Kauffman, Joyce

Joyce Kauffman is a 1992 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law and a 1981 graduate of Lesley University, with a Master's degree in Counseling Psychology. In addition to an extensive divorce and traditional family law practice, her practice focuses on issues impacting the LGBT community. On brief in Adoption of Tammy, the Massachusetts case that secured the right for same-sex couples to adopt, Attorney Kauffman also represented the first lesbian couple in Massachusetts to obtain a birth certificate without benefit of adoption upon the birth of their child, conceived through IVF using the eggs of one of the women but born to the other woman. She has represented a number of families who have successfully obtained three-parent adoptions. Since Goodridge and the beginning of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, Attorney Kauffman has represented a number of individuals in same-sex divorces as well as in the preparation of prenuptial agreements. She is a trained Mediator and Collaborative Lawyer.

Attorney Kauffman currently sits on the Governor's Working Group on Child-Centered Family Laws and is a member of the Board of Directors of Gay and Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD).

Attorney Kauffman is privileged to have been selected by Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as one of the Lawyers of the Year in 2009; and to have been a member of the National Family Law Advisory Council of the National Center for Lesbian Rights since its inception. She is former co-chair of the Massachusetts LGBTQ Bar Association and former chair of that organization's Family Law Section; and a current member of the Emeritus Board of Directors of Family Equality, a national organization advocating for the rights of LGBT families. Attorney Kauffman speaks frequently at continuing legal education seminars, conferences, community organizations, and universities and has published a number of articles concerning the legal rights of LGBT families. She is the recipient of the Gwen Bloomingdale Pioneer Spirit Award from the Mass LGBTQ Bar (2007), the Fisher Davenport Award from the Family Pride Coalition (now Family Equality) and COLAGE (2004), and the Barney Frank Award from the Massachusetts School of Law (2003). Attorney Kauffman has been selected for inclusion in Massachusetts Super Lawyers each year since 2008. In 2012, she was selected for inclusion on "The Best Lawyers in America," 19th edition.