Timothy M. Tippins, Esq. is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Albany Law School and serves on the faculty of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology and on the Affiliate Faculty for Post-Doctoral Forensic Psychology at St. John’s University. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Forensic Psychology at Siena College. He is a private practitioner who has engaged in matrimonial and family law practice since 1975. He now devotes his practice exclusively to serving as special counsel and consultant to other family law practitioners on a nationwide basis, serving as trial and appellate counsel, with special emphasis on the presentation and cross-examination of expert mental health testimony. Tippins has served in all major professional leadership positions in the New York family law community, including President of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers – New York Chapter, Chair of the New York State Bar Association Family Law Section, and Chair of the New York State Bar Association Task Force on Family Law. Tippins is a regular feature columnist for the New York Law Journal, where his numerous articles regarding custody evaluations have been published. He has lectured before virtually all of the major professional organizations, such as the National Judicial College, NYS Judicial Institute, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, ABA, NYSBA, and the New York State Psychological Association. Together with Dr. Jeffrey P. Wittmann, he is the author of Empirical and Ethical Problems with Custody Recommendations: A Call for Clinical Humility and Judicial Vigilance, published internationally in the April 2005 issue of AFFC’s Family Court Review.  Mr. Tippins may be contacted at tmtippins@matlaw.com.

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E-mail: tmtippins@matlaw.com

Lauren K. DeLuca, Esq.

Lauren K. DeLuca, Esq. has been engaged in a private practice focused on complex matrimonial cases, custody litigation, and enforcement proceedings since graduating from Albany Law School.  She has extensive experience with evidentiary hearings and depositions, net worth preparation and analysis as well as discovery management.  Two years ago, she partnered with Cynthia J. LaClair, Esq., (formerly Cynthia J. Tippins, Esq.) to form LaClair & DeLuca, PLLC, a practice located in Albany, New York which is limited to family and matrimonial law.  Ms. DeLuca is a member of the New York State Bar Association and the Albany County Bar Association.  She has published in various professional journals such as the New York City Law Review and the Journal of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.  Ms. DeLuca has been a guest lecturer for Albany Law School’s Matrimonial Law class and she has presented at a number of MatLaw Seminars.

Dr. Jeffrey Wittmann

Dr. Wittmann is a licensed psychologist and trial consultant whose practice concentrates on trial support for attorneys in custody and access matters and on forensic peer reviews.  He serves as a consultant for major law firms nationally and provided custody evaluation services both at county clinics and in private practice from 1985 to 2013.  He previously held an appointment as Adjunct Clinical Professor at SUNY Albany where he taught forensic psychology at the doctoral level.  Dr. Wittmann is a recognized expert on the intersection of law and psychology, on professional practices in the child custody area, and on Frye/Daubert issues related to expert testimony in family matters.  He is regularly on the faculty for training seminars offered to attorneys and mental health professionals, has been a frequently utilized instructor for judges in Family, Supreme, and Appellate courts nationally, and has served on multiple national task forces related to practice in the area of custody assessment.  Dr. Wittmann was previously on the editorial boards of the Matrimonial Strategist, the Journal of Child Custody and the New York Family Law Monthly.  He is the author of “Custody Chaos, Personal Peace” (Perigee, 2001) and of numerous professional articles regarding forensic psychology. Together with Timothy Tippins, Esq., he is the author of Empirical and Ethical Problems with Custody Recommendations:  A Call for Clinical Humility and Judicial Vigilance, an award-winning article published in the Family Court Review in 2005 that generated widespread scholarly debate and that is a frequently-used template for critiquing the custody evaluation process.  His most recent book is entitled: “Evaluating Evaluations:  An attorney’s Handbook for Analyzing Child Custody Reports” (MatLaw, 2013).   jw@childcustodyforensics.com