SUU to Domestic Relations Attorney

Jennifer Durcan Andrews is making her mark in the Puget Sound region as partner in Andrews & Arbenz, PLLC, a boutique law firm in Old Town Tacoma. Jen specializes in domestic relations, which means she covers everything from divorces to surrogacy contracts, and de facto parentage to same-sex adoptions.

A recognized leader throughout her career, Jen has served as president of several professional organizations and will soon begin her term as president of the Robert J. Bryan Chapter of the American Inns of Court, an organization which fosters excellence in professionalism, ethics, civility, and legal skills.  Jen won a 2017 Community Service Award from the Tacoma Pierce County Bar Association, was voted “Best Lawyer” in 2015 by South Sound Magazine, and was recognized as a “40 Under 40” in 2014 by the Business Examiner magazine.

Originally from Las Vegas, Nevada, Jen arrived at SUU on scholarship in the fall of 1994. She chose history as her major and combined it with a political science minor. She also took a variety of English literature and social science classes, which were areas of personal interest to her. Following SUU graduation in 1999, Jen enrolled at UNLV’s William S. Boyd School of Law and earned a juris doctorate in 2002.

Following law school graduation, Jen’s heart was with the civil legal aid community, which is how she ended up in Seattle. “I loved helping the underserved and empowering people with legal knowledge and action,” she says.

Jen went to a private firm taking these sorts of cases, doing family law, bankruptcy, and some general civil litigation. After about five years, she was ready for a change and got a job with the prosecutor’s office. She stayed there five years and then decided to branch out to form Andrews & Arbenz, PLLC. This current iteration of Jen’s career is “the first time I haven’t become dissatisfied with a job, which I think is due to the control I have over it and my level of experience.”

Of running her own business, Jen says, “I have the best employer on earth. My boss is super smart, kind, funny, and has the best clothes. It’s me!” she exclaims. “I have been a partner in my firm for a little over six years. I love the flexibility of it and being my own boss. I also love managing people. Sometimes it can be difficult, because running a business and practicing law are two very different things, and sometimes the values of those two things can conflict. But I love a challenge, and every day there is (at least) one waiting for me.”

Jen looks back on her undergraduate days at SUU as an excellent training ground for becoming a successful attorney and business owner.

“The hands-on education at SUU was invaluable. I was taught by PhDs, not teaching assistants. My professors knew my name, and would call me out when I was missing class too much or not giving my all,” she says. “My academics were as rigorous, if not more so, than many others I know who have gone to bigger name schools. SUU taught me to study; I never really needed to until college, and my chosen areas of study really taught me how to think critically.  Frankly, my job boils down to one thing: I fix problems. To do this, I must be objective. I must have the ability to think critically, to distinguish facts, and to pick apart an argument. I began learning to do this in my history, English, and sociology classes at SUU.”

She also learned lot about herself as a student at SUU and discovered who she was and found her voice. Jen learned how to navigate life, how to befriend and respect people whose beliefs were different from her own, when to speak and when to keep quiet, and numerous other long-lasting lessons. As a member of Alpha Phi and a student senator in SUUSA, Jen gained confidence and a desire to help others.

“My SUU friends are the best. I still keep in contact with many of them and travel with some of them,” she says. “They continue to teach me about myself every time we get together.”