Bruce E. Avery

Bruce E. Avery is a partner at Avery & Upton in Rockville, Maryland, and has focused his civilian practice on family law since 1993. He represents clients in divorce, child custody, child support, visitation, domestic violence, and other family disputes. His work emphasizes dispute resolution and includes mediation and Collaborative Practice. He also brings substantial military-law experience to family matters involving service members, retirement benefits, relocation, and other issues connected to military families.

Bruce earned a B.A. from Hobart College and a J.D. from the University of Louisville School of Law, Louisville. His legal career began in the US Army, where he served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps after earlier enlisted service. His education and military legal background developed skills in negotiation, conflict resolution, claims analysis, and practical decision making that later became central to his family-law and collaborative practice in Maryland.

Bruce spent fifteen years in the Army JAG Corps and later transitioned into private family-law practice. He is trained as a mediator in civil and family matters and has served as a facilitator for the Montgomery County Circuit Court family-law division. He has taught Collaborative Practice at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law and has helped train lawyers and other professionals in methods designed to resolve family disputes outside traditional adversarial litigation.

Bruce E. Avery is admitted in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Kentucky and has held leadership roles in collaborative-law organizations. His Rockville practice combines family-law representation, mediation, collaborative dispute resolution, military experience, teaching, and professional training. He works with clients to resolve divorce, custody, support, property, and other family conflicts while keeping long-term family relationships, practical consequences, and the costs of prolonged litigation in view.

Law Office Affiliations

• Attorney, Avery & Upton
• Member, Kentucky Bar Association
• Member, Maryland State Bar Association
• Member, District of Columbia Bar
• Member, DC Bar
• Member, American Bar Association
• Member, American Association for Justice
• Member, Bar Association of Montgomery County
• Member, International Legal Society (Tokyo and Seoul)
• Founding Member and Past President, Collaborative Disputes Resolution Professionals, Inc. (CDRP)
• Founding Member and Treasurer, Collaborative Practice Training Institute
• Member, International Academy of Collaborative Professionals
• Founding Member, Maryland Collaborative Practice Council
• Member, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

Licensed State

• Kentucky
• Maryland
• District of Columbia

Education

• University of Louisville School of Law
  Juris Doctor (JD)
• Hobart College
  Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Awards & Badges