Current Employment Position(s)

Of Counsel

Languages

• French(Primary)

Lawyer Overview

Lisa C. Matthews is a Board Certified Family Law Specialist and a Louisiana qualified Family and Juvenile Mediator practicing in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America. After clerking for an appellate Judge for two years, she entered private practice nineteen years ago and is a shareholder in the law firm Stephenson, Chavarri & Lambert, L.L.C. Ms. Matthews believes it is important to offer families alternatives to the traditional litigation model of dispute resolution. She has observed that many family disputes can be more efficiently and more appropriately handled in Collaboration and in Mediation than in the courts. Litigation, with its high financial and emotional cost, often yields less satisfying results than carefully crafted agreements reached in Mediation or Collaboration.

Ms. Matthews has been a Mediator since 1994 and a Collaborative Professional since 2003. She has served as a Mediation Trainer at seminars offered by Loyola Law School in New Orleans, Louisiana since 1996 and at Louisiana State University Law School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana since 2007. Ms. Matthews is the past President of the New Orleans Chapter of the Family Mediation Council of Louisiana and past Trustee and Treasurer of the statewide Council. She has taken part in panel presentations at local and state meetings of the Family Mediation Council of Louisiana. Ms. Matthews is a Charter Member and past President of the Collaborative Professionals' Group of Southeast Louisiana and has done presentations about Collaborative Divorce in Louisiana, Texas, Washington State, Georgia and Florida in the United States, and in Adelaide, Australia. She is also a Collaborative Divorce Trainer.

Ms. Matthews seeks to improve the court system by working with judges, lawyers, mental health professionals, financial professionals, local community agencies, the Louisiana State Bar Association, the New Orleans Bar Association, the Jefferson Parish Family Law Association and the Louisiana Law Institute to make the system more responsive to the needs of families in transition. One way to do that is to educate families about the options of Collaboration and Mediation and to encourage courts to direct embattled families to those Alternative Dispute Resolution options.

Areas of Practice

• Family Law
• Family Mediation
• Estate Administration
• Personal Injury

Representative Cases

• Green v. Southern Transplant, 698 So.2d 699 (La App. 4th Cir. 1997)
• Anton v. Anton, 694 So.2d 1217 (La App. 4th Cir. 1997)
• Fountain v. Fountain, 644 So.2d 733 (La App. 1st Cir. 1994)

West Practice Categories

Family Law, Personal Injury -- Defense, Personal Injury -- Plaintiff, Estate Administration

Bar Admissions

• Louisiana, 1988
• U.S. District Court Eastern District of Louisiana, 1989
• U.S. District Court Middle District of Louisiana, 1989
• U.S. District Court Western District of Louisiana, 1989
• U.S. Court of Appeals 5th Circuit, 1989

Certification/Specialties

• Family Law, LA State Bar Association, 1997
• Family Mediation, Family Mediation Council of Louisiana- New Orleans Chapter, 1995

Professional Associations and Memberships

• Family Mediation Council of Louisiana, New Orleans Chapter, 1994 - Present (Member)
• Family Mediation Council of Louisiana, New Orleans Chapter, 1995 - 1997 (Vice-President, Member)
• Family Mediation Council of Louisiana, New Orleans Chapter, 1997 - 1999 (President)
• Family Mediation Council of Louisiana (State Organization), 1997 - Present (Treasurer and Trustee)
• Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, 1998 - Present (Member)
• Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, 2000 (Host Committee, Annual Meeting)
• American Bar Association, 1989 - Present (General Member)
• American Bar Association, Family Law Section, 1990 - Present (Member)
• Louisiana State Bar Association, 1988 - Present (General Member)
• Louisiana State Bar Association, Family Law Section, 1995 - Present (Member)
• Association of Women Attorneys, 1989 - Present (Member)
• American Association for Justice, Family Law Section, 1996 - Present (Member)
• Jefferson Bar Association, 1990 - Present (Member)
• New Orleans Bar Association, 1997 - Present (Member)

Classes and Seminars

• Ethics As It Relates To Domestic Law, Domestic Law in Louisiana, National Business Institute, 2000
• Ethics As It Relates To Child Support, Domestic Law in Louisiana, National Business Institute, 2000
• Louisiana Protective Order Registry, The Insider's View of Domestic Court, New Orleans Bar Association, 1999
• Jurisdiction in Interstate Custody Battles: The PKPA and the UCCJA, The Insider's View of Custody and Evaluation, New Orleans Bar Association, 1998
• Co-mediation Trainer for Mediation Seminars, Loyola Law School, 1998
• Co-mediation Trainer for Mediation Seminars, Loyola Law School, 1997
• Co-mediation Trainer for Mediation Seminars, Loyola Law School, 1996
• Panel Presentations, Family Mediation Council of Louisiana, 1996
• Speaker, Family Mediation Council of Louisiana, New Orleans Chapter
• Member of Panel, Panel Presentations, Family Mediation Council of Louisiana, New Orleans Chapter

Past Employment Positions

• Law Offices of Maria I. O'Byrne Stephenson, Associate, 1989 - 1995
• State of Louisiana 5th Circuit Court of Appeal, Law Clerk, 1987 - 1989

Education

• Louisiana State University Law Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 1987
  J.D.
• L'Universite Catholique De L'Ouest, Angers, France, 1984
  Diplome de Langue et de Civilisation Francaises
• L'Universite Catholique De L'Ouest, Angers, France, 1984
  Diplome Superieure de Francais des Affaires de la Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris
• L'Universite Catholique De L'Ouest, Angers, France, 1984
  Diplome de Langue Francaise, Mention Tres Honorable, L'Alliance Francaise
• Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, 1983
  B.A.
  Honors: magna cum laude
  Honors: Phi Beta Kappa; Mortar Board
  Major: French
  Minor: Political Science

Address

2 Canal Street
Suite 2305
New Orleans, LA 70130-1254

Phones

(866) 761-7605
(504) 613-4255

Faxes

(504) 525-2846

Emails

Contact Us

Websites

http://www.smclattorneys.com