Allison W. Anders

Allison W. Anders grew up in Chesterfield County, Virginia but always knew she would live in Virginia Beach one day. Both of her parents grew up in Virginia Beach, so her family visited there often and Allison still has lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins in the area.

When it came time to decide where to go to college, Allison chose Old Dominion University. After graduating from ODU in 1996, she lived at the Oceanfront and worked as a legal secretary for a small law firm in Chesapeake.

Allison always wanted to be a lawyer, but working as a legal secretary confirmed her choice. In 1998, Allison left Virginia Beach and moved to New Orleans to attend the College of Law at Loyola University in New Orleans.

In order to make ends meet, she went to law school at night and worked as a paralegal during the day at a small law firm that practiced insurance defense. Allison graduated from law school in December 2001 and continued working for the law firm in New Orleans until July 2002.

That August she started working as a law clerk for an Administrative Law Judge with the Department of Labor. Allison lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia and took the train to D.C. every day. Since the train ride was a good hour each way, she was able to study for the Virginia bar exam, which she passed in February 2003.

After being admitted to the Virginia State Bar in June 2003, Allison started working for Jim McKenry at a small law firm in Virginia Beach. Her practice focused on traffic and misdemeanor defense and family law.

In May 2006, she started focusing 100% of her practice to family law when she joined the firm of Kaufman & Canoles. Allison became a partner in January 2011 and remained at K&C until joining Parks Zeigler, PLLC in August 2015.

Allison knew Brandon and Kellam through her practice as a family law attorney and respected both of them. Wanting to take more control over her practice, she reached out to Kellam and Brandon to see if she could join them, which was a good fit for all parties.

Allison is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, of which there are less than ten in the Tidewater area and less than 60 in all of Virginia. AAML Fellows are highly skilled negotiators and litigators who represent individuals in all facets of family law.

These areas include divorce, annulment, prenuptial agreements, postnuptial agreements, marital settlement agreements, child custody and visitation, business valuations, property valuations and division, alimony, child support and other family law issues.