Natalie Alane

Natalie brings her education, training, experiences, and life lessons to bear in her passionate work as a family law practitioner, mediator, and appellate attorney. Natalie will listen to what you need, want, and expect out of your process and help you find the right approach to navigating your family law matter. She will strive to help you reach resolutions to your problems in ways that help you emerge in one piece and with a bright future.

Natalie believes that many people endure the traditional judicial process simply because no better option is made available to them. She is convinced that when given the choice between a potentially long, destructive court battle and a private, people-centered opportunity to control one's own future, most people will choose the latter. That is why she offers her services as a collaborative attorney or as a neutral mediator to those facing divorce, child custody matters, or other difficult family issues.

One size does not fit all, so when you are in emotional turmoil facing some of the most difficult decisions of your life, Natalie will help you see and focus on the long-term, family-friendly benefits of a respectful resolution, in or out of court.

In her life outside work, Natalie is an avid backpacker and intrepid traveler. She’s visited all fifty states and has traveled four continents so far. Her proudest outdoor accomplishments are summiting Mt. Rainier’s 14,410 peak, finishing the Salkantay Trek through the Peruvian Andes at 15,200 feet, and braving the world’s highest bungee jump over the Zambezi River in Africa. A former opera singer, Natalie admires all genres of music and enjoys an annual trek to Blissfest, Michigan’s best summer music festival. She enjoys cooking and gardening but deeply appreciates the time-saving benefits of Sunbasket!

Natalie strongly values community and connection. Her love for good works, service to others, and world travel landed her in the Peace Corps in Zambia, Africa, where she lived in a mud hut without electricity or running water for two years. She loved the simplicity of living without modern technology and conveniences, although the six-mile bike ride to the post office was a trek if there was no letter from home waiting! Coincidentally, she loves the immense variety of technology in today’s world and is always looking for new ways to implement cutting-edge applications that improve the firm’s service to its clients.

Natalie credits yoga, meditation, her amazing husband, and the love of her three cats with helping her stay grounded and focused in this challenging profession.

Professional Background

Before going into private practice, Natalie served as a staff attorney to Michigan Supreme Court Justice Michael F. Cavanagh and Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Stephen L. Borrello and worked as a Prehearing Attorney in the Michigan Court of Appeals Research Division. She also clerked at one of Lansing’s premier plaintiff firms and ran her own independent contracting business providing legal research and writing services to area attorneys.

After graduating cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts at Central Michigan University, Natalie attended graduate school at the University of Kentucky. She spent two years in the Peace Corps and was then Chief Operating Officer of an entrepreneurial technology company, which she oversaw during the commissioning and implementation of Internet service provider software (back in the day when that was somewhat more novel!).

Along with running Alane Family Law, Natalie has taught Scholarly Writing, Moot Court, and Advanced Legal Writing, and Family Law at Western Michigan University School of Law. She is a member of the NORML Legal Committee and current author of the Institute of Continuing Legal Education’s property chapter of its seminal text, “Family Law.” Natalie speaks and writes prolifically on family law topics across the state and country.