Kathryn S. Lazar

Attorney Kathryn S. Lazar is the co-founder and managing partner of the Lazar Schwartz & Jones LLP law firm in Hopewell Junction, New York. A top-rated, award-winning attorney with more than 42 years of legal experience, Ms. Lazar focuses her practice primarily on family law. She represents clients throughout the Hudson Valley, Dutchess County, Putnam County, Orange County and the surrounding areas who are going through a divorce or have some other serious domestic relations issue they need to address.

When counseling her clients regarding their impending divorces, Ms. Lazar helps them decide on the options they have available that will fit their needs the best, whether that is through litigation, collaboration or mediation. When possible, Ms. Lazar prefers using alternative methods of dispute resolution to help her clients resolve their conflicts and come to terms on matters such as child custody and support, property division, alimony, and other issues in a manner that is far more efficient and less adversarial than traditional litigation.

Along with guiding clients through the divorce process, Ms. Lazar provides effective and enforceable pre and postnuptial marriage agreements to help her clients protect themselves and their assets in the event their marriages do not work out. She also has extensive experience handling contentious child abuse cases, and she always has the rights and best interests of her clients and their children at heart.

Recognized for her impeccable professionalism and outstanding legal service, Ms. Lazar has earned recognition from the mayor of Poughkeepsie as the Founder and Executive Director of what is now the Hudson Valley Collaborative Divorce and Dispute Resolution Association. She was also the recipient of the Psychologically Healthy Community Award from the Hudson Valley Psychological Association as well as the Client Satisfaction: 10 Best Female Attorneys Award from the American Institute of Family Lawyers.

Among her other contributions to her profession, Ms. Lazar is the founder of the Battered Women’s Justice Project as well as the Dutchess County Dispute Resolution Center and MH Mediation. She is also an Advanced Practitioner with the Association for Conflict Resolution, and she is an active member of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, among her many other professional affiliations.

A 1971 honors graduate of Reed College, Ms. Lazar obtained her Juris Doctor cum laude from Cornell Law School in 1976. She is admitted to practice before all New York state courts as well as before the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of New York.