Mentor: Ann Bauer

Partner, The Center for Family Law

St. Louis

Soon after graduating law school, Ann Bauer found it to be the most rewarding when she helped people work through life transitions. 

Bauer, a founding member of The Center for Family Law, now exclusively practices family law. She is a certified family law mediator and trained as a guardian ad litem and parenting coordinator. 

Bauer founded The Center for Family Law with Marjorie Carter, a fellow family lawyer. The Center has expanded to include a comprehensive list of practice areas since its inception in 2009, including legal support for divorce, estate planning, paternity and much more. 

“At first, we didn’t have any associates,” Bauer said. “Now, we must have seven or eight attorneys, all doing family law. I hope that when I retire, they continue to grow the firm.”

Though Bauer never expected to begin her own practice, she feels proud to have overcome the learning curve to put the appropriate business processes in place to run a successful firm. A goal of Bauer’s work at The Center is to reframe the perception around divorce, emphasizing that it doesn’t have to be a “scorched-earth” perspective. 

“I’ve been involved for years at the court committee to get mediation and collaborative law to be well known,” Bauer said. “There’s a court committee that does work on mediation and parenting coordination to help parents who can’t quite co-parent in a positive way. I have been involved with that for a long time, and really appreciate that we have the judiciary, mental health professionals and lawyers working together to make this happen.”

Part of Bauer’s work in the legal community also includes being on the advisory board for the Assistance League, a Missouri-based non-profit with a mission to manage a variety of programs benefiting the underserved population in the St. Louis region. 

“They are an organization that helps end poverty in our community, and they have been incredible,” Bauer said.

Additionally, Bauer serves on a St. Louis Family Court Mediation Oversight committee and is a member of the Domestic Violence Council of St. Louis County.