Amelia E. Tidwell
Associate
Location: Camarillo
Phone: (805) 604-2655
Fax: (805) 604-2656
Practice Areas:
- Estate Planning
- Trust Administration
- Probate
Amelia E. Tidwell is an Associate Attorney at the law firm of Lester & Hirschberg, L.L.P. She focuses her practice on estate planning and the administration of trusts and estates, and also takes part in litigation matters. Amelia is passionate about guiding clients through the process of drafting an estate plan to memorialize their wishes, take care of their loved ones, and solve problems before they ever arise, and she compassionately assists loved ones in navigating the administration process when the time comes.
Professional Experience
Amelia received her Juris Doctor and Straus Institute Certificate in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University School of Law, where she served as Literary Citations Editor for the Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary (NAALJ) and was selected as the 2023 Pepperdine Fellow to attend the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning in Florida. She entered the Trust and Estate field clerking with a small estate planning firm while in law school, and broadened her legal drafting skills as a law clerk for an insurance defense firm. She settled back into her passion for guiding people through the estate planning and administration process as a law clerk for Lester, Schuck, Becker, Dehesa & Hirschberg her last year of school, returned as a post-bar law clerk, and joined Lester & Hirschberg as an Associate Attorney upon passing the California Bar.
Educational & Training
Amelia graduated from Culinary Institute LeNôtre with an Associates in Applied Science in Baking and Pastry Arts, gold honors, in 2016. She then attended Baylor University, where she was distinguished as a Bullock Scholar at the Texas State Legislature and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in History and Political Science in 2020.
Amelia obtained her Juris Doctor from Pepperdine University School of Law in 2023, along with a Straus Institute Certificate in Dispute Resolution. While in law school, Amelia served as Literary Citations Editor for the Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary, in which she published an article analyzing legal challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act in anticipation of a Supreme Court ruling on the matter. Amelia earned the CALI Excellence for the Future Award in Negotiation Theory and Practice, and she was selected as Pepperdine’s 2023 Heckerling Fellow to attend the Heckerling Institute on Estate Planning conference.
Amelia was admitted to the California Bar in November 2023.
Publications
Soon to have her third published article, Amelia published a historiographical article with The Pulse in 2019; “The Heart of the Matter: ICWA and the Future of Native American Child Welfare,” an article on legal challenges to the Indian Child Welfare Act, with Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary in 2023; and received commendation from the ABA’s Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section for her article proposing nationwide reform to make Advance Health Care Directives more accessible, titled “Everyone Deserves Autonomy: Making Advance Care Planning Accessible for All,” to be published in the Summer 2024 issue of the Real Property, Trust and Estate Journal.
Community Involvement and Personal Interests
Amelia was born and raised in Texas to a family with humble roots who highlighted the value of setting up the next generation for success. Upon graduating from law school at Pepperdine, she chose to stay and serve Southern Californians by giving them peace of mind that their wishes are memorialized in their estate plan and will take care of the people they care about, and then guiding the next generation through the process of administering their loved one’s estate.
In her free time, Amelia likes to stay active with her two dogs, Goose and Monkey Bread, on hiking trails, paddle boards, and other excursions. She was a French-trained in baking and pastry arts and still enjoys creating new recipes to suit various dietary needs.
