Rebecca Melzer is the Founding Member of Berlin Melzer Law LLC. She has practiced exclusively family, matrimonial, and estate law during her tenure including traditional contested litigation, trials, and appeals, negotiation, mediation, alternative dispute resolution, and collaborative law. Rebecca is member of the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois and International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. She is also a certified mediator through Northwestern University.
Prior to founding the firm, Rebecca was the Managing Partner at a small Chicago-based family law firm, supervising all family and estate family attorneys, paralegals, and staff. Rebecca started practicing as an attorney working exclusively for the named Partner at one of the largest family and divorce law firms in the nation dedicated solely to the practice of matrimonial and family law. As a law student, Rebecca was a law clerk to the Presiding Judge of Domestic Relations Division in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Rebecca is passionate about helping people, and it shows. She provides seasoned counsel and guidance through the complex, emotional experience of family law proceedings. Her unique background gives her unparalleled experience in handling complicated family law matters including issues involving high net worth individuals including business valuations and preserving non-marital assets, tracing hidden assets, and analyzing complex compensation and executive compensation benefits, and trust and estate planning structures. Her practice includes divorce and parentage matters, low to high conflict parental responsibility (custody) and parenting time (visitation) disputes, establishment and modification of child support and spousal support (maintenance or alimony), family law appeals, drafting and negotiating prenuptial and post-nuptial agreements, and enforcement of or challenging existing agreements. Rebecca also practices in the area of adoptions, step-parent adoptions, and guardianship. We provide our clients critical estate planning services to help aid them in protecting their families at all times. We can help with simple and complex cases, and all aspects of family law, from consultation and planning through mediation and settlement or trial.
Rebecca will ensure that your unique needs for your estate planning desires are met - being strategic now helps save stress and uncertainty later. Rebecca and her team will talk you through all your options and do the appropriate financial planning to maximize your estate. Rebecca is creative and will consider all options with you in order to customize your will, trust, and estate documents to meet your specific needs. Your family and desires are unique and we treat your estate with individualized attention and solutions.
Rebecca consistently been recognized by her peers to be a leader in the field, including having received the continued honors of Best Lawyers in America in the area of Family Law and yearly selection as an Illinois Super Lawyers, Rising Star, and selection as an Emerging Lawyer in the Practice of Family Law by Leading Lawyers. She was also selected as the Top Women Lawyers, Illinois Rising Stars.
Rebecca was awarded the the 2023-2024 ISBA Carole Bellows Women and the Law Award, awarded to an Illinois attorney with more than 10 years of experience. Rebecca was appointed as a founding member on the Illinois State Bar Association Standing Committee on Artificial Intelligence and the Practice of Law. She was also nominated and acts as a co-chair on the Artificial Intelligence subcommittee of the Illinois State Bar Association Family Law Section Counsel. In her role on the ISBA committees, Rebecca will serve the ISBA’s 28,000+ members by regularly attending section meetings and subcommittee meetings, contributing to a monthly newsletter, evaluating relevant legislation, and more.
Rebecca is an Executive Board Member and on the legal committee at SHALVA, an agency providing critical services to domestic violence victims. Rebecca has previously served as a Member on the Illinois State Bar Association (ISBA) Standing Committee on Women & the Law and as the Associate Editor of the ISBA Family Law Council newsletter.
Rebecca is also a frequent lecturer and has taught family law at Depaul College of Law. She often lectures, as an example most recently was the keynote speaker at a seminar entitled “Assisted reproduction, the intersection of law, technology, and ethics” and also planned and moderated a seminar entitled “Legal Strategies for Tech-Enabled Domestic Abuse Cases”. While she is admitted to practice in Illinois and Kentucky, her practice includes consultation in jurisdictions outside of Illinois and Kentucky.
Contact berlin melzer law
If you would like to speak with us, feel free to call the office at 312/602-9789 or email at admin@berlinmelzerlaw.com.