Most people do not decide on a career in divorce law as teenagers. Jacqueline Newman did. As she puts it in her own words, “I actually wanted to be a divorce attorney since I was pretty much like 13 years old, which is totally weird because why would a 13-year-old want to be a divorce attorney?” That early clarity says a lot about who she is, how she thinks about relationships, and why so many clients turn to her during some of the hardest chapters of their lives.
Today, Jacqueline serves as the managing partner at Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein. She joined the firm in 1998 as an intern while still in law school, and over the decades has helped guide our growth into one of New York’s leading family law practices handling litigation, collaborative law, and mediation for clients with complex lives and finances.
From Law School Intern To Managing Partner
In the video, Jacqueline tells the story of how she first walked through our doors. Barry Berkman, one of our founding partners, taught her law school class. After the last session, she went up to him and asked if he was hiring. As she explains, the person in the role before her was about to leave “to follow the Grateful Dead,” and Barry invited her to come in. She joined as an intern and never really left.
More than two decades later, she leads the firm as managing partner. During that time, she has focused her practice on divorce litigation, collaborative law, and mediation, as well as matters involving prenuptial & postnuptial agreements, marital agreements, separation agreements, equitable distribution, support, custody, and post-divorce actions. Clients with significant assets and intricate business interests often work with her on high net worth matrimonial cases and prenuptial agreements that call for careful financial analysis and strategic planning.
When Jacqueline talks about our firm’s path, you can hear both pride and a sense of perspective. “We started expanding to do not only just litigation, but mediation and collaborative law, and then we just started adding on. So now we're 32 attorneys, which is just amazing to think that it just started with the three of us. It's really been such a pleasure and so much fun to watch the journey and be part of it, and I couldn't be more proud.”
Why Relationships & Numbers Both Matter To Her
Jacqueline grew up in a household where conversations about human behavior came naturally. Both of her parents worked as psychotherapists, and the “big family joke,” as she shares, was that she was “too aggressive to be a therapist.” The law drew her in instead. “I just found the law fascinating from a young age,” she explains in the video. At the same time, she loved watching how people related to one another. “I always loved relationships. I find people incredibly interesting. I find relationships incredibly interesting. It was such a nice blend.”
That blend of psychology and advocacy shows up in the way she practices family law. She brings a steady, analytical mindset to disputes that are often as emotional as they are technical. One of the most striking moments in the video comes when she talks about numbers. “I love numbers, so the more financially complex for me, the better,” she says. “I know that is odd in the matrimonial space; most people do not like numbers. I really enjoy cases that have incredibly complex business structures, incredibly complex income structures.”
That comfort with financial detail fits naturally with the work she does at Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein. Our firm regularly represents high-income clients with businesses, investments, and multi-layered compensation arrangements. Jacqueline’s interest in complex structures, paired with her legal training and her certificate in Negotiation Mastery from Harvard Business School Online, helps her guide clients through negotiations and court proceedings that touch every part of their financial lives.
How She Thinks About Courtroom Strategy & Advocacy
Jacqueline’s approach in court balances direct advocacy with careful restraint. In the video, she laughs as she observes that “attorneys generally do like to hear the sound of their own voice.” Then she makes clear that her style differs. “I say the things I need to say. I know the judge is paying attention because I am not just going on and on and on.”
For her, effective advocacy means knowing when to press and when to pause. “It's about knowing when the judge doesn't want to hear it anymore. It's about knowing when you need to push an issue, and it's about knowing when your adversary continues to speak, to just not say anything. Because sometimes silence can be the best tool.”
That sense of timing reflects the same combination of insight and practicality that runs through her work. Whether she is litigating a complex equitable distribution case, working through a collaborative divorce, or guiding a couple in mediation, she focuses on moving the matter forward rather than speaking for the sake of speaking. Clients who watch the video often comment that they feel that measured approach right away.
Teaching, Writing & Leading In Family Law
What you see in the video aligns closely with Jacqueline’s work outside the courtroom. She serves as an adjunct professor at Cardozo School of Law, where she teaches Divorce Processes, and she previously co-taught Family Law Practice at Fordham University School of Law alongside Barry Berkman. She has also taught Collaborative Family Law for the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals and the Center for Mediation in Law, and has provided training on matrimonial law for collaborative divorce professionals for the New York State Unified Court System.
