Christian M. Lapham
Shareholder / Member of Management Committee
t: 703.525.4000
f: 703.525.2207

Overview

Christian Lapham is a shareholder of Bean, Kinney & Korman and has been practicing law since 2002. He has a diverse background representing clients in domestic relations and civil litigation matters.

As a divorce lawyer, Christian has successfully litigated complex child custody matters, including cases involving relocation, mental illness, substance abuse, and parental alienation. He has also handled numerous complex equitable distribution and spousal support matters, including matters involving federal employees and military service members, valuation issues pertaining to businesses, and sophisticated asset-tracing issues. A former small business owner himself, Christian appreciates the challenges and nuances of a separation and divorce where one party owns a business.

Christian’s approach to family law incorporates three fundamental aspects: education, counseling, and advocacy. As the son of an Arlington elementary school teacher, he believes you cannot make an informed decision unless you are educated on how to understand the legal issues and implications of this decision.

Christian is a former founder and lecturer at Second Saturday, a workshop designed to educate potential clients on the separation and divorce process and is the author of a divorce toolkit, offering open source insights into this process even prior to the initial consult. He takes a measured approach to his legal counsel of clients, understanding that decisions made during the separation and divorce process are complex and may have lasting implications for the greater family dynamic.

Finally, Christian is a zealous advocate for his clients both inside and outside the courtroom and has been negotiating and litigating family law matters in all Northern Virginia jurisdictions for two decades. While education and counseling are important, Christian understands that in certain situations, zealous advocacy inside of a courtroom is the only way to handle a difficult adversary, particularly in situations involving mental illness or a personality disorder.

In his spare time, Christian is busy chasing his two boys around the streets of Arlington and the ski slopes of Snowshoe, West Virginia.

Christian is also a member of the firm’s management committee.

Experience

  • Represented a client to prevent the relocation of the client’s youngest daughter to another state in a hotly contested custody and relocation case in Fairfax Circuit Court. The daughter was not relocated.
  • Represented a client in the settlement of complex equitable distribution/asset tracing issues involving a large sum of separate assets maintained in trust, thereby saving the client tens of thousands of dollars in litigation expenses.

Bar and Court Admissions

Virginia, 2002

Education

George Mason University School of Law, J.D., 2001

  • Managing Justice, Moot Court Board
  • Federal Circuit Bar Journal

University of Virginia, B.A., 1997

Awards and Honors

Washingtonian, Top Divorce and Family Law Lawyer, 2021 – 2023

Virginia Business, Legal Elite in Family Law/Domestic Relations, 2019-2023

Arlington Magazine, Top Attorney – Family Law, 2019, 2021-2023

Virginia Super Lawyers in Family Law, 2014 – 2023

Washington, D.C. Super Lawyers in Family Law, 2015 – 2023

Best Lawyers in America in Family Law, 2014 – 2024

Northern Virginia magazine, Top Lawyer, 2013

AV Rated by Martindale Hubbell

Affiliations

Collaborative Professionals of Northern Virginia

Fairfax Bar Association (Family Law Section)

Virginia State Bar (Family Law Section)

Virginia Bar Association (Family Law Section)

Virginia Commerce Bank (Alexandria Advisory Board)

Virginia Trial Lawyers Association (Family Law Section)

Second Saturday – Fairfax (Founder & Lecturer)

SCAN of Northern Virginia (Board of Directors)

Habitat for Humanity (Participant, Global Village Program in Portugal)

Videos

Events

  • Done with Divorce Workshop
    Online, Wednesday, May 19, 2021
  • Second Saturday Divorce Webinar
    Online, Wednesday, April 14, 2021
  • Second Saturday – Arlington/Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Navy League Building, 1st Floor, Arlington, Virginia, Saturday, October 10, 2015
  • Second Saturday – Arlington/Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Navy League Building, 1st Floor, Arlington, Virginia, Saturday, March 14, 2015
  • Second Saturday – Arlington: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Navy League Building, 1st Floor, Arlington, Virginia, Saturday, January 10, 2015
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, September 13, 2014
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, August 9, 2014
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, July 12, 2014
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, June 14, 2014
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, May 10, 2014
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, April 12, 2014
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, March 8, 2014
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, February 8, 2014
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Sunday, January 12, 2014
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, December 14, 2013
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, November 9, 2013
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, October 12, 2013
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, September 14, 2013
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, April 13, 2013
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, March 9, 2013
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, January 12, 2013
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, October 13, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, September 8, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, August 11, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, July 14, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, June 9, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, May 12, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, April 14, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, February 11, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Thursday, February 9, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, January 14, 2012
  • Second Saturday – Fairfax: Free Seminar on Divorce
    Fair Oaks Courtyard Marriott in Fairfax, Virginia, Saturday, November 12, 2011
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