Jacqueline Stephens Breisch of Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP brings a client-centered and solution-based perspective to family law.

The secret to her success is understanding and recognizing that every case is unique with its own intricacies and nuances, both in how the law is interpreted and in the various relationship dynamics. Stephens Breisch believes that you can’t take just one approach for every case. By getting to know your clients, and understanding their goals and objectives, only then can you find a clear path to proceed and move forward efficiently and successfully.

Unlike some areas of practice where there is a clear right and wrong, “there’s very little black and white in what we do, it’s a lot of gray,” says Stephens Breisch. Utilizing experience, legal skills, and effective communication, Stephens Breisch is able to advocate for her clients and provide them with excellent results in all aspects of their case.

Every single case takes a different tone and a different approach. The one constant through it all though, is Stephens Breisch’s commitment to keeping litigation focused on a working end solution. Instead of focusing on the conflict of divorce itself, Stephens Breisch sees family law as working through a series of issues so that she can then help find a solution that will benefit her clients long after the case concludes, most particularly and especially when there are children involved.

“I don’t take a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to my clients,” says Stephens Breisch. “It is important to take the time to truly get to know my clients, understand what is driving them, and educate them about their options so that I can provide creative solutions in negotiating, or prepare for litigation when that becomes necessary.”

Stephens Breisch takes the emotion out of the case and then advocates for what will best suit her client and their family moving forward. And while compartmentalizing the emotional aspects of a case is important, Stephens Breisch maintains that you cannot let yourself become completely hardened to it entirely.

“It doesn’t matter that I’ve seen this issue 50 times before, my client hasn’t. If it’s a big deal to your client, you need to treat it like it is to you too,” says Stephens Breisch.

Stephens Breisch’s experiences of being a product of divorce—as well as being a mother—uniquely inform the way she practices, particularly when children are involved.

A trained Guardian ad Litem (GAL) for the court, Stephens Breisch always strives to keep the children in mind in her cases as well. A GAL is a court-appointed legal advocate for the children in highly contested cases. GALs represent the interests of the children in a case and are neutral, third-party attorneys appointed by the court, who can then make recommendations on certain issues and in general for the children’s welfare and best interests. Not only does Stephens Breisch’s experience as a GAL provide her with insight about the process, but it also allows her to provide invaluable tools and resources to her clients when a GAL is involved in her own case.

Stephens Breisch keeps her outlook forward-facing. Her end goal is to improve the situations of her clients and help set them up for success after the proceedings are over and find real, tangible solutions for the family as a whole.

She understands the issues she’s dealing with are highly sensitive to each family and that the landscape of family law is ever evolving. Whether that’s drafting parenting agreements that take into virtual learning options or doing her own due diligence and research into the financial intricacies of a case involving cryptocurrency, keeping her clients at the center of her practice has proven to be the key to her success.

Schiller DuCanto & Fleck LLP’s Chicago office is located at 321 N. Clark Street, Suite 1200. For more information, call 312-641-5560 or visit sdflaw.com.