Best Family Lawyer in Pennsylvania
Patrick J. Cooper
Family Lawyer
Patrick J. Cooper, Esquire is the founding partner in the law firm of Cooper Family Law, a Philadelphia-based law firm handling all aspects of family law cases including divorce, child custody, child support, property division, protections from abuse, and adoption. Cooper Family Law represents clients throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania.
Patrick heads the firm’s family law practice group handling matters involving all aspects of family law. Patrick handles divorce matters ranging from simple no-fault divorces to high net-worth divorce cases involving the division of multiple real estate holdings, business ownership interests, and investment account division.
Patrick has achieved highly favorable results for his clients on a regular basis throughout his career. For example, Patrick has successfully petitioned courts for permission for his clients to sell jointly owned real estate without their spouse’s cooperation, for seizure of their child’s passport in an international child custody proceeding, and obtained child custody rights for grandparents and great-grandparents. Patrick is experienced in LGBTQ family law issues and handles matters involving alternative means of reproduction.
Patrick represents parents and grandparents in child custody cases, working tirelessly to help his clients achieve their desired results with the best interests of their children in mind. Patrick knows that family law matters require a delicate, sensitive approach at times and a tough approach at other times and he advises and advocates for his clients accordingly. In his limited free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife, children, and their dog, Fitz. Patrick and his family have made the Philadelphia area their home, but he remains an avid Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates fan. He asks that his clients please not hold this against him.
GREGORY P. LAMONACA
Family Lawyer
Gregory P. (Greg) LaMonaca is the founding member of the firm, which he began in 1994, working from a spare bedroom in the first home he shared with his wife Monica. From that humble beginning, member-by-member, grew a firm comprised today of dedicated attorneys, paralegals and legal assistants utilizing a team-oriented approach to fulfill the firm’s mission. Over its 30 year history, the firm has grown to be one of largest family law firms in the area, committed to that mission of serving the needs of its clients throughout the Main Line, the state of Pennsylvania and beyond.
Mr. LaMonaca is a Cardinal O’Hara High School graduate, after which he continued his studies at West Chester University, achieving dean’s list status and graduating with cum laude honors. From there, he went on to the Widener University School of Law, concentrating his studies in trial advocacy. Mr. LaMonaca is a graduate of Mastery University and IAP Career College as a certified divorce coach.
Mr. LaMonaca holds membership in the American Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s family law divisions, along with his membership in many other organizations.
Besides the firm’s experience, dedicated team members, diversity, and passion for helping others, Mr. LaMonaca attributes the growth and success of the firm to his “Brutally Honest” system. The three-phase process of this system, which Mr. LaMonaca co-created with a former custody client, helps individuals assess their past and analyze their present as a way to determine current goals, and as part of creating a plan for accomplishing those goals.
Mr. LaMonaca is the Head of the Trial Lab which focuses on making the individual the most presentable version of themselves when it matters most. Using state of the art cameras and recording, the trial lab allows individuals to be their very best when preparing to present in front of a court or tribunal.
Joseph Guillama
Family Lawyer
Practice Areas:
- Divorce
- Child Support
- Custody & Visitation
- Family Law
- Adoption
- Juvenile Delinquency and Dependency
- Alimony
- Alimony Pendente Lite and Spousal Support
- Protection from Abuse
- Wills and Estates
Bar Admission
- Pennsylvania, 2004
- Supreme Court of the United States of America, 2009
- New Jersey, 2004
Honors
- 2016 Select Lawyers of Berks County
- 2014 Select Lawyers of Berks County
Languages
- Spanish
Current Employment Position
- Berks County Family Law Attorney
Litigation
- 100%
Maribeth Blessing
Family Lawyer
Ms. Blessing’s law practice is concentrated in Family Law, but her firm also handles Personal Injury, Wills, Contracts, and Civil Litigation with offices located at 310 Huntingdon Pike, Rockledge. She is a member of the Fellows of the American Bar Association, former President and current practitioner with Collaborative Family Law Affiliates and Affiliate of Center for Peaceful Resolution, a group of dedicate legal professionals notorious as being “lawyers with heart”. Ms. Blessing is a member of International Academy of Collaborative Practitioners and the Collaborative Family Law committee of the PA Bar Association.
