team-member

Sarah Zimmerman

N/A

Licensed for 18 years

Law Degree

Awards

Primary Practice Area

Divorce and separation

Language

Hebrew

About

The end of a marriage can confront divorcing spouses with new and unfamiliar roles such as taking control over family finances or getting involved in day to day tasks of child rearing. Educating clients on facing these new roles as they are undergoing a major crisis in their lives is a particular strength of Marina’s. She serves clients who are stay-at-home spouses who must suddenly learn to become financially savvy, or accomplished career executives who need to assume a greater share of parental responsibilities. Always emphasizing the importance of family, Marina guides clients through divorce in a thoughtful, calm and civil way. Marina excels in dealing with the complexity of divorce among the international community, especially the cross-jurisdictional and cross-cultural issues of family law. Parlaying both her international experience and her academic knowledge, she is able to understand the interplay between cultural differences and nuances of family law that other lawyers without her background may not notice.  Marina’s languages include Russian and French. Marina believes that family lawyers have a profound responsibility to preserve rather than destroy family relationships which are especially fragile during divorce. Known for her logical and analytical approach, Marina seeks to understand the priorities, fears and needs of both sides in order to achieve positive results for her clients through negotiation, collaborative law, mediation and litigation, when necessary. Outside of her practice, Marina enjoys spending time with her family and has a passion for international travel, architecture and classical music.

Practices Areas

Child custody

Divorce and separation

Language

Hebrew

Contact

Feldesman Tucker Leifer Fidell LLP1129 20th Street, NWWashington, DC, 20036

Office: N/A

Website: N/A

Reviews

anonymous
September 21, 2014

I knew going into my divorce that there would be some twists and turns, and I wanted someone who could help me work my way through this experience. Marina was recommended to me by a friend I trust, and I couldn't have been happier with the selection. Marina provided me with assistance when I needed it but let me handle things on my own when I wanted to. She provided excellent strategic advice throughout the process. One thing I particularly appreciated was her ability to help me weigh all the options when I had to make a decision. She also weighed the value of her time by pointing out to me areas where she *could* help but where the likelihood of prevailing was low or the return-on-investment was negative. Since I was operating on a limited budget I really appreciated her input along these lines. At the end of the day I feel that Marina helped me through a difficult time in my life. I don't think she would be offended if I say that I hope I never have to work with her again! :-)

anonymous
February 12, 2014

Marina was calm, composed and results focused in a case high on emotions. This trait, in addition to her legal competence was important not only to resolve the legal matter of multiple revisions of child support and separation agreement, but also in dealing with an unpredictable and often irrational opponent. Marina has the ability to calm things down, while at the same time being clear, resolute and assertive.

anonymous
January 30, 2014

Marina did a great job getting me through a very difficult divorce. I'm not going to lay out her strategic sense here, but it's excellent: she helped me avert some nasty potential pitfalls that could have been very costly, and she got me much of what I wanted in my settlement. Equally importantly, she kept me focused on the goal, which was to get negotiations done fairly and fast without getting swept into the emotional and legal morass that so many people drown in. She was always there to save me from myself. Marina was the reverse of the divorce lawyer caricature: she was always looking for ways to keep my legal bills down and she was incredibly efficient. Her strong relationship with opposing counsel really helped as well in minimizing the adversarial aspects of these negotiations. She is honest and blunt and incredibly responsive, returning my phone calls and emails fast and turning around documents in just a day or two. Even though her firm is one of the biggest in DC with much more wealthy clients, I never felt like I was a second-class citizen.

anonymous
January 28, 2018

I told Marina my ex- was mentally ill, but she mostly seemed to not believe me, and to the extent she did, she either didn’t care or believe it was a matter worth pursuing. Instead, she urged me to sign a settlement with joint custody which I did. It’s been only a few months since settlement, and my ex- now not only regularly ignores the agreement (everything from refusing to raise my daughter in our religion to refusing to make joint decisions with me). And she is now hurting my daughter to get back at me (such as cancelling my daughter’s activities while admitting she’s saving for a cruise). I no longer have money to hire an attorney so now I must go back to court by myself to seek sole custody.

