Archer, Joan K.

Attorney Barry Armata has been practicing law for over 25 years and concentrates his practice in the area of family law, mediation and collaborative divorce, with an emphasis on advocating the interest of children in conflicted custody cases.

Attorney Armata has frequently spoken on topics in family law for the Connecticut Council for Divorce Mediation, the Connecticut Bar Association and Family Service Division of the Connecticut Judicial Branch, as well as other groups in Connecticut. He is a past-chair of the Family Law Committee of the Hartford County Bar Association and is also a member of the Connecticut Bar Association (Secretary, Executive Committee of the Family Law Section), American Bar Association (Family Law Section), and the Connecticut Council for Divorce Mediation (Past President). Attorney Armata is a founding member of the Collaborative Divorce Lawyers' Association and the Central Connecticut Collaborative Family Law Group, a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. He is an informational & referral attorney for Connecticut Women's Education and Legal Fund, a charter member of the Capital Area Foundation for Equal Justice and has participated in the “Law Works for People” program. He has served as a Connecticut delegate for the Tri-State Conference on Family Law and has served with the High Conflict and Lawyering Sub-Committees of the Governor's Commission on Family Law. Attorney Armata has been elected as a Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation James W. Cooper Fellows Program. He is also a founding member of the Academy of Child Advocacy. In 2003, Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice William J. Sullivan named Attorney Armata to the Parenting Education Program and Advisory Committee, where he continues to serve.

Attorney Armata is a graduate of the American Bar Association Family Law Trial Advocacy Institute and serves as a Special Master in the Hartford, New Britain and Middletown Judicial Districts, as well as a Special Master at the Regional Family Trial Docket, where he has trained Special Masters.

In 2006, Attorney Armata was asked to address the Miller Commission Symposium on “Improving Justice for Children of Divorce and Separation”. The Symposium was sponsored the Office of Court Administration of Family Services for the State of New York, the Bar Association of the City of New York, Hofstra University School of Law and Pace University School of Law.

In 2006, Attorney Armata also served as a faculty member for the National Institute of Trial Advocacy in its course on "Modern Divorce Advocacy in Parenting and Custody Disputes" held at Hofstra University in New York and the University of Connecticut School of Law for their Moot Court Program, as well as a Guest Lecture at Syracuse University College of Law.

Attorney Armata was a co-editor for the Connecticut Family Lawyer's edition on Child Advocacy, co-authoring an article with Mark Dubois, Chief Disciplinary Counsel on Grievances and the Guardian ad Litem. He is also a contributing author on the Use of Experts for the Family Law Education Reform Project, and a contributor to the Amicus Curiae brief in Carrubba vs. Moskowitz on behalf of The Children's Law Center.

In 2008, Attorney Armata was appointed by Chief Justice Chase Rogers to Committee on Uniformity of Court Procedures. Attorney Armata also serves on the Steering Committee for the Early Intervention Program run through the Hartford Judicial District Family Court and is working with Chief Administrative Judge for the Family Division Lynda Munro on developing a training for child advocates.

Attorney Armata is admitted to practice in state and federal court in both Connecticut and Massachusetts. He has been designated by his peers as a "Connecticut Super Lawyer" in Connecticut Super Lawyer Magazine, Family Law, 2010-2011/2012.