About Darcy
Darcy Shoop earned her law degree from George Mason University School of Law in 1989. She trained during a period of change in family law practice, and her career followed that evolution into collaborative approaches and dispute resolution. Her academic background established a foundation she built on in private practice and in professional groups.
She joined Stein, Sperling, Bennett, De Jong, Driscoll & Greenfeig, P.C. as an associate in 1994. Six years later she advanced to a principal role at the same firm in 2000. Those years included courtroom work and negotiated settlements, and they also coincided with growing interest in alternative dispute resolution techniques among family law practitioners.
Records show an affiliation with Darcy A. Shoop, LLC beginning in 2009. In parallel to private practice, she developed credentials in collaborative practice. She holds a certification in Collaborative Practice from the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, an organization she joined in 1995. That credential reflects formal training in a process designed to keep high-conflict family matters out of court when possible.
Shoop is active in several professional circles that shaped collaborative law in the region. She was a founding president of the Maryland Collaborative Practice Council in 2006 and continues to serve in that organization. She served as first co-chair of the Montgomery County Bar Association’s Collaborative Law Section from 2011 to 2013. She is a member of the DC Academy of Collaborative Professionals and of Collaborative Dispute Resolution Professionals, both since 2019. She also belongs to the Montgomery County Divorce Round Table, a local forum she has been part of since 2010.
Her practice spans three jurisdictions: Maryland, the District of Columbia, and Virginia. That geographic range has allowed her to work on cross-jurisdictional issues that commonly arise in family law, including custody and property matters. Colleagues and clients have relied on her in settlement conferences, collaborative sessions, and negotiated agreements.
Outside casework she has played a role in organizing peers and promoting collaborative methods. The Maryland Collaborative Practice Council, which she helped start, has been a venue for training and for discussion about how collaboration fits into the legal landscape.
She maintains an active practice that emphasizes collaborative practice and family law matters.
