Brown Goldstein Levy

Brown, Goldstein & Levy stands as a nationally recognized law firm based in Baltimore, Maryland with offices in Washington, DC, providing exceptional legal representation across multiple practice areas including family law. Founded in 1982, the firm has built a 40+ year reputation for excellence, with a 20-attorney team dedicated to serving clients with sophisticated legal needs. Within the firm's diverse practice areas, the family law group, chaired by Dana McKee, has earned particular recognition for handling complex, high-net-worth family law cases with exceptional skill and professionalism.

Dana McKee chairs Brown, Goldstein & Levy's family law practice and has established herself as one of Maryland's foremost family law attorneys. She is recognized not just locally or regionally but nationally for her expertise in complex family law matters, particularly those involving high net worth, substantial assets, and significant financial complexity. Dana's credentials reflect both academic achievement and professional accomplishment. She earned her Juris Doctor from Duke University School of Law in 1985, one of the nation's top law schools. Since graduating from Duke Law in 1985, Dana has spent nearly 40 years practicing law, with particular focus on family law matters in recent decades.

Before joining Brown, Goldstein & Levy in 1995, Dana was an attorney with Frank, Bernstein, Conaway & Goldman, where she practiced commercial litigation exclusively. Her background in complex commercial litigation equipped her with sophisticated legal skills, courtroom experience, and understanding of business operations and financial matters. This commercial litigation background proved invaluable when she transitioned to family law, as high-asset divorces frequently require analysis of complex financial issues, business valuations, and sophisticated negotiation or litigation skills. Her transition from commercial litigation to family law allowed her to bring commercial law expertise to family law practice.

Dana's recognition and professional distinctions are numerous and impressive. She was named a 2025 Family Law Maryland Power Player in The Daily Record Power List, reflecting recognition as a leading family law attorney in Maryland. In 2024, Dana was named to The Best Lawyers in America legal guide in the family law category, reflecting peer recognition of her legal excellence. Most impressively, in the 30th edition of The Best Lawyers in America, Dana was recognized as a Lawyer of the Year in the category of "Collaborative Law: Family Law" in the Baltimore region—a national distinction reflecting recognition from The Best Lawyers organization of her excellence in this specialized area. Additionally, Dana was recognized in the 2025 Lawdragon 500 Leading Family Lawyers Guide, selected for her outstanding lawyering in four categories: Family Law, Divorce, High Net Worth, and Appellate.

What particularly distinguishes Dana's practice is her expertise in and commitment to collaborative law—an alternative dispute resolution approach to family law cases. Collaborative law brings together the divorcing couple and their attorneys, along with financial specialists and mental health professionals, in a structured process designed to resolve disputes cooperatively rather than adversarially. Collaborative law requires attorney training and certification, and Dana holds such certification, reflecting her commitment to and expertise in this approach. As a founding member of The Collaborative Professionals of Baltimore, Dana helped establish the infrastructure for collaborative practice in the Baltimore region. She also holds membership in Howard County Collaborative Professionals, extending her collaborative practice into surrounding areas.

Dana's recognition as Lawyer of the Year in Collaborative Law from The Best Lawyers in America reflects the legal community's recognition of her exceptional work in this specialized field. Collaborative law produces better outcomes for families than adversarial litigation in many cases, particularly when children are involved, because it focuses on cooperative problem-solving rather than winner-take-all outcomes. Dana's commitment to this approach, combined with her expertise in complex financial matters and her decades of legal practice, positions her to guide families effectively through collaborative divorce processes.

Brown, Goldstein & Levy's family law practice, chaired by Dana, handles the full spectrum of family law matters. Divorce representation includes all aspects of marital dissolution—property division, custody determination, support calculations, and related issues. The firm explicitly handles complex and highly contested divorce and custody cases, recognizing that some family law disputes involve fundamental disagreement about key issues and require vigorous legal advocacy. The firm's experience and resources enable it to handle these contentious cases effectively.

The firm's focus on high net worth divorce reflects Dana's particular expertise and the firm's capacity to handle sophisticated financial analysis. High-asset divorces often involve substantial real estate holdings, business interests, professional practices, investment portfolios, retirement accounts, and other complex property. These cases often require forensic accounting, business valuation, tax analysis, and sophisticated negotiation. Dana and the family law team bring the expertise necessary to handle these matters effectively.

The firm's broader practice areas—complex civil and commercial litigation, civil rights, health care law, and criminal defense—mean that family law cases intersecting these areas receive comprehensive representation. For example, when family law disputes touch on business ownership issues or civil rights matters, the firm's broader expertise becomes valuable. This full-service approach distinguishes Brown, Goldstein & Levy from smaller family law practices focused exclusively on family law.

What sets Brown, Goldstein & Levy apart is the combination of Dana McKee's exceptional expertise in collaborative law and high-asset divorce, the firm's 20-attorney capacity and resources, the firm's 40+ year track record of excellence, and the firm's national recognition for family law work. Brown, Goldstein & Levy operates at a sophisticated level, handling complex cases that require substantial legal resources and expertise.

For families in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Washington, DC metropolitan area seeking family law representation from a nationally recognized firm, particularly those with high net worth, substantial assets, or complex financial situations, Brown, Goldstein & Levy offers exceptional representation. Dana McKee's recognition as Lawyer of the Year in Collaborative Law, her expertise in alternative dispute resolution, her decades of legal practice, and the broader firm's resources and reputation combine to create an outstanding family law practice.