Stephen J. Bardol

Meet Steve:

Founding Attorney | St. Louis Divorce & Family Law Attorney

Stephen J. Bardol is the founder of Bardol Law Firm, LLC, a St. Louis law firm focused on divorce and complex family law matters. Since beginning his legal career in 2010, Stephen has built his practice around representing individuals facing high-stakes disputes involving divorce, marital property, business interests, child custody, maintenance, and post-divorce litigation.

Stephen represents clients in contested divorces ranging from difficult custody and support disputes to financially complex cases involving closely held businesses, professional practices, real estate, retirement accounts, investments, and claims of separate or nonmarital property. He has particular experience representing business owners, professionals, executives, and individuals whose divorces require careful financial analysis, strategic discovery, expert involvement, and a willingness to litigate when a reasonable resolution cannot be reached.

His approach is straightforward: understand the facts, know the law, prepare the case thoroughly, and give clients candid advice about both their opportunities and their risks.

A Litigation-Focused Approach to Family Law

Divorce and custody cases are intensely personal, but the decisions made during them can have financial and family consequences that last for years. Stephen believes clients are best served by attorneys who can distinguish between issues worth fighting over and issues that are better resolved strategically.

That philosophy does not mean avoiding conflict when conflict is necessary. Stephen built his practice in the courtroom and has handled contested family law matters throughout his career. He approaches litigation with the expectation that a case should be prepared well enough to try, even when the ultimate goal is settlement.

In complex divorce matters, that preparation can include analyzing business and financial records, tracing property, working with valuation professionals and other experts, taking and defending depositions, conducting extensive discovery, preparing for mediation, and presenting disputed issues to the court.

Stephen’s family law practice includes matters involving:

• Contested divorce
• High-asset and high-net-worth divorce
• Divorce involving business owners and closely held companies
• Complex marital and nonmarital property division
• Business and professional-practice valuation issues
• Real estate, investment, and retirement assets
• Spousal maintenance
• Child custody and parenting disputes
• Child support
• Post-divorce modifications and enforcement
• Other complex family law litigation

Building Bardol Law Firm

Stephen’s path to building Bardol Law Firm was unconventional.

He met his first client on the couch of a small apartment shortly after graduating from Saint Louis University School of Law during an exceptionally difficult legal job market. Stephen knew that he wanted to represent people with real problems and spend his career in the courtroom rather than build a practice centered on transactional work.

So he started his own firm.

That first client was a father involved in a custody dispute who wanted the opportunity to remain actively involved in his son’s life. Stephen did not yet have years of experience behind him, so he compensated with preparation. He researched relentlessly, sought out experienced mentors, attended continuing legal education programs, studied Missouri family law, and worked through nights and weekends preparing the case.

The matter eventually became a three-day custody trial.

It also helped establish the philosophy that has guided Stephen’s practice ever since: there is no substitute for preparation.

From that first case, Stephen built Bardol Law Firm one client and one case at a time. What began as a solo practice has developed into a St. Louis family law firm with multiple attorneys representing clients throughout St. Louis County, St. Louis City, St. Charles County, Jefferson County, and the surrounding region.

Stephen remains closely involved in the firm’s cases, attorneys, strategy, and development. He expects the same qualities from the lawyers at Bardol Law Firm that he demanded of himself when he began practicing: preparation, responsiveness, attention to detail, accountability, and a willingness to advocate aggressively when a client’s circumstances require it.

Professional Recognition

Stephen has received repeated recognition from organizations evaluating attorneys in Missouri and the St. Louis legal community.

He has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® for Family Law since 2019 and has received repeated recognition by Missouri & Kansas Super Lawyers, following six consecutive selections to the Rising Stars list from 2015 through 2020.

Stephen was also named to Missouri Lawyers Weekly’s 2025 Family Law Power List, recognizing attorneys in Missouri’s family law community. Earlier in his career, Missouri Lawyers Weekly selected him for its Up & Coming Lawyers Award.

His professional recognition has also included selections and honors from other legal organizations throughout his career.

Stephen has appeared or been featured in media and legal publications including FOX 2 News, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri Lawyers Weekly, and the Maximum Lawyer Podcast.

Education and Professional Memberships

Stephen earned his Juris Doctor from Saint Louis University School of Law and his undergraduate degree from Saint Louis University, where he studied Communication and Psychology and was named to the Dean’s List.

He is admitted to practice in Missouri and has been involved with professional and community organizations including:

• The Missouri Bar
• St. Louis County Bar Association
• Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis
• Webster Groves Chamber of Commerce

Representing Clients Facing Difficult Decisions

Stephen understands that people rarely contact a divorce lawyer because life is going according to plan. They are often dealing simultaneously with uncertainty about their children, finances, home, business, reputation, and future.

His role is not simply to tell clients what they want to hear. It is to help them understand where they stand, identify what matters most, develop a strategy, and pursue the strongest reasonable outcome available under Missouri law.

For clients facing a contested divorce, complex financial dispute, business-owner divorce, custody battle, or other serious family law matter, Stephen brings the same philosophy that has guided his practice from its beginning:

Prepare thoroughly. Communicate directly. Know the case. And be ready to fight when the circumstances require it.