About David
David Starks earned a B.A. from the University of Southern Indiana and went on to receive his J.D. from Seattle University School of Law. His legal education laid the groundwork for a career spent largely in family and matrimonial law. He moved into practice in Washington and built a reputation for work that spans trial and alternative dispute resolution.
He became a partner at McKinley Irvin in 2005. Over the years he has worked out of the firm’s Seattle-area offices in Seattle, Bellevue and Kirkland. That partnership coincided with growing involvement in professional organizations and peer groups that shape family law practice in the state and beyond.
Starks holds fellowships and professional distinctions that reflect a focus on complex family law matters. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. He also is a Certified Mediator through the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and a Diplomate of the American College of Family Trial Lawyers. Those roles involve peer review and continued engagement with trial and mediation practice standards.
His service to bar organizations is extensive. He maintains memberships in the American Bar Association, the Washington State Bar Association and the King County Bar Association. Within those groups he has taken on committee work, serving on the King County Bar Association Judicial Screening Committee and the Washington State Bar Association Professionalism Committee. He also led the AAML Washington Chapter as its president from 2018 to 2019.
In court and at the negotiating table, Starks handles complex divorce, custody and financial matters arising from family relationships. He prepares cases for trial, represents clients at hearings and sits as a mediator in contested family disputes. His practice involves both litigation and settlement processes, and he is regularly involved in case strategy and client counseling.
Colleagues and peers have described his approach as practical and procedural, aimed at resolving contested family matters through the appropriate forum. He continues to be active in professional groups that shape family law practice. He practices at McKinley Irvin’s Seattle, Bellevue and Kirkland offices and concentrates on family law, including marital dissolution, custody and related financial issues.
