About Lisa Marie
Lisa Marie Vari built a legal path that began in Pittsburgh classrooms and has crossed state lines. She earned a bachelor’s degree in legal studies from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985 and completed her J.D. at Duquesne University School of Law in 1989. Those years laid a groundwork in courtroom procedure and state law that she later tested in both clerkships and private practice.
Early in her career Vari spent time inside judicial chambers. In 1992 she worked as a legal intern for Justice Ralph Cappy at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The following year she served as a judicial law clerk to Judge Max Baer in the Family Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. That frontline exposure to family cases shaped her approach to client work and dispute resolution.
She entered private practice and in 1995 founded Lisa Marie Vari & Associates. Since then she has maintained memberships in multiple state and national bars. She has belonged to the Pennsylvania State Bar and the Family Law Sections of both the Allegheny County and Pennsylvania Bar Associations since the early 1990s. She joined the United States Supreme Court Bar in 2003 and became a member of the Florida Bar and its Family Law Section in 2006. Her bar and association activities also include involvement in military and veterans affairs sections at the county and state levels.
Vari expanded her skills beyond litigation. She is a Florida Family Law Mediator certified by the Florida Supreme Court. She is also designated as a Collaborative Family Law Lawyer by the Collaborative Family Law Institute. Those credentials reflect time spent resolving disputes outside the courtroom as well as in it.
Her practice spans geographic lines. She maintains offices in Allegheny, Butler, Washington and Clearfield counties, and she keeps a Miami meeting location for clients in Florida. The firm she founded handles divorce, custody and other family law matters and also uses mediation and collaborative law techniques when appropriate.
Colleagues and clients often encounter an attorney who pairs courtroom experience with alternative dispute resolution training. Vari’s background in judicial work and her certifications inform how she assesses cases, prepares for hearings and works toward settlements. She currently focuses her practice on family law, mediation and collaborative law matters.
