Azadeh Akbari

Ms. Azadeh Akbari founded Akbari Law, Ltd. in November of 2018 after working for a U.S. & World News Tier-1 ranked family law firm for over 3 years as an associate attorney where she worked on countless litigated, mediated, and collaborative family law matters covering a broad range of issues.  Azadeh is a seasoned, versatile, and highly skilled practitioner and whether successfully litigating pretrials, hearings, and trials in the courtroom to strategizing and negotiating a settlement, Azadeh is a lawyer who you can trust no matter where the circumstances of your family law issue takes you. Backed with expertise, experience, and results, she envisioned a practice offering high end services and resources at a competitive cost while guiding clients through navigating the intricacies of the two things that matter most- their family and finances. Azadeh caters to each client by protecting what matters most and identifying each client’s specific goals and concerns, and then individually advising the client on the options that would work best for the client’s future, family, and estate.  Azadeh’s background and experience coupled with the education she provides her clients empowers and instills confidence in her clients.  She equips clients with the knowledge, clarity, and guidance necessary for each client to feel confident that he or she knows and understands the full range of his or her rights and options during a sometimes emotional, overwhelming, and/or confusing process.  

Azadeh will walk each client through whether litigated, collaborative, and/or mediated services would best fit the client’s unique family dynamic and/or goals. Clients may also take advantage and utilize the firm’s relationships with a vast network of professionals, including, but not limited to, mediators, arbitrators, mental health professionals and evaluators, child evaluators, communication and coparenting coaches, accountants and tax professionals, valuators and financial experts, vocational experts, real estate brokers and attorneys, and investigators.

During Law Week in 2017, Azadeh helped the Chicago Bar Association to organize and host a “Meet the Judges” reception and the presentation of the Liberty Bell Award and helped raise donations towards child abuse prevention month.  In 2018, Azadeh taught a deposition workshop class for CPAs and forensic analysts at the AICPA national conference in Chicago, Illinois.  Azadeh organized and moderated the CBA Domestic Relations Committee Event "The Protection of Domestic Violence Victims During the Pandemic" with the Honorable Raul Vega, Presiding Judge of the Cook County Domestic Violence Division and Bridget Davis of Berger Schatz LLP.  Azadeh spoke about the status of SB2471 and pending legislation regarding the Confidentiality Provision of the Counseling Statute at the CBA's Domestic Relations Committee event.  She also hosted an event where she gave attorneys crucial practice tips once the pandemic hit.  Azadeh  served as the Vice Chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Domestic Relations Division from 2020-2023.  She secured notable speakers such as Jeff Brend and Kimberly Cook  

Azadeh secured notable results for her clients in 2021.  She secured a 6/14 schedule for a father of an infant.  A prominent mediator in Chicago gave settlement recommendations that a promissory note signed by Azadeh's client be allocated 100% to opposing party without the offsetting assets in their property settlement in exchange for this allocation.  She secured a 50/50 overnight schedule after a Court originally ordered her client to Skype contact with a child and no overnights.  Azadeh also currently represents a client with a multi mullion dollar estate and diversified assets in a mediation with another prominent mediator in which the issues are termination of maintenance because of cohabitation (motion for termination filed by Azadeh), cross dissipation claims, cross vocational experts on husband's income and voluntary/involuntary unemployment/underemployment, and opposing valuations of residential properties. After vigorous post decree litigation and 8 day trial before Judge Sullivan against a prominent law firm, Azadeh secured a relocation for her client to her partner's home in Batavia, change of the child's high school to Batavia, Illinois, 9 hours of parenting time per week for the opposing party who the Court found to be a serious endangerment to the child after Azadeh filed for restriction of his parenting time, and a modification to sole decision making in educational decisions to her client in September of 2021.  

