My personal journey to a career in law was different than most attorneys. After college, I became a VISTA volunteer and spent a year helping low-income tenants on New York City’s Lower East Side organize for better housing. That program led me into close contact with Legal Aid service, my first sense of just how amazing the legal arena can be for healthy change. I then attended Columbia University to earn a Masters Degree in Social Work which I used in my counseling work in a variety of settings, mostly hospitals. By the time I took the leap at the age of 31 into a law career, I understood the practice of law to be, at its finest, when the lawyer appreciates the importance of the whole person, not just the statutes and rules.
A family law lawyer is what I have been for the past thirty plus years, a combination of different skills that enable me to assist people to achieve their goals and needs in a manner that they can use to protect what is most important to them. I am a tough litigator but I always first make a solid attempt to be a problem solver on behalf of my client. The courtroom is where litigants lose, rather than gain, control.