Venkat Pillai
Founding partner
Child welfare investigations and court cases.
Venkat started the firm after a long stretch representing parents in child welfare court, and he still takes the calls that come in the night before a first hearing. He is the lawyer for parents who need someone to read the agency's file line by line, ask why a plan has stalled, and say plainly what the judge is likely to want to see.
Handles
- Investigations
- First hearings
- Case plans
- Review hearings
Admissions, courts and schooling
Bar admissions
Maryland
1994
District of Columbia
1996
Courts
Circuit Court for Montgomery County
District Court of Maryland
Appellate Court of Maryland
Supreme Court of Maryland
Education
J.D., University of Baltimore School of Law
B.A., University of Maryland, College Park
Languages
English
Malayalam
Memberships
Montgomery County Bar Association
How a first call with Venkat goes
He asks what you were handed, not what you did. A letter, a safety plan, a petition and a hearing date each call for a different first move, so he starts with the paper in your hand and a plain question: what is the next date?
Then he tells you what he sees, including what worries him. Parents in these cases are often told only what the agency wants them to hear, and he doesn't add to that. You leave the call knowing the next three things to do, and which of them can wait until morning.
If you hire the firm, Venkat is the lawyer at your first hearing. He may bring Leandra or Gerard to later meetings, always with you told in advance.
The judge reads the file before you walk in. Our job is to make sure the file is the whole story.