What I do, at its core, is create clarity out of chaos — especially for families navigating big transitions or uncertainty.
I’ve spent my career building things people depend on — and I learned early on that the law doesn’t always protect people the way they think it does.
I started my career in New York City in 1999. I’m the daughter of an architect, so I’ve always been drawn to real estate and to things you can actually see, touch, and build. What I appreciated about the law was that it could be practical and tangible. From the beginning, I knew I wasn’t interested in fighting for the sake of fighting. Litigation never appealed to me. What mattered was structure — helping people put the right pieces in place so their lives and investments could move forward with clarity and stability.
Early in my career, I worked in law firms on complex, high-stakes transactions. In 2001, I was part of the legal team working on the World Trade Center sale-leaseback transaction. When the Towers were destroyed, I was one of the first lawyers asked to review the insurance policies to determine whether the loss would be treated as one terrorist event or two.
What stayed with me wasn’t the legal complexity, frankly it was the disconnect. While the world was changing in real time, the focus immediately narrowed to liability, exposure, and technical interpretation. There was no pause to acknowledge what had just happened or the people whose lives were instantly altered. That was the moment I fully understood how disconnected traditional legal systems can be from human reality, and I knew I couldn’t build my career that way.
Shortly after 9/11, I left firm practice and moved in-house. I spent several years in the hospitality industry, including serving as General Counsel at Club Quarters. I was closer to operations, people, and the real-world consequences of planning, or the lack of it. Decisions weren’t theoretical anymore. They affected employees, guests, and businesses immediately.
Later, when I moved to Chicago, life intervened in a very personal way. I encountered a challenge many families face — the lack of reliable, full-time childcare. As a Montessori child myself, I understood how critical stability, structure, and environment are, especially for children. Instead of waiting for someone else to solve the problem, I built the solution. I founded the Montessori Academy of Chicago, a year-round, full-time program that became a true home base for working families who depended on it.
Across all of these experiences — law firms, real estate, hospitality, education — the same truth kept emerging. The traditional legal system often fails people because it doesn’t deal well with humanity. It reacts after something has already gone wrong. It reduces real lives into paperwork and technical rules. It rarely asks the questions that truly matter: What does this family need in real life? What happens when circumstances change? Who is going to help them when it does?
Today, I’m vision- and solution-oriented. I see my role as helping people feel confident about their lives — not just legally protected on paper. Instead of reacting to problems after they happen, I work with families to think ahead, clarify what matters most, and design strategies that hold up in real life.
In practice, that often means helping families avoid probate headaches, protecting children who rely on them, and making sure businesses and assets can continue running smoothly when something unexpected happens.
That perspective shapes everything we do.
We don’t bill by the hour. I’ve seen too many people hesitate to call their lawyer when life changes because they’re worried about the meter running. Our work is done on a flat-fee basis, agreed to in advance, so clients can reach out without fear or hesitation.
We work as a team, so when questions arise in real time — at the bank, with an advisor, or during a major life transition — clients aren’t left waiting or guessing.
Most importantly, we see planning as the beginning of a relationship, not a one-time transaction. Life changes. Families evolve. Good planning has to evolve too — and we stay engaged so it does.
At the end of the day, this work matters to me because it’s about the people we love. When planning is done well, it protects relationships, preserves dignity, and gives families peace of mind during moments that are otherwise very hard.
So, before we talk about you and your family, let me ask you this: If something unexpected happened tomorrow, would your family know what to do — or who to call?
