To high-rent family lawyers, keeping secrets quiet is key. (Wealthiest Angelenos: Rich Kids).

THE high-stakes custody battles of the rich and famous all have one thing in common: high-stakes lawyers.

About a half-dozen attorneys ploy the often sensational terrain of celebrity divorces and other family disputes -- making them almost as familiar to television and magazine audiences as the clients they represent.

Take Stephen Kolodny, partner at Kolodny & Anteau in Beverly Hills, who is considered by colleagues to be one of their most formidable opponents.

He'd have to be tough. Kolodny represents Lisa Bonder Kerkorian in her child support and paternity case against billionaire Kirk Kerkorian. Kolodny argued that his client was entifled to $320,000 a month in child support for their 4-year-old daughter. That included $144,000 in travel expenses, $14,000 for parties and $1,400 for laundry and cleaning. Last September, Kerkorian, who was later determined not to be the father, agreed to pay $50,000 in monthly child support.

Opposing counsel say he rarely settles. When he sits across the room, "you prepare to go toe-to-toe every step of the way," says Daniel Jaffe, a partner at Jaffe and Clemens PC in Beverly Hills.

Jaffe, another top attorney, represented the ex-wives of both News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and "Titanic" director James Cameron in their respective divorce cases. His typical case involves child support payments of between $15,000 and $25,000 a month.

DNA lacier

He said L.A. is different from other cities because of its large concentration of millionaires and California's no-limit laws on child support for high-income earners.

But his paternity cases are what keep him busy. Three decades ago, Jaffe, 66, would hold up the baby in court, right beside the father, to see if there was any resemblance. Now, DNA tests have made paternity cases "foolproof" he says.

Yet they still try. In the past few weeks, Jaffe said he has had at least three women approach multimillionaire clients with paternity claims.

Dennis Wasser, a 60-year-old partner at Wasser Cooperman & Carter, offers one explanation: "Unfortunately, a lot of times it's a set up. The target defendants have a lot of the money, and the mother sets the thing up to have a child. But the money really goes to the mother essentially, rather than the child."

Wasser, another one of the go-to lawyers in town, is Kolodny's courtroom opponent in the Kerkorian case. His clients include an array of the wealthy: business executives, actors and other professionals, many of whom have children out of wedlock. With their net worth reaching into the $100 million range, Wasser said he spends most of his time in private offices with judges hired to decide these cases quietly. His longest case took eight years.

Besides Kerkorian, Wasser now represents Nancy Moonves, who filed for divorce last month against CBS President and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves. They have three children.

Another top attorney is Sorrell Trope, the 75-year-old partner at Trope & Trope whose clients have included the late Cary Grant, Nicholas Cage and Henry Yuen, ousted cofounder and chief executive of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.

Robert Kaufman, 65, a partner at Kaufman Young Spiegel Robinson & Kenerson LLP, is another top dog. He represented actress Roseanne Barr in her divorce from third husband Ben Thomas last March, which included custody of their 6-year-old son. Despite the Roseanne divorce, Kaufman, who did not return phone calls, handles primarily paternity cases, not child custody, said Manley Freid, a partner at Freid & Goldsman.

Freid, also frequently named as a top family lawyer in L.A., handles both paternity and child custody claims. He represented Rene Elizondo, former husband of Janet Jackson, in their 2001 divorce. Most of his time is spent settling cases in private.

"Our function as a top lawyer is to keep it low profile:' says Freid, 65. "Most of the big business cases you don't hear about because that's the way we want to keep it. Only when all that fails, it then goes public."

Other attorneys, while considered to have more average-wealth clients, occasionally represent big names in family disputes over children. One attorney, Hillel Chodos, is a nonfamily attorney who takes on what he calls "complicated or unusual litigation."

Chodos represents Jennifer Gold, an L.A. woman who sued Orange County billionaire Donald Bren on May 13 seeking additional support for their 15-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son, both born out of wedlock.

Most of the half-dozen or so family lawyers see each other so much that they almost consider themselves, well, like family.

"At any given time, we'll have five cases against each other or more," Freid says. "But we're good friends and we respect each other. Everyone knows what they can get and how to go about getting it."