David B. Starks

David B. Starks is a partner at McKinley Irvin, a family law firm with offices throughout western Washington. From the firm's Seattle and Bellevue offices, he offers compassionate representation to clients throughout King County navigating contentious divorce proceedings, including those involving significant assets and challenging child custody matters. With a background in business and commercial law, he is particularly well-equipped to assist his clients in strategically valuing, retaining and preserving assets, and his negotiation and arbitration experience helps him devise balanced and practical solutions to high-conflict custody and property division matters. Mr. Starks also concentrates a portion of his practice on international family law cases, including those involving the enforcement and recovery of foreign support awards and the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction.

Mr. Starks obtained his J.D. cum laude at Seattle University School of Law. Following his graduation, he gained experience in mediation, arbitration and litigation involving securities and maritime law through the National Association of Securities Dealers, the self-regulatory FINRA predecessor that oversaw the operation of stock markets like the NASDAQ. Mr. Starks joined McKinley Irvin as a partner in 2005.

Admitted to practice in Texas, Oregon, and Washington, Mr. Starks is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Courts for the Eastern and Western Districts of Washington. His numerous honors include being a Diplomate of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers, being listed in the Best Lawyers in America every year since 2012, and being inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the International Academy of Family Lawyers. A former section adviser for the American Bar Association's Section of International Law, Mr. Starks previously served as a committee co-chair within that section.