Estelle & Kennedy

A Professional Law Corporation

BY VERONICA BADZEY

Estelle & Kennedy, A Professional Law Corporation (APLC), is a boutique, full-service law firm offering strong advocacy and aggressive representation to Orange County residents, families, small businesses, political officials, and corporations. Led by attorneys Michael Kennedy and Brandy Estelle, the firm’s accomplished team of 11 attorneys are deeply committed to delivering exceptional legal service across a wide range of practice areas, including family law, civil litigation, criminal defense, employment/labor law, probate, wills/trusts, and business law, to name just a few.

“Whether you are a homeowner who has a conflict with a contractor, a spouse who needs assistance in a divorce case, or a child who has an issue with his or her school and needs an advocate,” relates Mr. Kennedy, “we have the skills, tenacity, and experience to bring your case to a successful resolution.”

While the Mission Viejo office of Estelle & Kennedy APLC opened in mid-2016, the firm has been serving Los Angeles and the Inland Empire since 2012. Before joining forces, Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Estelle had each owned their own successful practices; they merged in order to provide a broader spectrum of legal services for their clients.

After running several profitable small businesses and serving eight years as a Peace Officer for the California Youth Authority, Mr. Kennedy founded Child Support Liberation, Inc., a father’s rights paralegal firm that helped fathers achieve legal equity through the court system. He noticed a strong need for legal representation among his clients and returned to school to earn his Juris Doctor degree from Newport University College of Law. Michael also holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from UC Riverside and serves as General Counsel for the Rancho Cucamonga Chamber of Commerce.

A Laguna Hills native, Brandy earned a BA degree in Political Science and Rhetoric from UC Berkeley, and a Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School. Recognized as one of the top probate attorneys in the state, Brandy has over 16 years of experience in both public law and private practice. Her extensive background includes work for CVI Realty, Public Counsel, and the Western Law Center for Disability Rights. She is also a member of the Beverly Hills Greater Los Angeles Association of Realtors and serves on the Loyola Law School Board of Governors.

Estelle & Kennedy APLC’s team of attorneys has decades of combined experience in a diverse range of fields, such as Economics, Communications, English, Criminology, and Political Science, and they hold Juris Doctors degrees in law from prestigious universities across the country. The firm’s attorneys are trained to expertly handle every case from intake to appeals, whether that requires a jury trial, bench trial or negotiating a settlement.

“We wanted to make sure we have competent attorneys in a wide range of practice areas,” explains Michael. “Oftentimes, we’ll have a client that comes in with an issue such as family law, but after doing the legal analysis you realize they have other related issues that need to be addressed. If you don’t have competent attorneys experienced in those areas, you can end up underserving the client.”

Estelle & Kennedy, APLC is also deeply committed to community engagement. Attorneys take time out of their busy schedules to participate in education panels for small businesses and groups, hold monthly legal clinics at the James L. Brulte Senior Center, Nu Philadelphia Church, and take on pro bono work for local clients whenever possible. It’s one of the main reasons Brandy entered law in the first place. “I wanted to serve the underprivileged,” she relates, “and to be in a position to help those in a very complex legal system, where if you don’t have a certain expertise, you can really get lost in it.”

While they have significant trial experience and will not hesitate to take a case to litigation, Estelle & Kennedy, APLC remains solution-focused. They will seek settlement as long as it doesn’t compromise their client’s position; however, Brandy asserts that they are always ready to aggressively litigate a case. “The client always comes first for us…always,” she says firmly. “We fight for them.”