Additionally, Ms. Blessing is member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts where she trained as a Parent Coordinator. She is a member of Strathmore’s Who’s Who, receiving the 2007 Professional of the Year Award in Alternative Dispute Resolution. Ms. Blessing is a life member of the National Registry of Who’s Who, and Honored member of Continental Who’s Who as well as receiving recognition as a Distinguished Lawyer by Expert Network and voted consistently as one of the Ten Best Lawyers in Pennsylvania by the American Institute of Family Law Attorneys. She was awarded an Outstanding Service Award by Widener School of Law in 2003 and received the 2011 Woman of the Year Award from the American Biographical Institute and the 2012 Woman of the Year Award from the National Association of Professional Women. Ms. Blessing has received appointments from the Montgomery Bench as Arbitrator, Special Master and Guardian Ad Litem. She is an active Child Advocate for MCAP. As a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Family Law Section, Ms. Blessing is a former Council member and has served as the Liaison between the PBA Family Law Committee and the PBA Children’s Rights Committee for over eight years. She is a member of the PBA Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee and on the Legislative Sub-committees of the PA Bar Children’s Rights Committee and Family Law Section. Ms. Blessing is a past President of the Doris Jonas Freed American Inn of Court and now serves as Counselor. Additionally, she was a member of the MBA Judiciary Committee, a Director for the Montgomery Bar Association, a current continuing member of the Bench Bar and Women in Law committees, and the Montgomery County Bar Trial Lawyers Section as well as former Chair of the Family Law Section and continuing active member. She has been and currently is recognized as a “Super Lawyer” as published in Philadelphia Magazine from the top 5% of Pennsylvania Lawyers. Recently she was a featured guest speaker on Impact Makers Radio promoting civilized family friendly divorce processes.
PETER J. RUSSO
Family Lawyer
Peter J. Russo is the founder and sole shareholder in The Law Offices of Peter J. Russo, P.C. Peter earned a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Marist College in New York and was awarded his J.D. from Widener University School of Law. He is admitted to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and United States District Court for the Middle and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania.
Peter’s practice encompasses representing business owners in matters ranging from the formation of a new business to the sale of a business and everything in between. Over more than two decades, Peter has developed extensive experience working with clients in a wide range of industries, including construction, health care, hospitality, real estate, retail and various professional services. Whether corporate transactions, litigation, employment issues or real estate matters, Peter stands ready to help. Peter also represents individuals in personal matters including a wide variety of civil actions, real estate matters or employment issues.
Being an entrepreneur in his own right, Peter has a special connection with his clients. Peter started the firm right out of law school and has opened and operated more than twenty business over the last two decades. Those experiences provide a distinct acumen that Peter shares with his clients. That same acumen fosters a unique relationship which transcends the customary attorney-client relationship.
Peter has a strong commitment to his community. Over the years, Peter has served on a variety of non- profit boards of Jump Street, Healthy Choices-N-City Kids, Cultural Enrichment Fund and the Jake Gittlen Memorial Golf Tournament. Peter has run more than a decade of fundraising events which have raised more than a million dollars for local non-profits.
Lance M. Gordon
Family Lawyer
Practice is limited solely to the areas of Divorce, Support, Custody and Protection From Abuse law. Attorney Gordon has practiced law since 1992; and has been a Partner in the Law Firm of Saltzman & Gordon since 1994.
Attorney Gordon graduated from Ithaca College in 1989; and from Temple Law School in 1992. Attorney Gordon clerked for the Honorable Richard Webb in Carbon County during the years 1992 through 1993. In 1994 Attorney Gordon became a Partner in the Law Firm of Saltzman & Gordon. Attorney Gordon is a Member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the Lehigh County Bar Association, as well as the Northampton County Bar Association. On December 1, 2001, the presiding Family Court Administrative Judge, Alan M. Black, invited Attorney Gordon to serve on the exclusive Family Court Rules Committee of Lehigh County. At that time, Attorney Gordon was the youngest member ever to be bestowed with such an honor. At the request of a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County, Attorney Gordon has been a guest speaker at Moravian College teaching various aspects of matrimonial law.
Attorney Gordon is the only attorney in the Lehigh Valley to be awarded with the prestigious Reader’s Choice Award for “Best Attorney” in the Lehigh Valley from the readers of the Morning Call newspaper for two non-consecutive years. Attorney Gordon has also been voted “Best Divorce Attorney” in the Lehigh Valley for the years 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 by the readers of Lehigh Valley Magazine. In 2017 Attorney Gordon also received the distinction of “Select Lawyer” for family, custody & divorce law as chosen solely by other lawyers in the Lehigh Valley. In 2018 Attorney Gordon was voted “Best Family Law Attorney” Nominee and Saltzman and Gordon was voted “Best Law Firm” Nominee by the readers of Lehigh Valley Magazine.
