Barrister of the Month:
Dalma Grandjean Esq. Buckley King LPA

By Morgan K. Napier Esq.
Faruki+ PLL
mnapier@ficlaw.com

Dalma Grandjean turned her cosmopolitan interests into a career. Born in Germany to Hungarian parents, Dalma grew up in the Dayton area speaking Hungarian in her household. After graduating cum laude from the University of Dayton, Dalma worked for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where she drew on her multilingual upbringing to serve as a French and Hungarian translator. This experience led her to the University of Dayton School of Law. Dalma graduated summa cum laude from the University of Dayton School of Law while raising her young children.

Dalma joined the law firm of Altick & Corwin Co., LPA (now Buckley King) in 1998. Before that she had her own solo practice, where she handled a wide variety of cases for individuals and small businesses. However, it was not long before her exposure to many different practice areas, such as real estate, immigration, bankruptcy, employment, and estate planning, led her to her true passion and current practice area – international and
military divorces. Dalma credits her early and vast exposure to different practice areas as a pillar to her success; after all, divorces do not occur in a vacuum. Along with divorce, comes a division of assets, including the reformation of business entities, rewriting estate plans, addressing tax implications, and the list goes on. Her advice to anyone interested in joining the practice area is to develop a general knowledge of many practice areas early in your career.

International and military divorces add another layer of complexity, with language and cultural differences comprising some of the less challenging aspects to these cases. While navigating the realm of foreign service, domicile analyses, and pensions is stressful in and of itself, Dalma’s clients are often going through one of the darkest periods of their lives when they come to her. This is especially true for the clients that she works with through the Ohio Domestic Violence Network.

The Ohio Domestic Violence Network is a statewide organization that works to empower women and children impacted by domestic violence. Dalma is able to use her skills to facilitate divorces, protect the interests of domestic violence victims, and help families to rebuild. She finds it incredibly rewarding to watch as her clients become more confident and assertive. Dalma finds these moments, along with other positive feedback from her clients, to be some of the most gratifying moments of her career.
Because of the unique issues that arise in the area of international and military divorces, Dalma has worked with different organizations to educate their members on these topics. She has spoken on topics such as the Hague Convention and division of military andcivilian retirement assets in divorce.

Dalma also enjoys her role as the Law Director for the City of Riverside, where she represents the city in different affairs, including attending city council meetings, reviewing and drafting legislation, and reviewing contracts. Dalma has been in this role
for many years, and assisted the City of Riverside in different capacities prior to this role.

With Dalma’s interest in international law, it is of no surprise that Dalma enjoys traveling in her spare time. Most recently, she enjoyed a two-week trip to Costa Rica, where she explored the natural terrain that the country has worked so hard to preserve. She has travelled to many countries ranging from most of Western Europe, to India, China and Australia and makes a point of trying to learn about the history, culture, and languages of the countries she visits.