Still in her 30s and at the front end of her career, Elizabeth “Liz” Early has established herself as one of Greater Philadelphia’s top young matrimonial lawyers. Early – personable, utterly candid, naturally assertive – brings a broad skill-set to family law, versed now in conflict-managing mediation and alternative dispute resolution as well as bare-knuckle litigation. In late 2022, after years practicing at the Norristown-based firm of High Swartz, she and Melissa “Missy” Boyd launched their own practice. With offices in Plymouth Meeting and Malvern, Boyd & Early Family Law already includes a staff of several lawyers, as well as a broad caseload focused 100% on family law and including litigation, arbitration, mediation, parenting coordination and court appointed representation of children. By all accounts Early contributed significantly to the success of the family law practice where she previously worked; that record carries over to her new firm today.

The second of four children of a mother, a school nurse, and a father who’s the owner of a contracting business, Early grew up in the Pocono Mountains. Always curious and a natural questioner, Early says “my parents told me I’d make a good lawyer someday.” But at Penn State she majored in a field called Biobehavioral Health, for many a path to medical school. “I can’t say there’s a romantic narrative to my decisions – I knew I wanted to do intellectually challenging work and found myself gravitating toward law school.” At Temple Law School she was “drawn right away” to family law - “the direct one-on-one work with people, the positive impact you could have on people’s lives, well, it all seemed the most rewarding of all the practice areas. We help improve the real lives of real people.” As a result, she pursued opportunities that began by clerking in the office of a family-law practitioner while in law school, then attending family law Inns of Court. Just out of law school, Early took what turned into a 18-month clerkship with Southern New Jersey Judge William C. Todd III, in Atlantic and Cape May counties. It was “the best experience any young lawyer could have. It was a fabulous experience.” All along she resided in Center City Philadelphia, as her newlywed husband commuted west to King of Prussia, “a hectic life but I loved what I was doing.” After her clerkship, she joined a highly regarded boutique family law firm based in Blue Bell PA, getting “true immersion” in all aspects of family law. Within three years Early, her reputation already getting traction, was spotted by the well known and respected family lawyers Mary Cushing Doherty and Missy Boyd, and was convinced to join their bustling, high-level practice. “I admired the way they managed their careers, how they’re involved in state and regional bar activities - and most important I liked them personally.” Today, Early is first to admit she has a spirited persona, and is no wall flower - “Anyone who knows me knows I have a pretty strong personality.” Not that she is intemperate, peers say: She participates in the Montgomery County Child Advocacy Project (MCAP), and handles delicate matters including serving as guardian ad litem for children in both the family, orphans and juvenile court. She also serves as a parenting coordinator, mediator and arbitrator and is appreciated for her quick, no nonsense, practical decisions. “One hundred percent of my practice is focused on family law,” she says, “but that is still a broad range of disciplines nowadays.” As she continues to emerge professionally, Early credits much of her progress to her family – and to her professional peers, both former colleagues and Boyd, with whom she founded her independent practice.

Away from the office she spends “as much time as I can with my family often at a sporting event or trying t o cram in an outdoor activity. Liz and her husband and their two children live in Chester County, Pa.