Through his twenty-nine (29) years of practicing law, Attorney Gordon has attained extensive experience in handling high income and large asset divorce matters, as well as complicated issues of law as they pertain to support and custody cases. Furthermore, Attorney Gordon has represented both appellees and appellants in appeals to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
J. Becker, Jr.
Family Lawyer
- Education: Mt. St. Mary’s College, Oxford University, Dickinson School of Law
- Articles Editor of the Dickinson Law Review
- Appellate Moot Court Board
- Admitted to bar – 1993
- Member of York County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations
- Admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Pennsylvania Superior Court, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, and all Common Pleas Courts in Pennsylvania
- Former Member of the Board of Directors of the Hanover Area Chamber of Commerce
- Former Member of the Board of Directors of the Hanover Area Historical Society
- Former Chairperson of the Local Rules Committee of the York County Bar Association
- Former Treasurer of the Herbert B. Cohen Inn of Court
Melinda M. Previtera
Family Lawyer
Building great relationships with clients is the cornerstone to Melinda Previtera’s successful practice as a divorce attorney. Her passion and experience allow her to tackle the most complicated cases with the confidence and knowledge needed to obtain the best outcomes for her clients. A partner of Petrelli Previtera, Melinda acts as a mentor for the firm’s associates.
In addition to divorce, Melinda represents clients in all areas of family law, including child support, custody, legal separation, and domestic violence law.
To Melinda, offering top-notch experience, education and above-and-beyond legal work is just the beginning. “We know the right people; we know the key players, the judges, adversaries, opposing counsel,” she explains in this video. “We know how to speak the language and get you the best results.”
While earning her law degree from Rutgers School of Law, Melinda received a certification in mediation. She also conducted research in child advocacy rights and completed a domestic violence clinic. She earned dual bachelor’s degrees, cum laude, from Dickinson College.
Melinda is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Prior to moving to private practice, she served as a judicial law clerk for the Honorable James P. Savio in the family division. After working at Petrelli Law as an associate, Melinda joined the firm as a partner in 2017.
Having the best family lawyers in Pennsylvania is important for several reasons when dealing with family law matters. Here are some key reasons why it is important to have top family lawyers in Pennsylvania:
1. In-depth Knowledge of Pennsylvania Family Law: The best family lawyers in Pennsylvania have a thorough understanding of the state’s family laws, regulations, and legal procedures. They stay up-to-date with any changes in the law and are familiar with Pennsylvania’s specific statutes and case precedents related to divorce, child custody, child support, spousal support, adoption, and other family law matters. Their knowledge allows them to provide accurate legal advice tailored to Pennsylvania’s legal landscape.
2. Expertise in Complex Legal Issues: Family law matters can involve complex legal issues and intricate financial arrangements. The best family lawyers in Pennsylvania have the expertise and experience to handle these complexities effectively. They can navigate complex property division, high-net-worth divorce cases, business valuations, retirement account division, and other intricate legal matters that may arise during family law proceedings.
3. Skilled Advocacy: Experienced family lawyers in Pennsylvania are skilled advocates who can represent your interests persuasively. They possess strong negotiation and communication skills, allowing them to articulate your position effectively in negotiations, mediations, settlement discussions, or courtroom proceedings. Their strong advocacy can significantly impact the outcome of your case.
4. Child Custody and Support Matters: If your case involves child custody or support issues, the best family lawyers in Pennsylvania can provide invaluable guidance. They understand the factors considered by Pennsylvania courts when determining child custody arrangements and can help you navigate the process. They will advocate for your rights and work towards securing a custody or support arrangement that is in the best interests of the child.
5. Division of Marital Assets and Debts: During divorce proceedings, the division of marital assets and debts can be complex. Top family lawyers in Pennsylvania can help you navigate this process, ensuring that your rights are protected and that a fair division of assets and debts is achieved. They can assist with complex financial situations, including valuing and dividing businesses, real estate, investments, and retirement accounts.
6. Knowledge of Local Court System: The best family lawyers in Pennsylvania have extensive experience working within the state’s court system. They are familiar with local court rules, procedures, and key decision-makers. Their knowledge of the local court system can help ensure that your case progresses smoothly, paperwork is filed correctly, and deadlines are met.
7. Emotional Support and Guidance: Family law matters can be emotionally challenging. The best family lawyers in Pennsylvania not only provide legal representation but also offer emotional support and guidance throughout the process. They understand the sensitivities involved and can help you navigate the emotional aspects of your case while providing objective advice.
It is important to conduct thorough research, read client reviews, and consult with multiple lawyers to find the one who is the best fit for your specific family law needs in Pennsylvania. Each case is unique, and the advantages listed above may vary depending on your circumstances and the expertise of the lawyer you choose.