Legal Services & Lawyers

The mission of the attorneys at Sullivan & Guzman, APC, is to counsel clients in finding common sense solutions to complex family and real estate legal problems by providing a full spectrum of legal services. Attorney Michelle Sullivan, CLS-F, is a specialist in counseling clients regarding divorce, mediation, collaboration, adoptions, prenuptual agreements, and other legal issues. Attorney Erin Guzman specializes in real estate law and provides legal advice to mobile home park owners, home owner's associations, and others in need of legal counsel. Located in Rancho Bernardo, a neighborhood of north San Diego, our family law practice especially caters to residents of San Diego and North County; our real estate clients come from throughout California.

Attorney Christopher C. Happ is licensed to practice in both California and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Mr. Happ focuses his efforts on the family law and estate planning portions of the law practice.

Prior to founding Happ Law Group P.C., Mr. Happ honed his legal skills while working as a law clerk for Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. In addition to this rewarding and enlightening experience, Mr. Happ spent time as a clerk with the Pennsylvania Securities Commission and Dugan & Associates, a Pittsburgh-based firm representing individuals with Workers' Compensation and Social Security Disability claims. Moreover, Mr. Happ spent significant time representing low- to moderate-income individuals before the Internal Revenue Service through the University of Pittsburgh School of Law's Low-Income Tax Clinic.

Before entering the legal world, Mr. Happ worked as a Budget Specialist for the New York State Division of the Budget. While there, he was responsible for analyzing legislative bills for their budgetary impact on the State and recommending a course of action to the Governor. Furthermore, Mr. Happ acted as the state budget liaison to the cities of Rochester and Syracuse and was heavily involved in drafting legislation intended to create Fiscal Stability Bonds for New York State's financially distressed cities.

MS. SICKLER joined the firm in 1985 and is a supervising attorney with the firm. Ms. Sickler obtained her Juris Doctorate from Hastings College of the Law in 1976 and her Bachelor of Science from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1973. Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Sickler was engaged in the general practice of law, including obtaining substantial civil and criminal trial experience. Ms. Sickler was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1976 and became a Certified Specialist in Family Law in 1991. She is a member of the San Diego County Bar Association, the Family Law Section of the San Diego County Bar Association and the San Diego Certified Family Law Specialists. Ms. Sickler also serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the San Diego Superior Court Family Law Division.

MS. HEISKALA joined the firm as a supervising attorney after spending 24 years as a sole practitioner in her own firm primarily devoted to family law. Ms. Heiskala obtained her Juris Doctorate from Western State School of Law (now Thomas Jefferson School of Law) in 1976. She was admitted to the State Bar of California and the Federal District Court for the Southern District in 1976, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal in 1986 and became a Certified Specialist in Family Law in 1988. Ms. Heiskala is a member of the San Diego County Bar Association, the Family Law Section of the San Diego County Bar Association, the San Diego Certified Family Law Specialists, the Foothills Bar Association and is Past President of East County Chapter of Lawyer's Club. In addition, she serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the San Diego Superior Court Family Law Division, is a Certified Mediator and is trained in the Collaborative Divorce™ process.

MS. RAMOS is a 1993 graduate of California Western School of Law in San Diego and a graduate of Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York. A former Deputy District Attorney for San Diego County, Ms. Ramos became a Certified Specialist in Family Law in 2005 and is a member of the State Bar of California, the San Diego County Bar Association and the Family Law Section of the San Diego County Bar Association. She has spoken on paternity issues for the Western State Alumni MCLE program. Ms. Ramos is fluent in Spanish.

MS. O'NEILL obtained her Juris Doctorate from Thomas Jefferson School of Law in 2003 and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of New Hampshire in 1999 where she holds a membership with the Phi Sigma Pi Honor Society. Prior to joining the firm as a law clerk in March of 2004, she was an intern with the Family Law Facilitator and a law clerk in a private firm specializing in family law. Ms. O'Neill volunteers with the San Diego Children's Reading Program, San Diego Teen Court Program, San Diego Volunteer Lawyers, AIDS Law Clinic, Children at Risk Teaching Program, FlexComm, and the Republican Party of San Diego. She is a member of the State Bar of California, San Diego County Bar Association and the Family Law section of the San Diego County Bar Association. Ms. O'Neill is fluent in Russian and conversational in French and German.

I have been In the field of bankruptcy for the last 16 years I do both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 in San Diego .I offer a free consultation to my client when they call.

When I am not working I am urban mushing with my husky-dog King

Michele B. Brown is an attorney licensed in the State of California and the United States District Court for the Southern District. She is a Certified Specialist in Family Law and handles complex dissolution of marriage actions, nullity, pre-marital and post-marital agreements, high conflict custody cases, income analysis and business valuations. Ms. Brown cares deeply about the law and her clients. It is for this reason Ms. Brown is actively involved in family law legislation and politics.


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Selected as one of San Diego County's Top Attorneys for 2007, Michele B. Brown is a Supervising and Trial Attorney with the Law Offices of Beatrice L. Snider, APC. The practice is limited exclusively to family law matters. Ms. Brown specializes in complex family law matters, including dissolution of marriage actions with business valuations, income analysis and financial litigation, custody, move-away and psychological evaluations, as well as pre-marital agreements, post-marital agreements, post judgment matters and enforcement actions.




Ms. Brown obtained her Juris Doctorate from the University of San Diego School of Law in 1994, where she received the 1994 Award for Excellence in Trial Advocacy. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with a Minor in Spanish, from the University of California, Riverside in 1989, and as a Rotary International Scholar, she studied Politics and French at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia



Ms. Brown was admitted to the State Bar of California and the Federal District Court for the Southern District in 1994 and she became a Certified Specialist in Family Law in 2002. She is the Affirmative Legislation Chair of the Executive Committee of the State Bar of California, Family Law Section; she is an elected member of Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the State; she is the Family Law Legislation Chair for the San Diego County Certified Family Law Specialists; and an elected member of the Executive Committee of the San Diego County Certified Family Law Specialists.




Ms. Brown is a member of the San Diego County Bar Association, the Family Law Section of the San Diego County Bar Association, and the Family Law Section of the State Bar of California. She co-chaired the Spring 2007 Family Law Seminar on Psychological Issues and has spoken at several seminars on family law matters, including jurisdictional issues and case and statutory updates in the law. Ms. Brown has written articles for the Certified Family Law Specialists Newsletter, acted as the Family Law Floor leader for the San Diego County Bar Association Conference of Delegates, where she authored several proposed Family Law bills. She has volunteered as an attorney for the Family Law Facilitator's Office, is a volunteer family law attorney for the annual KNSD Ask-A-Lawyer program and serves as a Judge Pro Tem for the San Diego Superior Court Family Law Division. Ms. Brown is fluent in Spanish and conversant in French.





Personal Data:


I live in the North Park area of San Diego. Traveling, politics and spending time with my family and friends are my passions outside the practice of law, whether it’s spelunking in Iceland, bungee jumping in New Zealand, scuba diving in Australia or hiking through the John Muir wilderness. My passion for politics has had me working on Capital Hill in D.C., serving on numerous committees and working on campaigns.