Steven A. Sinkin

Trial attorney Steven Sinkin has practiced law in Texas for 35 years and devotes his casework to child support collection and enforcement and personal injury.

Client Work

Mr. Sinkin’s client work involves collecting child support for parents who divorced in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Both he and partner Karen Marvel successfully represented clients at courts of appeals and the Texas Supreme Court in significant cases that helped change the law on child support collection and the application of interest on child support. Today, the law allows collection of past-due child support, with interest, no matter when the parties divorced.

His personal injury work centers on car, 18 wheeler and motorcycle accidents and bad-faith insurance, such as business interruption, hurricane and natural-disaster coverage.

As a litigator, Mr. Sinkin represents clients in trials and appeals in Texas state and federal courts.

Professional History

  • Partner, Sinkin & Marvel, 2007 - present
  • Partner, Sinkin & Barretto, P.L.L.C., 1988–2007
  • Steven A. Sinkin, Attorney at Law, 1975–88
  • Briefing Attorney, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, 1974–75
  • State Rep. Ronald Coleman, Texas Constitutional Convention, 1973–74
  • U.S. Sen. Ralph Yarborough, 1970

Bar & Court Admissions

  • 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 2006
  • U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, 1975
  • Texas, 1974

Professional Memberships & Activities

Publications, Presentations & Recognitions

  • Co-Author, Money Matters (with Karen Marvel & Ruth Lown), Extreme Family Law Makeover 2009, SA Bar Assoc. Family Law Section
  • Contributing editor, O’Connor’s Family Law Handbook 2009 (child support enforcement), November 2008
  • Unique Child Support Remedies Webcast, paper author and panelist, 2009, State Bar of Texas
  • Co-author, Case Law Update, Extreme Divorce Practice Makeover V!,  San Antonio Bar Association Family Law Section, 2007
  • Co-author, Getting the Child Support Paid: Unique Remedies to Collect Child Support, Extreme Family Law Practice Makeover!, San Antonio Bar Association Family Law Section, 2005
  • Speaker, New Trends in Child Support Collection, San Antonio Bar Association Family Law Section, July 2002
  • Class Action Lawsuit Against Attorney General, Texas Association of Domestic Relations Offices annual meeting and seminar, 1997
  • Who’s Who Among American Lawyers
  • Listed in San Antonio’s Best Lawyers,  Scene in SA magazine 2008

Education

  • University of California–Berkeley, J.D., 1974
  • University of California–Los Angeles, B.A. in Economics, 1970; summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa

Notable Cases

  • In the Interest of M.C.C., A Child, 142 S.W.3d 504 (Tex. 2006) (interest rates that apply to past due child support)
  • In the Interest of S.C.S. 48 S.W.3d 831 (Tex. App.–Houston [14th Dist.] 2001) pet. denied per curiam, sub. nom. Sprouse v. Sprouse, 92 S.W.3d 502 (Tex. 2002) (no time limits to collect past due support)
  • In the Interest of A.D., 73 S.W. 3d 244 (Tex. 2002) (author, amicus curiae brief) (no time limits to collect past due support)
  • In the Interest of M.M.O., 1983-CI-09463, In the 166th Judicial District Court of Bexar County, Texas (class-action suit against Office of Attorney General to collect interest on child support)