Gwen Walkowiak

Gwen Walkowiak has built her career around a simple idea: that the value of a small firm is the relationships inside it. A lifelong Floridian and a Hillsborough County resident since 1984, she represents the families and individuals of Pasco and Hillsborough counties with a steadiness born of twenty-plus years in practice and a lifetime in this community.

Education and admission

Gwen earned her Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the University of South Florida in 1989 and her Juris Doctor from St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami in 2001. She was admitted to The Florida Bar in 2002.

After working in a law firm environment representing corporate clients for several years, Gwen joined her husband, David H. Walkowiak, as a partner in DHW Law, P.A., trading a larger-firm practice for the personal client contact a small firm makes possible.

Practice focus

Gwen’s work concentrates on the areas of law that touch families most directly: estate planning, family law, real estate transactions, and immigration. She drafts wills, trusts, and advance directives; represents clients through divorce, custody, and paternity matters; and guides foreign nationals through the naturalization and family-visa process.

In estate planning, Gwen is known for asking the questions that reveal what a family actually needs, rather than the questions from a software checklist. In family law, she protects clients’ interests without feeding the conflict. In immigration, she prepares clients for every interview, every filing, and every deadline.

Community

Gwen serves on the Boards of Directors of Christian Social Services and Angel of Hope Memorial Gardens, two nonprofits with deep roots in the Tampa Bay community. She is active in her church, a lifelong reader, and a frequent visitor to Florida’s beaches.

How she practices

“I value the personal client contact that working in a small firm provides. It’s where you actually see the impact of what you do on someone’s life.”

Clients come back to Gwen across decades and generations. A will becomes an estate matter, which becomes a grandchild’s guardianship. That continuity is the point.