Ventura, Carolina D.

Lisa Marie Vari, founder of the firm, has focused her legal efforts in the family law field for the past eighteen years. Ms. Vari started her legal career working with members of the Pennsylvania judiciary. From 1993 until 1995, she was a Judicial Law Clerk/Staff Attorney for the Honorable Judge Max Baer when he was the Administrative Judge of Adult and Juvenile Sections of the Family Division, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. In that capacity, Ms. Vari was able to expand her research and writing skills and gained hands on experience in the family law area. In this capacity, she was occasionally assigned to act as a Support Hearing Officer as well as a Juvenile Delinquency Hearing Officer. The opportunity to observe and assist Judge Baer with trials and pre-trial conferences provided her with insight to the inner workings of the judiciary. In November of 2003, Judge Max Baer was elected a Justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Prior to her employment with Judge Baer, Attorney Vari had the privilege of interning with the late Honorable Justice Ralph Cappy of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court where she spent many hours in the law library researching issues and writing draft opinions for Justice Cappy.

In 1996, Ms. Vari opened a family law firm in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania which currently operates under the name "Lisa Marie Vari & Associates, P.C.". In the Pittsburgh office, Attorney Vari focuses her efforts primarily in the child custody, grandparents' rights, adoption, and surrogacy areas. Ms. Vari also mentors the other members of the firm and oversees all aspects of the firm's family law cases.

Ms. Vari passed the Florida Bar Examination in 2006 and has operated a family law firm in the Miami, Florida area since that time. In the Miami office, Attorney Vari handles all aspects of family law cases including dissolution of marriage (divorce), equitable distribution (property division), spousal support, paternity, child support, time-sharing (child custody), domestic partnership issues, stepparent adoption, domestic violence and other related family law issues. The Miami office has recently moved into the Coconut Grove suburb and operates under the name "Vari & Associates, LLC.".

Attorney Vari is licensed to practice law in the trial courts in every county in Florida and Pennsylvania, the Florida Circuit Courts, the Florida District Courts of Appeal, the Florida Supreme Court, the Pennsylvania Superior Court, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania and the United States Supreme Court.  Since first becoming licensed to practice law, Ms. Vari and the members of her Florida and Pennsylvania offices have represented over 1600 family law clients.

Attorney Vari has appeared in over 600 contested family court matters including many multiple day trials on  issues such as child custody (time sharing), child support, equitable distribution and adoptions.  As an alternative to litigation, Ms. Vari has also received training in various alternative dispute resolution (ADR) options.  In this regard, Attorney Vari is a trained Collaborative Divorce Lawyer and a member of the Collaborative Family Law Institute in Miami, Florida.  Ms. Vari is also a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Law Mediator. 

In Florida, Ms. Vari is a member of the Florida Bar (Family Law Section), the Dade County Bar Association (Family Court Section), the Coral Gables Bar Association and the First Family Law American Inn of Court. In Pennsylvania, Attorney Vari is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association and the Allegheny County Bar Association, including the family law and military affairs sections of both organizations.
 
Ms. Vari has conducted seminars on family law topics for other attorneys, various police departments, schools, and for the general public. Ms. Vari has been quoted in several newspaper articles, law journals, and during television interviews relating to family law issues.  Most recently, Attorney Vari has been selected as a finalist for a reality television show based upon the work and personal lives of family law attorneys.  The show is scheduled to air on the Lifetime Network in 2012.

Ms. Vari's clients have included such individuals as professional athletes, an international recording artist, a record producer from California, persons holding professional degrees such as physicians, accountants, and other lawyers and many business owners. Ms. Vari has also represented hundreds of family law clients from middle class backgrounds such as hospital employees, police officers, firefighters, automobile mechanics and homemakers.

At Duquesne Law School, Ms. Vari was a member of the Duquesne University Law Review , an honor bestowed only upon the top twenty percent of each law school class. She also was a research assistant for one of the Law School's professors, won the intraschool appellate tax moot court competition, was a member of the appellate moot court board, acted as a teaching assistant for the legal research and writing class offered to first year law students, was awarded a scholarship during her tenure at Duquesne, and worked in the law library for all four years of her graduate education. Ms. Vari also worked part-time for several Pittsburgh law firms during her graduate education at Duquesne University.

Ms. Vari obtained her undergraduate degree magna cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh. Ms. Vari was on the Dean's List every semester while attending Pitt and was a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society. While studying at the University of Pittsburgh, Ms. Vari served as an academic tutor for several student-athletes through the Athletic Department at Pitt. In fact, two of the fellow students that Ms. Vari tutored went on to professional athletic careers. Ms. Vari attended most of her classes in the evening while working part-time or full-time during the day.

Attorney Lisa Marie Vari is a 1983 graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School. During high school she was known by her maiden name, Lisa Pasqualini. Ms. Vari is divorced from her former husband.

In addition to her legal training, Ms.Vari attended classes and was awarded an IDC Staff Instructor's rating in scuba diving by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). Ms. Vari is also licensed as a CPR instructor for adults and children and was certified as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).

In her spare time, Ms. Vari volunteers her time and is a member of Baptist Hospital's Pineapple Ball Committee that provides financial support to the Pediatric Emergency Department of Homestead Hospital.

Bar Admissions
   • Florida
   • Pennsylvania
   • U.S. Supreme Court 
   • U.S. District Court Western District of Pennsylvania
 
Education
• Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
   o J.D. - 1993
   o Honors: Winner of Intraschool Appellate Tax Moot Court Competition
   o Honors: Member, Appellate Moot Court Board
   o Honors: Awarded Scheib Memorial Scholarship
   o Honors: Duquesne University Law Review, Member
• University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
   o B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) - 1989
   o Honors: Dean's List
   o Honors: Member, Golden Key National Honor Society
 
Professional Associations and Memberships
   • Florida Bar, Family Law Section
   • Dade County Bar Association, Family Court Section
   • Coral Gables Bar Association
   • Allegheny County Bar Association, Family Law and Military Affairs Sections
   • Pennsylvania Bar Association, Family Law and Military Affairs Sections
   • International Association of Collaborative Professionals
 
Past Employment Positions
   • Hon. Justice Ralph Cappy, Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Intern
   • Hon. Judge Max Baer, Adult and Juvenile Sections of the Family Division, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Staff Attorney, 1993 - 1995
• Duquesne University School of Law, Teaching and Research Assistant positions