OUR APPROACH
Thoughtful Counsel. Personal Attention.
Every family eventually faces incapacity or loss. Our aim is to make preparing for it approachable—and, we hope, even pleasant—and to design a plan that does right by the people you love.
DuCharme Law is a small, personal practice by design. We take the time to listen, explain things clearly, and think through how a plan will work in practice. We consider different possibilities, anticipate potential problems, and help our clients make informed decisions that reflect their wishes and circumstances.
We want your experience of working with us to feel relaxed and personal, while the work we do for you is thoughtful, thorough and highly professional. We enjoy building lasting relationships with our clients and creating a practice where we do excellent work and still treat people like people.
Elena DuCharme, Esq.
About Elena
Elena DuCharme brings decades of legal experience to her estate planning practice. Her career includes litigation and transactional work in private practice and as in-house counsel, including business, real estate, land use, municipal, regulatory, and trusts and estates matters.
That breadth of experience informs how she approaches estate planning. She’s seen how ambiguity, changing circumstances, competing interests and family dynamics can lead to problems long after documents are signed. She thinks forward, considers different scenarios, and works to create plans that will function as intended when the people who created them can no longer explain their wishes.
Elena has also spent more than a decade teaching and working with law students, graduates and attorneys on performance anxiety, professional pressures and demanding workloads. That work reinforced the importance of listening carefully and helping people think clearly when they’re facing difficult decisions.
La Jolla Roots and Community Work
Elena is a La Jolla native and one of five children. Her father, Deane Haskins, was a business and real estate attorney who practiced in downtown La Jolla for nearly 60 years. He loved his practice and was active in community life. He could often be seen walking cheerfully through the Village at lunchtime—usually on his way to get a chocolate shake. Her brother Steve is also an attorney and a longtime community advocate.
After graduating from the University of Washington in Seattle and Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, Elena began her career at a large San Francisco firm. She later practiced in San Diego, including opening a boutique firm with her brother. She also spent a number of years living and working in Santa Barbara and Sonoma County before returning home to La Jolla.
Alongside her legal practice, since 2000 Elena has devoted substantial volunteer time to community and environmental campaigns in La Jolla and the Bay Area. She has served as president of the La Jolla Village Residents Association since 2006. Her La Jolla work includes leading and coordinating the No Third Story grassroots campaign in 2006, and serving as a behind-the-scenes leader of the successful Bird Rock Station effort in 2009–2011.
Both of these campaigns brought residents together, encouraged greater community participation and helped preserve the human scale and character of La Jolla’s charming commercial zones—a passion she shares with many La Jollans.
Education & Other Experience
- •J.D., cum laude — Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco (now UC Law San Francisco)
- •B.A., Political Science — University of Washington, Seattle; Phi Beta Kappa
- •Transformational Mediation training and Community mediation Intern — Santa Barbara, California
- •President, La Jolla Village Residents Association — 2006–present
- •Named San Francisco Bay Champion by Save The Bay for Land Use and Environmental Leadership — 2003
- •Graduate Advisor, Hastings College of the Law — 2001–2006
Choosing an Attorney Is Personal
If you think we might be a good fit, let’s start with a conversation about what brings you here and how we may be able to help.