Children come first for Gapen and law center

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When Carol Gapen and attorneys at the Law Center for Children & Families in Madison are screening new clients, they give themselves a test.

“We ask them what they’d like to see happen at the end of all this,” explained Gapen, one of three founding partners. “If we think we can do it, but it would be bad for the child — so bad that we couldn’t sleep at night — we suggest other attorneys. We won’t take the case.

“By the same token, if someone comes in with something we think will be really good for the child, even though we know it’s going to be tough, we’ll take it.”

The “sleep-at-night” test coincides well with the ideal that has guided Gapen throughout her professional career, first in social services for 17 years and another 23 in law. Simply put, children come first.

A few years after earning her J.D., Gapen joined Madison-based Stafford Rosenbaum LLP’s adoption practice, where she often worked with Judith Sperling-Newton and Lynn Bodi.

The three collaborated so well, they later decided to do so within the confines of their own firm. In September 2002, they opened The Law Center for Children & Families.

The group handles a variety of family and children’s law matters, but has developed a concentration representing underdogs: grandparents, partners in same-sex couples and foster parents.

“It’s very rewarding but also incredibly stressful,” Gapen said. “In some cases, what I do will directly affect a child’s life, forever.”

She said the victories were sweet. Chief among them was Holtzman v. Knott, 193 Wis. 2d 649, 533 N.W.
2d 419 (1995), in which the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that a psychological parent could have visitation with a child, over the biological parent’s objection, when the court finds it’s in the child’s best interest.

Another significant achievement was authoring an amicus brief for Grandparents United for Children’s Rights in Troxel v. Granville, 120 S. Ct. 2054, (2000), a controversial grandparents’ visitation case. Although her argument did not sway the majority, Gapen said she is proud that Justice John Paul Stevens heavily relied upon it in his dissent.

Ethel Dunn, who works for the Rainbow Project, a Dane County nonprofit serving children and families, had high praise for Gapen.

“Carol is an amazing attorney and person,” she said. “She’s very highly regarded by juvenile court judges around the state. She really listens to her clients; and she works with them, not for them.”