
The Role of a Mediator in a Family Law Case
Rosario also spoke about mediation and why it’s often a better starting point than heading straight to court. In mediation, the people who actually know the situation, the spouses themselves, have more say in the outcome. In court, that decision falls to a judge who, however experienced, doesn’t know the family the way the people living it do. Mediation lets clients reach a resolution everyone had a hand in, rather than waiting for someone else to decide unilaterally.
Does Divorce Have to Be a Fight?
One of the more direct questions in the segment: does divorce have to be combative? Gretel’s answer was no, and she described how the firm tries to steer clients toward a settlement approach instead. Part of that is control. Clients who settle have more say over the outcome than clients who leave it to a courtroom. But the bigger reason is what comes after. Divorcing spouses are still a family, often with children they’ll need to raise together, and resolving a case amicably tends to set up a better foundation for co-parenting once the case is over.
Where Family Law and Immigration Law Intersect
Rosario closed the segment by touching on a less obvious overlap: family law and immigration law. Domestic violence is part of many family law cases, and for a victim who has been relying on a spouse for their immigration status, that overlap can matter a great deal. Rosario noted that a domestic violence victim may be able to support their own immigration case independently rather than remaining dependent on the spouse who was the source of the abuse. Immigration status can also come up in custody matters, particularly questions about a parent’s ability to travel with a child from state to state. As Rosario put it, cases like these call for experience in both areas at once.
Watch the Full Segment
The KUSI segment runs just a few minutes, but it’s a good look at how Burgos Santoyo Smith approaches family law, with an emphasis on compassion, community, and helping clients resolve difficult situations without unnecessary conflict. Watch it here: BSS Legal on KUSI’s Good Business San Diego.
If you’re facing a divorce, custody dispute, or another family law matter and want to work with a firm that treats your case as more than a legal file, Burgos Santoyo Smith is here to help. Schedule a consultation with our San Diego family law team, or call us at (833) 931-1615.
Key Takeaways:
- BSS Legal co-founders Rosario Burgos Santoyo and Gretel Smith appeared on KUSI’s Good Business San Diego to discuss the firm’s approach to family law and estate planning.
- The firm requires attorneys to volunteer with San Diego community organizations, including Mama’s Kitchen, Father Joe’s Villages, and Feeding San Diego.
- Mediation gives clients more control over the outcome of their case than litigation does, since the people deciding are the ones who know the situation best.
- Resolving a divorce amicably, rather than combatively, tends to set up better long-term co-parenting relationships.
- Family law and immigration law intersect in cases involving domestic violence and in custody matters involving interstate travel.