Her writing extends beyond the classroom. Jacqueline wrote “The New Rules of Divorce: Twelve Secrets to Protecting Your Wealth, Health and Happiness,” published by Simon & Schuster in 2020. Media outlets have often sought her insight on divorce and family law; she has appeared as a commentator on television and radio and has been quoted in publications that include Fox Business, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, The New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, Business Insider, Time.com, USA Today, CNBC.com, and others.
Within the legal community, she holds an AV Preeminent rating from Martindale-Hubbell and has received recognition from organizations such as Chambers and Partners (High Net Worth Guide), Super Lawyers (New York Metro Top 50 Women Attorneys and Top 100 Attorneys), and The Best Lawyers in America for family law. These honors reflect how peers and industry observers view her work and her ethical standards.
Walking With Clients Through A Difficult Season
One of the most personal sections of the video comes when Jacqueline talks about what gives her the most satisfaction in her practice. “We get people at such special times in their lives,” she says. Many arrive feeling like the ground has dropped out from under them. “What I really get the most satisfaction from, is when I have a client that comes to me, and is in such a place of, you know, feeling like their entire lives have blown up, and as I watch the process unfold, and I watch the strengthening that happens with these people…”
She does not limit her role to just legal documents and courtroom arguments. Sometimes support looks very practical. “There are times I've taught people how to balance checkbooks. I mean, we've really kind of gotten into the weeds, but to watch them become smarter about their lives, more in control of their lives, just stronger, it's the most amazing feeling.”
That kind of hands-on help fits with our firm’s broader commitment to supporting clients not only with the legal issues in front of them, but also with the financial and personal changes that come with divorce. At Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein, we focus on family law and related issues, and many of our attorneys, including Jacqueline, work every day at the intersection of law, finance, and family dynamics. Her work with “The Gift of Giving Store,” a charitable project she co-founded to partner with organizations that assist families impacted by domestic abuse, reflects that same concern for people navigating difficult family circumstances.
In the end, her goal is simple and human. “I hope that they walk out of here feeling stronger and happier and open to healthier relationships, and getting out of the one that was less healthy.” For many clients, that perspective matters as much as any financial outcome. It offers a way to think about divorce not just as an end, but as a transition toward a different future.
How Jacqueline Fits Into Our Firm’s Story
Jacqueline’s journey mirrors much of Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein’s history. Our firm, founded in 1994, focuses exclusively on family law and related issues. Over the years, we have grown into one of the largest family law practices in New York that offers all three major divorce resolution methods: litigation, collaborative law, and mediation. Her career has developed alongside that growth.
As managing partner, she helps lead a team that handles high-income and complex financial matters, while remaining deeply attentive to the emotional and relational aspects of divorce. Her teaching, writing, and speaking help shape how the broader legal community thinks about modern divorce practice. Inside the firm, she works closely with colleagues across our offices in Manhattan, Long Island, Westchester, and New Jersey to deliver strategic, personalized representation for each client’s situation.
For readers who are thinking about their own next steps, watching Jacqueline speak in her own voice can make this process feel a little less abstract. The video offers a glimpse of the person who may sit across the table from you, listen to your story, analyze your finances, and help you navigate a new chapter of your life.
Get To Know Jacqueline Before You Meet Her
Bio pages list degrees, memberships, and honors; those details matter, and Jacqueline’s are extensive. She graduated from the University of Delaware, earned her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, and has spent her career immersed in New York family law since her admission to the bar in 1999. She belongs to organizations including the New York State Bar Association’s Family Law Section, the New York State Women’s Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York, and the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals.
But credentials only tell part of the story. The video brings the rest into focus: the humor when she talks about wanting to be a divorce lawyer at 13, the honesty about how clients feel when they arrive, the quiet pride when she describes the firm growing from three people to 32 attorneys, and the satisfaction she takes in seeing clients walk out “stronger and happier.”
We invite you to watch the bio video above to hear all of that directly from her. If you would like to speak with Jacqueline or another attorney at Berkman Bottger Newman & Schein about your own situation, you can contact our office at (212) 466-6015 to schedule a consultation.