Brian M. Hirsch

Brian has been a divorce attorney in Northern Virginia since 1985. He is also certified by the Virginia Supreme Court as a family law mediator. He is listed in "Best Lawyers in America", Washingtonian and Northern Virginia magazine's Top Divorce Lawyers and Virginia Business magazine's "Legal Elite," as both a lawyer and mediator. He is a Commissioner in Chancery as well as a Neutral Case Evaluator for Fairfax County Circuit Court.

Brian served on the Virginia State Bar's Fifth District Disciplinary Committee and on the Virginia Bar Association's Family Law Coalition, which suggests, reviews and comments upon proposed family law legistlation. He has been a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers since 2004, and a Fellow of the Virginia Law Foundation since 2023. He is a past chair of the Board of Governors of the Family Law Section of the Virginia State Bar (2002-2008 term). Brian was selected as the "Lawyer of the Year" by Best Lawyers for Family Law Mediation in the Washington D.C., area (2025).

Brian has authored The Virginia Family Law Trial Handbook as well as several family law articles. He was the editor of the Virginia Family Law Quarterly (2014 to 2023), and lecturea regularly at continuing legal education seminars, including:

• Family Law Mediation: Improving Outcomes (2024)
• “Burdensome” Issues in Equitable Distribution Cases: Determining Burdens and Standards of Proof (2023)
• Practical Advice: Evidence in Family Law Practice (2022)
• Navigating Resist/Refuse Custody Cases (2022)
• Assisting Our Community: Neighborhood Outreach Program Training – Family Law (2021)
• Where Should I Bring My Case? Strategic Considerations When There are Jurisdiction Options in Family Law Cases (2020)
• Resist/Refuse Custody Cases: When Children Won’t Go with a Parent (2019)
• Avoiding, Bringing and Defending Rules to Show Cause (2018)
• Mixed Custody Child Support Guidelines (2018)
• Difficult Clients and Counsel in High-Conflict Cases: Being Ethical and Effective (2018) The Gray Divorce: Divorcing Later in Life (2017)
• Family Law Legislative and Case Law Update (2016)
• Trial Preparation and Presentation of Child Custody Cases (2016 and 2020)
• Difficult Clients and Counsel in High Conflict Cases: Being Ethical and Effective (October 2015)
• Navigating the High Conflict Divorce (2014) Getting to Yes (2014)
• Everything You Wanted to Know About Child Support (2013) Examining the Trend Toward Shared Custody (2011)
• Divorce, Foreclosure and Bankruptcy (2011)
• Family Law at the Intersection of Divorce and Religion (2010)
• Anatomy of a Spousal Support Hearing (2010) Spousal Support Trial Strategies (2009)
• Equitable Distribution in a Recession (2009)
• Evidentiary Issues and Objections in Family Law Cases (2008)
• 23rd Annual Advanced Family Law Seminar, Moderator (2007)
• The Evolving Role of Fault in Divorce (April 2006)
• Legal Ethics: Dealing with Difficult Clients and Counsel (May 2005)
• So You Thought You Could Avoid Family Law (November 2004)
• Family Law Discovery (May 2004)
• Managing Equitable Distribution Cases (July 2003)
• Relocation Custody Cases (April 2002)
• Division of Stock Options in Divorce (June 2001)
• Rehabilitative Alimony (May 2000)
  

Brian graduated from The American University, Washington College of Law in 1985 and The Pennsylvania State University (magna cum laude) in 1982. He is also a member of the Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society.