Barely a decade removed from law school, Fox Rothschild’s Lindsay Heller has already emerged as one of North Jersey’s leading young divorce lawyers. It’s been a remarkably swift rise for the energetic 35-year-old Bergen County native: She was named a Fox Rothschild partner in only two years and a few months at the firm, an accomplishment especially notable given she’d been recruited for a non-partnership position. Moreover, Heller has managed to stand out in the firm’s Morristown office, which houses much of its 30-lawyer family-law department and is one of the dominant practices in the region. She’s already built her own client base, litigated her own cases, and gained the confidence of the 950-lawyer firm’s senior lawyers. As such she seems poised for a higher profile in the years ahead. Heller herself sees a fairly simple explanation for it all: “I come from a family of strong and resilient women. And I’ve had some great mentors.”  

Indeed, in her early years - first in Fort Lee, and later Fair Lawn, NJ - Heller says grew up in “not just a blended family, but one big family” with four siblings, plus herself, spanning 21 years in age.  “We were all supportive and integrated in each other’s lives, and our parents were at the forefront of each of our individual support - and still are. It all just made me appreciate the value of family even more.”  But, after Fair Lawn High School and heading on to Rutgers, she “had every intention of becoming a journalist. I loved to write and I thought I’d be good at it.” But the timing wasn’t great: “It was 2008, and my adjunct journalism professors would come into class, distraught after losing their full-time jobs. I felt I had to pivot.” And she did, focusing on getting into law school (“The movie ‘Legally Blonde’ had only a little to do with it.”), and specifically Seton Hall Law, “probably the best school if you were serious about becoming a lawyer here - it had a reputation as one of the strongest legal community networks in New Jersey. And it still does.” Even then, matrimonial law was in her sights, in no small part because of her family roots, but also because of how the specialty could serve people directly: “My sisters are a special education teacher, a midwife and a social worker - they spend their lives helping others, and I like to think I do the same.”

Thus she  hopped on her career path: She went on to clerk with State Superior Court Judge Thomas J. Walsh, gaining valuable insights and experience for a year in family-law cases. She was hired initially by the Morris County firm of Donahue, Hagan, Klein & Weisberg, and she later worked in the Summit, NJ, practice of Ceconi & Cheifetz; all are respected veteran North Jersey divorce practices. “I don’t know how I could’ve gotten a better start,” says Heller, as she took on increasingly challenging cases. It was her work in a Morris County courtroom that caught the eye of Fox Rothschild’s Eric Solotoff, co-chair of the firm’s family law group, and her networking at Seton Hall with now-close friend Jessica Diamond; Solotoff hired Heller in 2018. Despite the disruptions of the pandemic, she hasn’t looked back. She was named a non-equity partner in her first year of eligibility, a reflection of a rare moxie. Another huge benefit, Heller says, has been efforts to maintain a personal balance, which is supported in her group at Fox, and something not always attainable these days in this field. She met her future husband while both were at Fair Lawn High School, then Rutgers,and wed in their 20s. “Everything we have in life we’ve built together, worked together for every bit of it.” Heller married into a family that has the same close-knit values. Her father-in-law, too, New Jersey patent lawyer Andrew Miller, “gave me great career guidance all along the way, and still does,” she says. Clients will find her supportive, laser-focused and responsive, and she’s already had a broad range of clients. “Lawyers get the clients that they connect with,” she says.

Away from the office, Heller enjoys hiking in Ramapo Reservation with her rescue-mix named Duffy, and being with her husband, Jason Heller, today a Manhattan-based PR executive. They recently moved to Westfield, N.J., closer now to cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, and where they raise their daughter, Teddy.  Heller says she cherishes her lifelong friends, a benefit that comes from her New Jersey pedigree. “I’ve got a very close-knit group of friends. We’re all very committed to one another, and fortunate to remain local to each other.”