Dissolution, Legal Separation and Post-Decree Issues
Custody Disputes
Child Support Issues
Adoption Law
Laurel Stein, an experienced domestic relations and adoption attorney for 25 years, practices law in Northeast Ohio. Her focus is to help clients through challenging and sometimes extremely stressful situations.
Laurel has handled thousands of divorce, dissolution, and post-decree matters, and while the vast majority reach resolution prior to trial, she has experience trying divorce and post-decree cases. She has also prepared appellate briefs and argued before the Eighth and Ninth District Court of Appeals.
Bringing families together by overseeing private, step-parent and agency adoptions is one of the great joys of Laurel’s practice.
Admissions
Supreme Court of Ohio
Education
University of Memphis School of Law, Juris Doctorate
Law Review Staff Member, 1997-1998
Moot Court Board, 1998-1999
Judged and Prepared Bench Brief for First Year Moot Court Competition
Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence in Trial Advocacy
American Jurisprudence Award in Trial Advocacy, May 1999
American Jurisprudence Award in Legal History, May 1999
Washington University in St. Louis, B.A. in Political Science
Summa Cum Laude
Political Science Honors Program
Honor’s Thesis: “Low Voter Turnout”
Seminars and Publications
Thomas Reuters/West Publishing
Laurel has been the Associate Editor of the Domestic Relations Journal of Ohio since November 2002. The Journal provides attorneys, judges and magistrates with the latest updates on statutory and case law, as well as providing practical advice for practitioners in the field of domestic relations. Ms. Stein edits text, researches current appellate cases and prepares case summaries of Ohio appellate decision in the areas of child support, spousal support, division of property, parental rights and responsibilities, domestic violence, juvenile custody, and procedure. Ms. Stein also served as Co-Editor of Baldwin’s Ohio Practice Elements of an Action from 2006 to 2011. In this capacity, she edited text and provided statutory and case law updates for this publication, which provided practical advice for the legal practitioner in a variety of areas from breach of contract to insurance actions to fiduciary duties.
Domestic Relations Journal of Ohio, Co-editor
Ohio State Bar Association
Laurel updates articles based on family law for OSBA’s.
website section called “Law You Can Use
Sowald-Morganstern Domestic Relations Law Books
Laurel annually edits Chapter 8 – “Legal Separation” and Chapter 16 – “Modification of Parental Rights and Responsibilitie.
Experience
Before joining Nee Law Firm, Laurel led the family law group at a local law firm, handing all of the firm’s domestic relations and juvenile court cases from the initial meeting with the client to trial. Laurel also co-chaired the firm’s adoption practice, for both individuals in private adoptions and step-parent adoptions. The adoption cases have brought her much joy as she is able to watch the judicial system make a positive imprint in the adoptive families’ lives.
Laurel also had the good fortune to spend six years working for one of the most well-respected domestic relations law firms in Cleveland, Ohio. Under the tutelage of Certified Specialists in Family Law and members of the honored American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, Ms. Stein learned the intricate process of handling domestic relations cases the proper, ethical way. This experience served as the foundation for her approach to handling divorce, custody and support cases. As an associate attorney, Ms. Stein handled domestic relations cases from the initial meeting with the client to trial, and she prepared appellate briefs and argued before the Eighth and Ninth District Courts of Appeals.
