In 2018, Jennifer Gastelum opened a family law firm in downtown Las Vegas with a plan that most people in the legal industry told her was too ambitious: build a practice that serves everyone — English-speaking and Spanish-speaking, high-net-worth and working-class, families with straightforward uncontested divorces and families in the middle of the most difficult custody fights of their lives.

Eight years later, Gastelum Attorneys has handled more than 5,000 family law cases in Clark County’s Eighth Judicial District Court. It is now one of Clark County’s largest bilingual family law practices — with eight attorneys, fully bilingual English and Spanish services, and a client base that stretches across Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, and the surrounding communities.

What the case count doesn’t capture is everything else Jennifer Gastelum is doing while running that firm — raising three children as a working mother, advocating for Nevada’s differently abled community, and investing in the next generation of Hispanic legal professionals.

Las Vegas Roots — and a Clear-Eyed View of What Was Missing

Jennifer Gastelum is a first-generation Mexican-American who grew up in Las Vegas. She earned her undergraduate degree in criminal justice from UNLV before going on to the William S. Boyd School of Law — Nevada’s only law school — where she focused on family law and civil litigation.

Growing up here gave her a ground-level view of what happens to families — particularly Latino families — when a marriage breaks down and they cannot access adequate legal representation. Property gets divided incorrectly. Custody arrangements favor whichever parent can afford better legal counsel. Child support orders go unenforced for years.

“Nevada is a community property state under NRS 123.220, which means both spouses have equal rights to marital assets. But if you don’t have an attorney who can explain that to you clearly — in the language you actually think in — those rights are theoretical. They don’t protect you in a courtroom.”

— Jennifer Gastelum, Founder & Managing Attorney

What Bilingual Representation Actually Means in a Nevada Courtroom

Nearly 30% of Clark County residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. Yet for years, Spanish-speaking families navigating divorce in Las Vegas had two options: hire an attorney who spoke English and pay for a court interpreter, or proceed without full legal representation.

Court interpreters cover what is said in open court. They do not cover the attorney-client strategy conversations that happen before a hearing — what a client needs to understand about their financial disclosure obligations under NRCP 16.2, or what they should and should not say during a deposition. That strategic layer is where most cases are actually won or lost, and it has historically been inaccessible to non-English speakers.

Gastelum Attorneys addresses this directly. Every attorney on staff handles cases in both English and Spanish. The firm operates a fully separate Spanish-language website with its own original content written specifically for Spanish-speaking Nevada clients — not machine-translated from the English version.

“Language access in family law isn’t a courtesy — it’s a justice issue. When one parent can communicate freely with their attorney and the other cannot, the outcome is often predetermined before anyone walks into the courtroom.”

— Jennifer Gastelum

A Mother First — Running a Firm and Raising Three Kids in Las Vegas

Behind the caseload and the firm’s growth is a life that would exhaust most people. Jennifer is the mother of three children — Ruby, 20, and Abby, 18, both attending local Las Vegas colleges, and Nainoa, her seven-year-old son who is on the autism spectrum.

Nainoa’s journey has shaped Jennifer’s advocacy work in ways that go well beyond the courtroom. Raising a child with autism in Las Vegas — navigating school systems, therapeutic services, and a community that is still learning how to support differently abled children — gave her a firsthand understanding of what families in that situation actually need.

“You learn very quickly that the systems that are supposed to help your child are only as good as the people advocating for them. That’s true in family court, and it’s true everywhere else.”

— Jennifer Gastelum

Giving Back: Opportunity Village, FEAT of Southern Nevada, and Andale!

For the past two years, Jennifer has been actively involved with two Las Vegas nonprofits that support the differently abled community: Opportunity Village and FEAT of Southern Nevada.

Jennifer serves on the FEAT board, bringing both her legal background and her experience as Nainoa’s mother to an organization that directly impacts families like hers. The firm also donates to Andale!, a Las Vegas nonprofit that helps Hispanic youth build the academic foundation they need to pursue legal careers — filling a pipeline gap Jennifer understands personally as a first-generation Latina attorney.

“I didn’t have anyone ahead of me showing me how to do this. If I can be that person for even one kid who wants to go to law school, that matters more to me than any case I’ve ever won.”

— Jennifer Gastelum

Divorce in Nevada: What Las Vegas Women Need to Know

Nevada’s divorce laws offer meaningful protections to both spouses — protections that are most effective when both parties understand them. A few facts that shape outcomes in Clark County divorce cases:

5,000 Cases — and What Comes Next

Reaching 5,000 cases in less than a decade is a significant milestone for any Las Vegas family law firm. For Gastelum Attorneys, it represents something more specific: 5,000 Las Vegas families who had qualified legal representation at one of the most difficult moments of their lives — many of whom would not have had that access elsewhere.

Ruby and Abby have grown up watching their mother build something from nothing — juggling depositions and school pickups, court hearings and Nainoa’s therapy appointments, board meetings and firm management. They have watched her show up for clients, for nonprofits, and for her community with the same consistency she has shown them.

“I want them to see what it looks like when you don’t make excuses. Las Vegas is my city. These are my neighbors. Helping them come out of the hardest thing most of them will ever go through with their rights intact — that’s the whole point.”

— Jennifer Gastelum

Gastelum Attorneys is located at 718 S 8th Street in downtown Las Vegas and serves clients throughout Clark County — including Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, Summerlin, Paradise, and Spring Valley. The firm handles contested and uncontested divorce, child custody, child support, spousal support, property division, and guardianship matters in both English and Spanish.