Bailey Penzotti

As the managing family law attorney for Wine Country Family Law & Bankruptcy Office, Bailey Penzotti brings 17 years of unique background to the firm. Her passion for client advocacy and steadfast belief in equal rights for all has served her well throughout her career. She loves meeting new clients, learning about their stories, and growing with them as they work together on a case.

Bailey received her undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University in 1997, followed by her J.D. from the New College of California School of Law in 2000. Before joining the firm, she served as Family Law Facilitator for Mendocino County Superior Court, providing assistance to self-represented litigants, helping them understand the court process, completing necessary forms, and teaching basic legal concepts in child custody, visitation, support and domestic violence. There, she also developed the court’s “One Day Divorce/Agreement” program to offer swift legal services to those who need it most.

Above all, Bailey is a coach at heart. The decision to divorce someone, file bankruptcy, or figure out what’s best for one’s kids and how one will support them takes an emotional toll on a person, which she knows from experience. Her favorite part about being an attorney, though, is being able to use her legal knowledge and experience to help guide someone through the dark times in their lives, helping them see the light at the end of the tunnel. Bailey understands that each person is unique and has their own, specific circumstances that could produce a completely different outcome from the next person.

But what does she love most about her job? The diversity of the people she is privileged to know through the practice of law. Bailey has long served as an activist to uphold the rights of others, marching for causes like working against the KKK in Kentucky, and women’s rights and gay rights in California. During her experience in a corporate setting, Bailey has fought hard for things like sharing accumulated sick time for coworkers, in addition to organizing non-union strikes to combat racial, cultural, and gender discrimination.

Now that she is in private practice, Bailey’s background helps her understand the volatility of family law and the stress people contemplating bankruptcy endure. She respects her clients’ emotional needs, delivering services that understands the personal nature of issues like family law and bankruptcy. Bailey gets to know her clients on a personal level, applying facts to the law, and standing by their side through the uncertainty.

As an example of Bailey’s dedication to her clients and effective representation, one of her cases resulted in a judicial finding that the opposing party was a vexatious litigant. The 1st District Court of Appeal of the State of California subsequently upheld this court decision.

Bailey also provides coaching support outside of the office – she’s a certified running 101 coach with local and national running organizations, like Road Runners Club of America and San Francisco Road Runners Club. She coached many new runners through their first marathons, a 5-time marathoner herself (with too many half-marathons under her sneakers than she can count). Win or lose, though, Bailey is an avid 49’ers and SF Giants fan. She’s even more passionate when the Giants play the L.A. Dodgers!

What Working With Our Team is Like

When you first call the office, you’ll be connected to our intake team who will talk with you to determine what your legal issue is and if it’s something we can help you with. If we decide that we can help, our intake team will then schedule a consultation with either Bailey or another attorney from our firm. You’ll also need to pay a consultation fee at this point. If we determine that we’re not able to assist you with your legal issue, we’ll do our best to refer you to someone who can.

Clients work closely with everyone on our team. The amount of time you spend with each of us will depend on how we can best accommodate your needs. You’ll initially work with our Legal Case Administrator, who will handle your calls, schedule your appointments, set up your case with us, and discuss your billing with you. You’ll also work with our highly-trained and experienced paralegals who will gather the facts that are pertinent to your case, prepare any necessary documents, file them in our various courts, coordinate hearings, and make sure we know and are sticking to all deadlines.

As your attorney, Bailey will be working closely with you to answer any and all legal questions you may have, discuss your situation so she can gather necessary facts for your specific case, prepare you for court hearings, and inform you of the results. Our whole legal team may end up working together to determine the best plan of action for your situation, which we then directly discuss with our clients.

It’s best to work with our entire team in order to provide you with the top-notch legal service we’re known for. This means that if one of our attorneys is out sick or goes on vacation (yes, we actually take vacations), then another team member will step in to continue helping you.