anonymous
September 21, 2014

I knew going into my divorce that there would be some twists and turns, and I wanted someone who could help me work my way through this experience. Marina was recommended to me by a friend I trust, and I couldn't have been happier with the selection. Marina provided me with assistance when I needed it but let me handle things on my own when I wanted to. She provided excellent strategic advice throughout the process. One thing I particularly appreciated was her ability to help me weigh all the options when I had to make a decision. She also weighed the value of her time by pointing out to me areas where she *could* help but where the likelihood of prevailing was low or the return-on-investment was negative. Since I was operating on a limited budget I really appreciated her input along these lines. At the end of the day I feel that Marina helped me through a difficult time in my life. I don't think she would be offended if I say that I hope I never have to work with her again! :-)

anonymous
February 12, 2014

Marina was calm, composed and results focused in a case high on emotions. This trait, in addition to her legal competence was important not only to resolve the legal matter of multiple revisions of child support and separation agreement, but also in dealing with an unpredictable and often irrational opponent. Marina has the ability to calm things down, while at the same time being clear, resolute and assertive.

anonymous
January 30, 2014

Marina did a great job getting me through a very difficult divorce. I'm not going to lay out her strategic sense here, but it's excellent: she helped me avert some nasty potential pitfalls that could have been very costly, and she got me much of what I wanted in my settlement. Equally importantly, she kept me focused on the goal, which was to get negotiations done fairly and fast without getting swept into the emotional and legal morass that so many people drown in. She was always there to save me from myself. Marina was the reverse of the divorce lawyer caricature: she was always looking for ways to keep my legal bills down and she was incredibly efficient. Her strong relationship with opposing counsel really helped as well in minimizing the adversarial aspects of these negotiations. She is honest and blunt and incredibly responsive, returning my phone calls and emails fast and turning around documents in just a day or two. Even though her firm is one of the biggest in DC with much more wealthy clients, I never felt like I was a second-class citizen.

anonymous
January 28, 2018

I told Marina my ex- was mentally ill, but she mostly seemed to not believe me, and to the extent she did, she either didn’t care or believe it was a matter worth pursuing. Instead, she urged me to sign a settlement with joint custody which I did. It’s been only a few months since settlement, and my ex- now not only regularly ignores the agreement (everything from refusing to raise my daughter in our religion to refusing to make joint decisions with me). And she is now hurting my daughter to get back at me (such as cancelling my daughter’s activities while admitting she’s saving for a cruise). I no longer have money to hire an attorney so now I must go back to court by myself to seek sole custody.

anonymous
September 21, 2014

I knew going into my divorce that there would be some twists and turns, and I wanted someone who could help me work my way through this experience. Marina was recommended to me by a friend I trust, and I couldn't have been happier with the selection. Marina provided me with assistance when I needed it but let me handle things on my own when I wanted to. She provided excellent strategic advice throughout the process. One thing I particularly appreciated was her ability to help me weigh all the options when I had to make a decision. She also weighed the value of her time by pointing out to me areas where she *could* help but where the likelihood of prevailing was low or the return-on-investment was negative. Since I was operating on a limited budget I really appreciated her input along these lines. At the end of the day I feel that Marina helped me through a difficult time in my life. I don't think she would be offended if I say that I hope I never have to work with her again! :-)

anonymous
February 12, 2014

Marina was calm, composed and results focused in a case high on emotions. This trait, in addition to her legal competence was important not only to resolve the legal matter of multiple revisions of child support and separation agreement, but also in dealing with an unpredictable and often irrational opponent. Marina has the ability to calm things down, while at the same time being clear, resolute and assertive.

anonymous
January 30, 2014

Marina did a great job getting me through a very difficult divorce. I'm not going to lay out her strategic sense here, but it's excellent: she helped me avert some nasty potential pitfalls that could have been very costly, and she got me much of what I wanted in my settlement. Equally importantly, she kept me focused on the goal, which was to get negotiations done fairly and fast without getting swept into the emotional and legal morass that so many people drown in. She was always there to save me from myself. Marina was the reverse of the divorce lawyer caricature: she was always looking for ways to keep my legal bills down and she was incredibly efficient. Her strong relationship with opposing counsel really helped as well in minimizing the adversarial aspects of these negotiations. She is honest and blunt and incredibly responsive, returning my phone calls and emails fast and turning around documents in just a day or two. Even though her firm is one of the biggest in DC with much more wealthy clients, I never felt like I was a second-class citizen.

anonymous
January 28, 2018

I told Marina my ex- was mentally ill, but she mostly seemed to not believe me, and to the extent she did, she either didn’t care or believe it was a matter worth pursuing. Instead, she urged me to sign a settlement with joint custody which I did. It’s been only a few months since settlement, and my ex- now not only regularly ignores the agreement (everything from refusing to raise my daughter in our religion to refusing to make joint decisions with me). And she is now hurting my daughter to get back at me (such as cancelling my daughter’s activities while admitting she’s saving for a cruise). I no longer have money to hire an attorney so now I must go back to court by myself to seek sole custody.