Bernadette M. Staroschuck, ADR Attorney in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Bernadette Staroschuck, a partner at Margolis Edelstein, was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1985. Ms. Staroschuck has been associated with Margolis Edelstein since 1997 and before that was associated with the former law firm of Rosenberg Kirshner, which ultimately merged with Margolis Edelstein in January of 1997. She has been a partner in the firm since 2001.

Ms. Staroschuck concentrates her practice in matrimonial law and family law issues. She has also handled a variety of other legal matters including estate administration and other civil issues. Over the last two decades, she has litigated complex family law matters, which include support, equitable distribution, and complex child custody issues. She has experience litigating these issues in Allegheny County and other outlying counties in Western Pennsylvania.

Ms. Staroschuck is also trained in the collaborative law process and co-authored, Developing a Collaborative Family Law Practice, which was published in 2011. She has successfully resolved disputes between spouses and parents in the collaborative law process. She is also a trained mediator.

Ms. Staroschuck has litigated many child custody proceedings both addressing complex custodial issues as well as addressing relocation issues. For the past two decades she has also litigated countless economic claims in the family law section of the Court of Common Pleas to include such matters as child support, spousal support, alimony pendente lite claims, and also complex equitable distribution cases which include not only distribution of various marital assets but also include the distribution of partnership and business interests of the litigations. She has experience in the appellate courts of this Commonwealth addressing various family law issues on appeal.

Ms. Staroschuck is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association as well as its Family Law section. She is also a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. She is a founding member of the Collaborative Law Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania (CLASP) as well as a member of the International Association of Collaborative Professionals (IACP). She is also a fellow of the Allegheny County Bar Association.

Ms. Staroschuck has spoken publicly in many forums to address the issues of domestic violence. She has worked with financial planners who were affiliated with American Express Financial Services as well as speaking before gatherings of various mental health professionals, bankers, and appraisers. She is also committed to educating the public about the benefits of considering alternative dispute resolution options such as handling their family law issues through the collaborative law process or through mediation as opposed to litigation. She was recently interviewed by a local television reporter for CBS where the reporter interviewed not only Ms. Staroschuck but also the parties and her counterpart counsel. It was the hope of all that, based upon this interview, more potential litigants would become informed about the options available to them in addition to the traditional litigation option. She continues to speak with numerous organizations about the option of collaboration such as leaders within the community at large, within the legal community, within various religious communities, and to individuals as well.

Honors

•AV Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Rated
•Selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of Collaborative Law: Family Law and Family Law