Curtis Romanowski

New Jersey Divorce Lawyer Curtis J. Romanowski limits his practice to NJ Divorce & NJ Matrimonial Law, NJ Child Custody Law & NJ Family Law. An experienced and commanding Trial Attorney since 1980, as Chairman of New Jersey’s Collaborative Family Institute, he is dedicated to the positive transformation of New Jersey divorce, child custody & parenting disputes. Former Director of the Negotiation Project for the Center for Bargaining Research, New Jersey Divorce Lawyer Romanowski has been credited as one of the co-founders of the Collaborative Divorce concept.

New Jersey Divorce Attorney Romanowski is a Court-Appointed General Equity Part Mediator, Blue Ribbon Matrimonial Early Settlement Program Panelist, Divorce & Custody Mediator, Collaborative Law Attorney & Divorce Arbitrator. He also serves as Counsel for Children, Guardian Ad Litem & Parenting Coordinator. New Jersey Lawyer has recognized him as “a divorce mediation expert.” He has been voted New Jersey Super Lawyer - Family Law in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009, which distinction was published in New Jersey Monthly on each of these five occasions.  NJ Divorce Lawyer Romanowski is appointed to the Middlesex County Assignment Judge’s Family Lawyers Committee.
 
A long-term proponent of the Parenting Coordinator concept, New Jersey Matrimonial Attorney Romanowski has published extensively on the subject. On May 26, 2006, he addressed the New Jersey Supreme Court, advancing his thoughts and suggestions on Parenting Coordinators in New Jersey and the proposed Parenting Coordinator Rule of Court. In July 2007, the Administrative Office of the Courts of the State of New Jersey named NJ Family Law Attorney Romanowski as one of only five non-mental health professional attorneys approved as Parenting Coordinators in the entire State. Including mental health professionals, only 14 approved professionals made the roster. New Jersey Matrimonial Lawyer Romanowski was the only NJ Parenting Coordinator initially approved in Middlesex County.
 
For nearly 27 years, Romanowski has provided intensive training programs & expert consultation concerning Divorce, Child Custody & Family Law, conflict negotiation, mediation, relationship psychology & interpersonal communication technique. His top rated Negotiation training program: "The Master Course," comprised one of the leading bargaining & negotiation program of its kind, geared to attorneys, politicians and corporate executives. He also taught New Jersey college courses in NJ Divorce Law, NJ Family Law & Law Office Management. A frequent contributor to New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education (NJ ICLE), Association of Family & Conciliation Courts (AFCC), New Jersey Family Lawyer & New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) Dispute Resolution Section, New Jersey Divorce Lawyer Romanowski presents advanced topics in NJ Divorce, Child Custody & Family Law to Judges, attorneys & mental health professionals at public seminars including:

• Sixth Annual Family Law Summer Institute – NJ ICLE
  • Child Support Calculation – Key Considerations & Strategies
• Containing Conflict in Family Law Cases – NJICLE, AFCC
  • Collaborative Problem Solving
  • Expert Interviews of Children
• Children, Divorce & Custody: Lawyers & Mental Health Professionals Working Together with a Focus on Alternate Dispute Resolution in Child Custody Cases – NJ ICLE
  • Collaborative Divorce
• High Conflict Families & the Courts, An International Showcase – AFCC
• Progressive Divorce: Making Best Practices Better by Getting There First –  NJ AFCC
  • Seminar Developer & Lecturer
• The Progressive Divorce® Approach to Eliminating Problems Intrinsic to Existing Collaborative Law Models –   NJSBA Dispute Resolution Section
  • Seminar Developer & Lecturer
• Seventh Annual Family Law Summer Institute – NJICLE
  • Settlement Conferences with the Court
  • Trial Technique
• 2004 Family Law Summer Institute: The Law & The Pragmatics of Pragmatics of Practice – NJ ICLE
  • Preparation of Pendente Lite Applications
• 2005 Family Law Summer Institute – NJ ICLE
  • Conducting Family Part Discovery
  • Preparation of Pendente Lite Applications
• 2007 Family Law Summer Institute – NJICLE
  • Trial Strategies
  • Legal Ethics
• Pretrial and Trial Strategies for Family Law Cases: The Definitive Guideline – NJICLE
  • Moderator
  • Seminar Developer – NJ ICLE
• 2008 AAML Family Forum: An In-Depth Look at Family Law Motion Practice – NJICLE, AAML-NJ, NJSBA
  • All aspects of Pendente Lite Motions and Briefs