In 2022, Azadeh quickly obtained an order retaining Batavia schooling for her client's child after she stopped attending under her father's influence and opposing counsel filed an emergency motion to change schools before a new Judge- Judge Jannusch.  Judge Jannusch also found the matter not to be an emergency after hearing ruling in Azadeh's favor.  In 2022, Azadeh secured a 57/43 split of a multi million dollar estate (her client receiving 43%) including a maintenance waiver in a long term marriage with millions claimed in dissipation and retroactive maintenance.  In this case it was claimed that her client should be imputed $600,000 per year with back maintenance claims through approximately 2015 (case had been pending since 2014 and client unemployed from approximately 2014-2021).  After financial arbitration with former Judge Nancy Katz, Azadeh secured an allocation of the largest debt in the estate (a promissory note signed by her client) to her client's husband after vigorous legal arguments that the promissory note was void as a matter of law pursuant to the statute of limitations and 815 ILCS 160/2.  In 2022, Azadeh obtained guardianship for her clients who were grandparents of a child whose mother had died and the father had minimal involvement with the child.  In 2022, Azadeh obtained temporary sole physical custody/parenting time for her client who was a maternal grandmother to infant in domestic relations court before Judge Lori Rosen against the biological father.  In 2022, Azadeh secured a Judgment for over $18,000 in attorneys’s fees on a domestic violence case. In 2022, afte a highly contentious multi day trial, Azadeh received a Judgment in favor of her client removing supervision of his parenting time against the recommendations of a Guardian Ad Litem and Dr. David Finn.  Azadeh cross examined Dr. Finn and deposed the Guardian Ad Litem.  In 2023, Judge Lori Rosen granted two final orders on separate cases in favor of Azadeh’s clients (one maternal grandmother and the second case two maternal grandparents) with 100% of parenting time ( one case being subject to a conditional step up schedule for biological father with up to two overnights every 14 days) .   The maternal grandmother also secured final decision making if an agreement could not be reached with the biological father in one case and in the other the maternal grandparents were granted 100% of decision making.  

Azadeh secured child support for the maternal grandmother and maternal grandparents in two separate cases in 2023.  In 2023, Azadeh reduced a child support obligation for her high income earning client paying above guideline child support by over $2,000 per month in DuPage County before Judge Bendik.  

Azadeh secured a highly contested substitution of Judge in 2024 after a case had been pending since approximately May of 2023 and the parties engaged in numerous pretrials and entered substantive agreed orders in DuPage County.  In 2024, Azadeh is completed  a high asset prenuptial agreement representing a doctor earning $900,000 per year and with a multi million dollar estate with diversified assets with a very favorable outcome.   In 2024, Azadeh won a multi day evidentiary hearing against a local litigation lawyer in DuPage County wherein the Judge granted her Motion for 604.10b and denied opposing counsel's 215 motion against her client (the Judge ruled in her favor on both of these issues over the recommendations of the Guardian Ad Litem).  In 2024, Azadeh secured a correlative order of protection after her client's abuser already obtained an order of protection against her client based on false claims.  In 2024, Azadeh obtained a father of a child under 2 his first  overnight parenting time orders after substituting in on a contentious case, which had been pending on his overnight time since the child's birth.  In 2025, Azadeh prevented a case from being heard on modification of supervised visitation for one child and no contact with the other child in a case where there are contested issues of child abuse against the recommendations of the guardian ad litem.  In 2025, Azadeh engaged in a successful pre-trial conference against one of the biggest firms in Chicago wherein after the Judge reviewed her exhibits and memorandum, the Judge disclosed that she believed Azadeh's client had in fact been abused.  

In the last few years, Azadeh consults with Michael DiDomenico to prepare her cases for possible appeal.   Azadeh continues to be a sponsor for GiGi's Playhouse in Tinley Park for the last few years.  

In approximately2025, Azadeh worked with a DCFS lawyer to gain inside access and advised the private DCFS lawyer to provide information to the state DCFS lawyer that would help ensure the abuser indication was not overturned on appeal ( she did not represent the abuser).  Her strategy and efforts contributed to the abuser’s indication not being overturned on appeal which also aided the pending divorce litigation.   

In 2025-2026, Azadeh has been able to to substitute in on a very complex financial case on the first day of trial and take over the case very successfully with no lead time.  This case involves a multi million dollar estate with multiple resedential and marital and non marital commercial properties, and over 1 million dollar dissipation claim. Azadeh has been able to make a extremely compelling legal arguments and analysis to deny the dissipation claim. Azadeh has made compelling arguments to secure the non marital nature of several commercial properties.   In 2025-2026, Azadeh has been able to so far stop a child from being sent to inpatient treatment because she won’t reunify with her abusive father against the position of a biased Guardian Ad Litem, a 604.10c evaluator, and a 604.10b evaluator who lacked sufficient information at the time of his report   Azadeh wrote compelling legal and fact based arguments in a motion to dismiss that received a favorable pretrial recommendation.   In 2025-2026, Azadeh has prepared and participated in at 3 trials (one of which was against one of the biggest firms in Chicago) and taken over 8 depositions including, the deposition of an endocrinologist.  The deposition of the endocrinologist included demonstrating that opposing party was not caring for the child’s type 1 diabetes during his overnight parenting time.  This case also involves complicated finances of a C corp executive who Azadeh discovered in a deposition and through extensive discovery is underreporting his income and evading maintenance bonuses owed by concealing his income.  Her trial in May/ June of 2026 includes two 604.10c evaluators, one 604.10b evaluator and a total so far of 9 witnesses.  The opposing party in the case is a DCFS indicated abuser with 6 DCFS intakes and investigations.