Law Office | Redding, CA | Law Offices of Kirk M Manuel and Katherine M. Conard Manuel

About Us

Kirk M Manuel graduated from the University of California at Davis with honors in 1981 and received his Juris Doctorate from Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco in 1984. Mr. Manuel was admitted to the State Bar of California that year and is entitled to practice before all state trial, appellate, and supreme courts of California as well as the federal courts in the Northern District of California. Mr. Manuel began his practice of law in Redding, California, in 1985, initially joining the firm of prominent local attorney Lee Lopez. In 1991, Mr. Manuel established his own practice with an emphasis in all aspects of family law. Mr. Manuel is committed to the principle that well-advised clients are in the best position to craft a resolution of their disputes which best serves their needs. He is dedicated to promoting a process which will achieve a fair negotiated settlement.

Having practiced in this area of the law for years, Mr. Manuel is also a realist who understands that not every issue of every case will be resolved through settlement.

Your advocate needs to be possessed of effective litigation skills to provide the highest quality of service for your matter. Mr. Manuel has zealously advocated for his clients in literally hundreds of family law trials over every conceivable issue, from custody to restraining orders to property division to support.

When you need an effective advocate for all aspects of your family law matter, Manuel, Conard Manuel and Tescher should be your first call.

Katherine M. Conard Manuel grew up in New Jersey, not far from Philadelphia. After having her first child, she made the decision to go back to school to earn a degree in order to provide a good life for her family. Ms. Conard Manuel attended the University of Montana, in Missoula, Montana and received her Bachelor's Degree in Communications Studies. She went on to get her Juris Doctorate at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington, in 2000.

Although she had never been to California, she thought it would be a good place to raise a family, so she decided to take the California Bar Exam. Passing the exam, she answered a few ads for employment and ended up in Redding, California, working at Berg & Associates, Inc. from 2001 through the end of 2010. There, she practiced both criminal defense and family law. For years she handled all family law and CFS cases in that firm, as well as preparing complex criminal cases for trial.

Upon opening her own practice in November 2010, she continued to handle CFS, family law, and criminal matters. She had a temporary public defender conflict contract from April 2011 through April 2012 wherein she represented criminal defendants charged with various felonies in cases where the public defender's office had a conflict with representation.

In August 2011, Ms. Conard Manuel and her husband, Kirk Manuel, who had an already established and successful law practice since 1991, decided to become law partners. They created The Law Offices of Kirk M Manuel and Katherine M. Conard Manuel. This firm focused on family law, so Ms. Conard Manuel slowly pared down her criminal practice over the years. While partnered with her husband, she handled adoptions, termination of parental rights, dissolutions, custody proceedings and dependency matter in Shasta, Lassen and Modoc counties.

The firm was fortunate to have Ms. Jennifer M. Tescher become a partner in January of 2023 and since then the firm has become Manuel, Conard Manuel and Tescher. Having Ms. Tescher as a partner with many years of experience in criminal defense renewed Ms. Conard Manuel's passion for justice and advocacy in criminal defense.

When not practicing law, Ms. Conard Manuel can be found spending time with her family, which is the most important aspect of her life.

Jennifer M. Tescher, a Redding native, graduated from Enterprise High School and Chico State University. She went on to graduate from Gonzaga University School of Law with honors in 2003.

After passing the California Bar exam, Jennifer returned to Redding to provide legal services to her home community.

From 2003-2010 Ms. Tescher worked for the contract public defender and then the Shasta County Public Defender's Office handling criminal cases of all types including misdemeanors, felonies and juvenile delinquency cases.

From 2010-2022 Ms. Tescher worked at Shasta County Counsel as a Senior Deputy County Counsel handling dependency cases representing Children Services and defending the best interest of children in our community from abuse and neglect.

After nearly 20 years in government law, Jennifer joined the Law Office of Kirk M Manuel and Katherine M. Conard Manuel as partner becoming Manuel, Conard Manuel and Tescher. Now in private practice she continues her passion of family law issues which include primarily child custody issues.

In her time away from the office Jennifer is a single mother of two amazing children. They are a family that loves the outdoors in all capacities including backpacking, mountain biking and back country skiing with their two dogs.