NJ Divorce & Child Custody Attorney Romanowski's involvement with Association of Family & Conciliation Courts (AFCC) includes the following service:

• Chairman – Program Committee – NJ AFCC
• Executive Committee – NJ AFCC
• Steering Committee – NJ AFCC
• Liaison to New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education – NJ AFCC
• Liaison to Committee on Judicial Education – NJ AFCC

Additional professional involvement:

• Board of Editors: Matrimonial Strategist Magazine
• National Association of Counsel for Children
• Family Law Section, New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA)
• American Arbitration Association
• Association for Psychological Type
• Editorial Advisory Board: Quality Matters, an internationally circulated monthly magazine dedicated to furthering development of Continuing Quality Improvement

Romanowski also helped develop New Jersey's FamilySoft ® Calculator, a computer program used to calculate child support & produce essential legal documents.

Other relevant publications have included:

• New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education publications including:
  • Children, Divorce & Custody: Lawyers & Mental Health Professionals Working Together - A 2-Day Conference - Child Support Calculation  – NJ ICLE
  • Containing Conflict in Family Law Cases - Collaborative Problem Solving, Expert Interviews of Children  – NJ ICLE
  • Children, Divorce & Custody: Lawyers & Mental Health Professionals Working Together With a Focus on Alternate Dispute Resolution in Child Custody Cases - Collaborative Divorce  – NJ ICLE
  • Seventh Annual Family Law Summer Institute - Settlement Conferences with the Court , Trial Techniques  – NJICLE
  • 2004 Family Law Summer Institute: The Law & The Pragmatics of Pragmatics of Practice - Preparation of Pendente Lite Applications – NJICLE
  • Family Law for Paralegals - Preparation of Pendente Lite Applications – NJ ICLE
  • 2005 Family Law Summer Institute - Conducting Family Part Discovery , Preparation of Pendente Lite Applications – NJ ICLE
  • Parent Coordinators - 2006 Seminar  – NJICLE
  • 2007 Masters' Forum in Family Law - The Emerging Role of the Parenting Coordinator  – NJICLE
  • 2007 Family Law Summer Institute - Trial Strategies, Ethics – NJ ICLE
  • Pretrial and Trial Strategies for Family Law Cases: The Definitive Guideline – NJ ICLE
  • 2008 AAML Family Forum: An In-Depth Look at Family Law Motion Practice - All aspects of Pendente Lite Motions and Briefs - American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers AAML-NJ, NJICLE, NJSBA

• New Jersey Family Lawyer - New Jersey State Bar Association periodical addressing important aspects of Family Law – NJSBA
• New Jersey State Bar Association - Dispute Resolution Section - Seminar Materials: The Progressive Divorce® Approach to Eliminating Problems Intrinsic to Existing Collaborative Law Models
• Association of Family & Conciliation Courts; preparation of extensive written seminar materials in connection with:
  • High Conflict Families and the Courts, An International Showcase
  • Progressive Divorce®: Making Best Practices Better by Getting There First

New Jersey Matrimonial Lawyer Romanowski's legal opinions are often quoted in both the New Jersey Law Journal and New Jersey Lawyer .

New Jersey Law Journal ran a cover story concerning  New Jersey Divorce Lawyer Romanowski's work in its April 16, 2001 issue entitled "‘Collaborative Divorce' Promises Dissolution Without the Distress."

One year later, New Jersey Law Journal featured an Opinion & Commentary by  New Jersey Matrimonial Law Attorney Romanowski in its April 15, 2002 issue entitled "Progressive Divorce: A Way of Making Best Practices Better."

