"Judy certainly knows the law, yet more importantly, she knows how to get to the heart of the issues. She has a great talent for cultivating positive solutions with integrity."

  -Cynthia Wallis-Hill, Retirement Life Planner and former client

Welcome. A native North Carolinian, I have been practicing law for twenty-five years. After graduating from Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1978 and Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts in 1984, I practiced with firms in Boston for seven years. In 1991, I returned home to North Carolina with my husband and two children. That year I was privileged to clerk at the North Carolina Supreme Court with Justice Harry Martin.  In 1992, I became certified as a mediator and in 1994, launched my own firm.  My practice is mainly in family law, wills & estates, and mediation.

Raised in both Methodism and Quakerism, I am committed to equal justice for individuals of all backgrounds. I believe that by working toward an equitable, intelligent and open-minded application of the law in specific cases, we will move toward a more just and humane society.

My approach is very “hands-on”.  I work in tandem with Barbara Dupre, my paralegal of nine years.   We make ourselves readily available to our clients, and see our work as providing guidance and protection for people traveling over rough terrain, through some of life’s most difficult situations.  I move easily between my two roles as counselor and legal advisor, and apply a rigorous cost/benefit analysis in selecting a course of action.   I believe that for many people divorce, although painful, can be an opening that leads to a better, more constructive life for them and their children.

One of the most satisfying parts of my work is mediation. I have been certified to mediate in Superior Court cases since 1992 and as a Family Financial Mediator since 2000. After eight years of mediating family law disputes, I believe more strongly than ever that mediation is a way to rescue divorcing couples (or those terminating long-term relationships) from the expense and stress of litigation.   Often we can resolve in one or two sessions a case that would take six or eight months, or more, to work through the courts.   Unlike many attorneys, I also welcome mediation clients who have not yet hired attorneys to come in and let me, as a neutral third party, mediate their dispute.   During that process I always recommend that the parties at least consult with an attorney before finalizing their agreement.

Finally, I have recently been trained in a new alternative to litigation called Collaborative Law. This process allows the parties to work with their attorneys to settle their own dispute without an intermediary. It seems to me to be “the cutting edge” in family law, and especially appeals to people with significant assets or complex issues who wish to avoid the mud-slinging and delay so often involved in traditional litigation.   Please read more on the Mediation and Collaborative Law page of this website.

Barbara Dupre, Judy’s paralegal, has been with the firm since August 1999.  She brings twenty years of experience in the New York State University System managing an accounting office and fourteen employees.  She’s an extremely capable, organized, and friendly office manager, bookkeeper, and detail person. An accounting major with a Masters Degree in Education Administration, Barbara moved here from New York after taking early retirement to be nearer her family.  She is the mother of two sons and the grandmother of three.