Alan E. Freed

In his four decades of practice, Alan Freed has established himself as one of Missouri’s pre-eminent practitioners of mediation and collaborative divorce, and as a leading appellate attorney.

Mr. Freed has been listed in Naifeh and Smith’s, The Best Lawyers in America, for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Collaborative Law: Family Law and Family Law Mediation since 2007. He has been selected three times by Best Lawyers as the St. Louis Lawyer of the Year in his areas of concentration: for 2013 in the area of Collaborative Law: Family Law, for 2015 in the area of Family Law Mediation, and for 2017 in the area of Mediation. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers in 2009 and is listed in Missouri/Kansas Super Lawyers. A mediator since 1985, Mr. Freed is listed as a Senior Mediator on mediate.com, the world’s leading source of information on mediation.

Mr. Freed co-authored the book Divorce in Missouri, published in April 2009, with his long-time law partner Alisse Camazine. It is the only book available containing comprehensive information on Missouri divorce issues written for the layperson. He is one of a handful of leading collaborative practitioners asked to contribute to Understanding Collaborative Family Law, published in 2011 and is also the co-author (with Daniel P. Card, II) of Appellate Practice, Volume 24 in the West Publishing Missouri Practice series.

In 2001, Mr. Freed was appointed an adjunct professor at the prestigious Washington University School of Law, a position he held for 13 years, teaching negotiation and mediation and family mediation to advanced law students.

Mr. Freed is also in demand as a lecturer on a wide range of family law topics. He has spoken to groups such as the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, an international interdisciplinary organization of lawyers, judges, mental health professionals, and others who work in the field of family law, the Association for Conflict Resolution, the Association of Missouri Mediators, the Missouri Bar, the Collaborative Family Law Association, and the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis on topics such as Drafting Parenting Plans that Really Work, Using Metaphors in Mediation, The Ethics of Collaborative Practice, Hard Core Mediation, The Art of Asking Questions, and Homosexuality and Child Custody, among others. He has also participated in numerous mediation and collaborative divorce trainings for professionals.

Beginning with the edition published in 1997, Mr. Freed has been the author of the chapter titled Mediation and Other Forms of Dispute Resolution in the Missouri Bar Continuing Legal Education family law desk book, the handbook used by family law attorneys throughout the state.

Mr. Freed’s practice is centered on mediation and collaborative divorce, processes that use creative problem-solving as the principal means of resolving family law issues. Mr. Freed is also the Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal attorney with principal responsibility for the matters in the family law department that are taken to the Missouri Court of Appeals and the Missouri Supreme Court, and he regularly appears in arguments before those courts. In addition, Mr. Freed handles traditional representation of clients in family law matters.

In 2009, Mr. Freed was elected president of the Collaborative Family Law Association, an organization he helped found in 2002. He is also a member of the Family Law Sections of the Missouri Bar and the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. He holds the “AV” rating issued by the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory, the highest rating an attorney can achieve.

In addition to his practice, Mr. Freed is the founder and director of the Central Reform Congregation choir, as well as a former board member. He is the president of the board of the Ambassadors of Harmony Foundation, a non-profit promoting vocal music education. He is a member and former assistant director of the St. Louis Symphony Chorus. He has also served as a board member and president of Kids In the Middle, an organization providing counseling and other assistance for children whose parents are going through separation and divorce. In addition, he served as a board member and vice-president of the Scholarship Foundation of St. Louis.