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Michèle M. Bissada, Esq.
Flicker, Kerin, Kruger & Bissada https://fkkblaw.com/attorneys/michele-m-bissada/
About The Lecturer
Michèle Bissada is the Senior Principal at Flicker, Kerin, Kruger & Bissada, located in the heart of Silicon Valley. She serves as a neutral throughout California. Ms. Bissada is a Certified Specialist in Family Law (CFLS), a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), a past President of the AAML Northern California Chapter, a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL), and a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC).
With over 30 years of experience, Ms. Bissada is a seasoned mediator with a prominent litigation background. She specializes in both complex financial and high conflict custody matters. Highly committed to her practice, she has achieved notable success helping clients resolve even the most difficult family law situations. Ms. Bissada assists parties with resolving their conflicts and reaching agreements, without the need for expensive, litigious court battles when possible. She has expertise in navigating parties through complex private equity cases, including venture capital, hedge fund and cases involving assets that are difficult to value. In addition, Ms. Bissada also has expertise in the most complex of custody issues, including children who resist or refuse to visit with one parent, gatekeeping issues, and relocation cases.
In 2025, Ms. Bissada ended litigation and expanded her mediation work, devoting her entire practice to neutral matters. Now, Ms. Bissada solely serves as a Mediator to assist parties in reaching creative settlements, and as a private settlement judge where she can be more directive, informing attorneys of the strengths and weaknesses in their client’s case. Ms. Bissada skillfully guides parties with confidence and sensitivity through the often-emotional mediation and settlement process. She brings these honed skills to her settlement judging and temporary all-purpose judging, which require sensitivity and fairness. As a Temporary All-Purpose Private Judge, Ms. Bissada uses her expertise in complex family law matters to efficiently manage cases and make effective decisions, so that parties can move forward quickly upon resolution of their case.
Ms. Bissada also strives to mentor other professionals and help strengthen the caliber of attorneys in the field of family law. For almost 20 years, Ms. Bissada has devoted time to educating other attorneys and professionals on the finer points of complex financial and custody issues in Family Law. In addition to mentoring attorneys as a Group Leader for the AAML Mentoring Program, Ms. Bissada also presents a few times a year at continuing education seminars across California and the nation. Past events include the AAML and AFCC seminars, bar association continuing education presentations, graduate school guest lectures, private company presentations, and large law firm continuing education presentations. To date, Ms. Bissada has presented at over 50 events.
Highly active in the legal community, Ms. Bissada is a member of several local, state and national bar associations. She Co-Chaired the AAML Northern California Trial Practicum in 2018, 2021, and 2024; and continues to serve as a presenter and a group leader for the program. Ms. Bissada is Co-Leader of the AAML Northern California Chapter Mentor Group for young family law attorneys. She currently serves on the AAML National Continuing Education Committee and the AAML National Family Law Conference Committee, and she will Co-Chair the AAML 2026 National Family Law Conference. Ms. Bissada is a member of the AAML Foundation Board and serves on several of the Board’s committees. Ms. Bissada was the 2023 President of the Northern California Chapter of the AAML. She was also the 2011 President of the San Mateo County Bar Association, where she was a board member for many years and served on numerous committees. Ms. Bissada continues to serve on legal committees and volunteers annually for the San Mateo County Bar Association High School Mock Trial Competition.
Ms. Bissada is rated as AV Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell, and was recognized as a Best Lawyers® by US News & World Report. Ms. Bissada earned the additional distinction of “Lawyer of the Year” in 2021, 2023, and 2024 for Family Law in San Jose by Best Lawyers®. Ms. Bissada has been named a Super Lawyers® by Thomson Reuters each year since 2006 and included in the Super Lawyers® Top 50 Women since 2019, in the Bay Area Top 100 Attorneys since 2020, and in the Top 10 Attorneys since 2021. In 2024, Ms. Bissada ranked #2 of the Top 100 attorneys in Northern California by Super Lawyers® and was also included on the Doyle’s list of Leading High Net Worth Family Lawyers in San Francisco and Leading Family, Matrimonial, Divorce Lawyers in San Francisco.
Practice Area(s)
Family & Matrimonial
Litigation
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Skills Training
Education
J.D., California Western School of Law
B.A., University of California, Davis
