Corinne M. DeStefano, Attorney and Mediator

Picture yourself at your son’s college graduation. Or his wedding. Your ex is there. Maybe with their new spouse. Wouldn’t it be nice if you were all able to be together harmoniously, and didn’t spend the days leading up to these joyful events stressed out and filled with dread?

I’m Corinne DeStefano, and I have been a practicing family law attorney and mediator for over 38  years. My goal is to make sure that couples who are getting divorced make the best choices possible for themselves and for their families. Because while a marriage may end, the family doesn’t. Keeping divorce on good terms and out of the courtroom is critical for maintaining positive family relationships. 

Divorcing parents, unlike parties in most civil lawsuits who have no further contact with each other, have to continue their relationship. They need to co-parent and deal with each other for the rest of their lives or their kids’ lives.

Once people realize that a Collaborative divorce gives them extra financial and mental-health support as well, they will agree that it is the smarter way to divorce. You don’t want venom spewing.. 

Growing up, my dad owned a manufacturing company, so after law school, I figured I would probably practice business law. I began my legal career working for a corporate attorney in Newark, NJ. But, because I was the only woman in the firm, I wound up handling all of the divorce work that came in, and I became hooked on Family Law.

I left that firm when my oldest daughter was young, and I began working for a firm in Madison, where I focused on Family Law, real estate transactions, and estates. This was where I grew my firm belief that Family Law should not be contentious and adversarial.

Back in 1982 when I was a law student, few classes in Family Law were offered. It was a learning process. There was no specialty. Now, I am the specialist, and I teach students about the Collaborative Law process as an adjunct professor of Family Law in the Paralegal program at Fairleigh Dickinson, a guest speaker for the Collaborative unit of an alternative divorce resolution program at Seton Hall Law, and on business and community Collaborative Law panel discussions.

When not practicing law, I enjoy reading and traveling with my husband of 41 years. I have three daughters; an attorney, a surgical breast oncologist, and a hospital pediatric nurse.