The February 2, 2004, New Jersey Lawyer Volume 13, Number 3, annual special section, "Advances in Family Law," included a feature length article written by  New Jersey Divorce Attorney Romanowski on the topic of mediation, entitled "New Jersey's Civil War in Divorce Mediation."

In 2007 alone,  New Jersey Family Law Attorney Romanowski's legal commentary was included in the following articles:

• "‘Parenting Coordinator' Pilot Program To Be Launched in Four Vicinages," By Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal, April 4, 2007
• "Parenting Coordinators Pilot Beginning in Five Counties," By Robert G. Seidenstein, New Jersey Lawyer, April 2007
• "Pre-emptive attack: Divorce mediation centers on notice," By Robert G. Seidenstein, New Jersey Lawyer, July 13, 2007.

In the most recent article,  Middlesex County Divorce Lawyer Romanowski was quoted concerning his approval of Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics Opinion 711 concerning Divorce Mediation Centers Operated by New Jersey Attorneys.

Central New Jersey Divorce Lawyer Romanowski's regularly featured professional advice column, "The Progressive Lawyer," appears in The Matrimonial Strategist, a nation-wide periodical published by Leader Publications, a division of American Lawyer Media Inc.

John Nachlinger, Esq.
Senior Associate
nachlinger@divorcenewjersey.com

Mr. Nachlinger devotes his practice exclusively to family law matters, with emphasis on complex divorce/civil union dissolution, child custody, adoption, and modification/enforcement actions. He has been with the firm since 2005. Prior to joining Romanowski Law Offices, Mr. Nachlinger was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Frank M. Ciuffani and David A. Rosenberg of the New Jersey Superior Court, Family Part in Middlesex County.

Mr. Nachlinger received his law degree from the Seton Hall University School of Law, where he was a member of the Seton Hall Law Review and Appellate Advocacy Moot Court Board. He graduated cum laude and was the recipient of the New Jersey Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers’ Award of Excellence. While in law school, he worked as a student attorney in the Seton Hall Center for Social Justice. While there, he represented indigent clients throughout all stages of divorce litigation. Upon graduation, Mr. Nachlinger was recognized as the Family Law Clinic’s Student of the Year.

Mr. Nachlinger is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York. He is an active member of several bar associations, including the American Bar Association, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Middlesex County Bar Association, and the New York Bar Association. He is a member of the Family Law Section of each bar association. Mr. Nachlinger is also Vice Chair of the GLBT Rights Section of the NJSBA, as well as Editor in Chief of the section’s newsletter.

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Jeanette E. Backmann, Esq.
Associate
backmann@divorcenewjersey.com

Ms. Backmann limits her practice exclusively to family law matters, with emphasis on divorce, child support, and modification/ enforcement actions. She has been with the firm since 2008. Prior to joining Romanowski Law Offices, Ms. Backmann was a judicial law clerk for the Honorable Jo-Anne B. Spatola of the New Jersey Superior Court, Family Part in Union County.

Ms. Backmann received her law degree from Widener University School of Law, where she was a member of the Moe Levine Trial Advocacy Honor Society, Women’s Law Caucus, and Sports and Entertainment Law Society. While in law school, she interned for the Honorable John B. Dangler of the New Jersey Superior Court, Family Part, Morris County.

Ms. Backmann is admitted to practice in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. She is an active member of several bar associations, including the American Bar Association, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the Middlesex County Bar Association, and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. She is a member of the Family Law Section of each bar association.

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Alison Miller
Paralegal
miller@divorcenewjersey.com

Ms. Miller has been with the firm since June 2009. She is currently in her third year at Seton Hall University School of Law and is scheduled to graduate in December 2010. Ms. Miller is a Senator in the Student Bar Association and a mentor for first year students. She anticipates admission to both the New Jersey and New York Bars in 2010.

Prior to starting law school, Ms. Miller was a paralegal at the firm of Pressler and Pressler, in Cedar Knolls, New Jersey. During the last six months of her time at Pressler, Ms. Miller was elevated to  paralegal supervisor where she was tasked with overseeing 25 paralegals. She has previously been a legal intern for the Honorable Rachel N. Davidson, New Jersey Superior Court, Law Division, Essex County.

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