Meet the Femmes
Our story began on the first day of orientation at UC Davis School of Law. We spotted each other—as queer femmes do—across a grassy hill littered with hundreds of nervous students and despite our best efforts to find our way to one another, we got loss in the masses. For the next week, our paths never crossed, until we unwittingly sat next to each other on the first day of class (Contracts with Professor Dodge, for those in the know). We instinctively reached out and clasped each other’s hands.“I’ve been looking for you!” Rachel said. Lyla literally responded,“we’re going to be best friends!” We’ve been inseparable ever since.
Starting a law firm together has a been a dream since our first year of law school. After graduating and going on to practice for five years in different areas of law, we decided it was finally time to make that dream a reality. What an honor.
Lyla Bugara, J.D. (they/she/he)
Partner
Hampshire College, B.A. in Critical Race Studies, 2012
University of California, Davis - School of Law, J.D. 2020
Lyla is a mixed race, brasilian-american, nonbinary queer femme with more than fifteen years of experience working with others to create a more liberated world. Their work is indebted to the brilliance/power of Black feminism and Black liberation movements across the world.
Lyla’s work before co-founding femme & femme LLP directly informs how she serves queer families and their allies today. Over her career, Lyla has become known for navigating complex and emotionally-charged legal situations with compassion & precense. His legal practice is intersectional and grounded in a clear undrestanding of the racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and classism inherent in the United States legal system. Lyla is also known for excellent legal analysis, relentless client advocacy and a strong penchant for thinking out of the box, all skills which they bring to their estate planning and family protection practice today.
Lyla is a first generation lawyer. In law school, Lyla nourished their commitment to equity and was recognized by the school for his 2,000 hours of pro bono clinic work, by far the highest amount of their graduating class. Lyla also graduated in the top 20% of the class while actively managing a vast pro bono practice, supporting clients facing deportation, state criminal charges, employment discrimination and assisting trans/nonbinary youth with gender marker and name changes.
After graduating law school in 2020, Lyla worked at the Alternate Defender’s Office of Contra Costa County as a law clerk, where he co-wrote one of the first successful Racial Justice Act motions in California. They then went on to serve as a Public Defender in Contra Costa County, litigating four misdeamnor criminal trials, hundreds of motions, and an appeal before California’s First District Court of Appeal. Next, Lyla served the Bay Area as a Reentry Attorney, assisting system impacted people with record expungement, employment discrimination and housing.
Lyla was born from the seas of Brasil and raised in the colors and sounds of NYC. They speak English, Portuguese and Spanish. She currently lives on the sacred and unceded land of the Guaraní and Purí peoples, colonized as Rio de Janeiro. They are a lover of birds, bugs and all things water. When not working alongside their best friend, Lyla loves to write, swim, drink tea and rest with their cat, Baiacu.
Bar Admissions
California
Bar Memberships
Member, National Trans Bar Association
Member, National LGBTQ+ Bar Association
Member, BALIF, an LGBTQ+ Bar Association
Member, CA Lawyers Association, Trusts & Estates section
Rachel M. Schiff, J.D. (they/femme)
Partner
Yale University, B.A. in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, 2010
University of California, Davis - School of Law, J.D. 2020
Rachel is a vibrant queer Jewish femme that believes another world is possible, thanks to the wisdom of others, including their best friend, their beloved Zayda (z’’l), Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Mariame Kaba, Audre Lorde, adrienne marie brown, Dr. Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Dori Midnight, Dean Spade, Prentis Hemphill, Octavia Butler, Kasha Ho, their beloved family (chosen & blood), and many, many others. While Rachel imagines and tends to a liberated world, they also spent many years navigating corporate America and understand the complexity and nuance involved in holding on to one’s values while working within a system that so often deprioritzies humanity.
In 2020, Rachel graduated law school Order of the Coif and with seven academic awards in tow, in large part because of their best friend, privilege and being a huge nerd. Rachel then earned a federal clerkship with the Honorable Kimberly J. Mueller in the Eastern District of California, where they were grateful to learn the ins and outs of federal district court and litigation. Prior to starting femme & femme LLP, Rachel was a litigator at Munger, Tolles & Olson, working on a variety of complex civil litigation cases including matters involving trusts and estates. Rachel was proud to also maintain a robust LGBT civil rights and criminal defense probono practice while at the firm, devoting more than a thousand hours to clients in need of free legal services.
Rachel’s experience in some of the most competitive legal environments in the country guides them in drafting family protection contracts and trusts and estate plans for their clients. Rachel brings their compassionate heart, keen legal mind, and prior life experience to each client meeting—helping individuals and families unpack their hopes and fears while keeping an eye on the tools and limits of the law. Rachel is well known for incorporating critical skills such as emotional awareness and transparent communication into their practice, inviting in a grounded client experience.
Rachel dreams, moves and “hopes as a discipline” (Mariame Kaba) on Ohlone land in the Bay Area. When Rachel isn’t lawyering, you can find them delighting in the lusciousness of their community, creating a fabulous outfit for a nibling, or splashing in the nearest body of water. Rachel is proud and awed by their robust chosen family which they have tended to for decades in the Bay and beyond, as well as the magestic nature of all creatures—especially nudibranchs and pitbulls. Rachel hopes to dance more, sew more & learn water filtration practices in the coming year.
Bar Admissions
California
U.S. District Court, Central District of California
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
U.S. District Court, Southern District of California
Bar Memberships
Member, National Trans Bar Association
Member, National LGBTQ+ Bar Association
Member, BALIF, an LGBTQ+ Bar Association
Member, CA Lawyers Association, Trusts & Estates section