An Innovative Leader in Law
Mary Ellen Waller, an American attorney licensed in New York and California, serves as a Shareholder and General Counsel at Feinberg & Waller, A Professional Corporation (Feinberg & Waller). This premier southern California matrimonial law firm, with offices in Beverly Hills, Calabasas, and Westlake Village, is renowned for its exceptional handling of family law cases throughout California and beyond, including proficiency in interstate child custody relocation and Hague Convention international parental child abduction matters.
Feinberg & Waller is a boutique law firm that offers unparalleled personal care and discretion combined with advanced strategies and assertive advocacy. Mary Ellen has cultivated a team driven by compassion and a tenacious pursuit of justice, ensuring the individualized attention and robust representation each client deserves.
A Visionary Approach to Legal Practice
Mary Ellen’s role as General Counsel transcends traditional legal boundaries. As a performance-focused professional, she skillfully navigates regulations, operations, and strategies, anticipating future risks and fostering innovation. Her reform-minded approach enhances the legal system, granting Feinberg & Waller a best-in-class competitive edge. With more than 20 years as General Counsel, Mary Ellen has remained undaunted despite facing the same challenges in crucial improvements and innovations confronting large conglomerates. “I’m free to follow my intuition when deciding office procedure strategies and technological investments. There’s no getting bogged down with a committee or bureaucracy, though I am always open to employee feedback.”
Supporting the Firm’s Backbone
In her unique role, Mary Ellen does not represent individual clients but supports and represents the law firm. She guides the firm’s three certified family law specialist partners, associate attorneys, and staff, enabling them to focus on litigation rather than business affairs. Her belief in the essential nature of the general counsel position drives the firm’s success: “If your lawyer is managing business operations, they cannot fully devote themselves to their clients.”
Mary Ellen revolutionized the firm’s marketing strategy, moving away from the legal world’s traditionally dominant “eat what you kill” model, where compensation is based on the amount of business one brings to the firm and the money it generates. Instead, she implemented innovative solutions that allow attorneys to focus on client needs rather than business generation, fostering a culture of collaboration and shared success.
A Multifaceted Legal Expert
Mary Ellen’s responsibilities are vast, covering compliance reporting, technology planning, public policy advocacy, crisis management, labor law, transactional agreements, intellectual property, and regulatory issues. Her dynamic role requires deep legal expertise, intuitive problem-solving abilities, sound judgment, unwavering integrity, and strong leadership skills that inspire her team to excel.
Navigating such a dynamic environment where priorities and tasks shift daily, Mary Ellen is adamant about keeping a clear understanding of the organization’s strategic objectives. “At the end of each and every day, everything I do is for the client. Yes, I’m proud of Feinberg & Waller’s success, but, ultimately, it’s the client I have in mind.”
Mary Ellen’s leadership enables the firm to adeptly navigate the complexities of the legal landscape, aligning actions with legal standards and client objectives. She emphasizes compliance and integrity, building trust and safeguarding clients’ interests. Her initiative-taking approach fosters a culture of excellence within the team and keeps the firm ahead of legal trends. By leveraging her expertise, Mary Ellen enhances the firm’s capabilities and secures optimal client outcomes, underscoring her pivotal role in the firm’s commitment to legal excellence and client satisfaction.
A Rich Personal History
Growing up as the eldest of seven on Long Island, New York, Mary Ellen was influenced by her parents’ work ethic—her mother, a registered nurse, and her father, a City of New York construction superintendent. Her father’s involvement in major renovation projects, including the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, the Bronx Zoo, and Riker’s Island, instilled in her a passion for overseeing projects, a skill she later applied to real estate renovations and firm office remodels. “I often joke that I have engineering and construction DNA in my blood,” laughed Mary Ellen. A statement that rang true when Mary Ellen later mentioned she had recently been elected as a liaison between a 22-unit commercial association complex and an asset management company, volunteering to help tackle a substantial maintenance overhaul.
Empowering Leadership from a Young Age
Mary Ellen’s journey as a leader began early, recognized by a $50 leadership award in elementary school. “Despite my siblings teasing that I was ‘just being bossy,’ it was the first time I fully realized that taking on responsibilities and demonstrating leadership skills could lead to financial success.” In high school, Mary Ellen was selected to work on a leadership program at a girls’ summer camp in New Hampshire, where the mission was to empower girls to be confident and appreciate diversity and mutual respect. Modeling outstanding leadership in athletics, the women camp directors have since been recognized as powerful advocates for forming Title IX legislation, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities that receive federal assistance. Mary Ellen’s high school dean and camp founder, Ethel T. Kloberg, was the first female president of the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance. Mary Ellen continues the example of those women through her years of involvement in the National Charity League, Inc., a mother-daughter philanthropic organization committed to community, cultural experiences, and leadership development. And through Feinberg & Waller’s high school mock trial leadership scholarship, which preferences marginalized students who are leaders in their community.
These endeavors reflect her commitment to nurturing leadership skills and promoting equality, underscoring her passion to help others succeed and contribute positively to their communities.
Education and Early Career
Financial constraints led Mary Ellen to attend community college, where she received an associate’s degree in criminal justice. To this day, Mary Ellen continues to support her local community college as an advisory board member, lending her insight into technology in the workplace; she recognizes the doors it can open for those with limited financial resources. While in community college, Mary Ellen attended a nearby Women in Law conference at Hofstra University. She took the advice of the women on the panel, who stressed that if you wanted to pursue law, you should learn to write. This advice and an academic scholarship led her to attend Hofstra University as a communications major specializing in journalism. Her communications degree was instrumental later in life as she used that degree as a springboard into law firm communications marketing and a tool for public policy advocacy.
Mary Ellen worked full-time through college and while attending the Cardozo School of Law in New York City, gaining litigation experience in New York before relocating to California. Mary Ellen devoted her early years in California to developing Feinberg & Waller while raising her family, balancing commitment to her legal career and personal life. “While I might not have always achieved perfect harmony between career success and family life, today I have a wonderful adult son and daughter.”
Pioneering Digital Marketing in Law
Mary Ellen was a groundbreaking pioneer in digital marketing. In 2001, she wrote and launched her first law firm website, three years before Google’s initial public offering in 2004 and before the name “Google” had found its way into the dictionary. The various categories of digital marketing did not previously exist. She was not afraid to try innovation in content marketing, search engine optimization, social media marketing pay-per-click, influencer marketing, e-mail marketing, press releases, marketing analytics, mobile marketing, and affiliate marketing. She was a trendsetter pushing the boundaries of creativity in writing, directing, and editing video content for digital distribution. Mary Ellen personally explored the various categories of digital marketing, often learning trial-and-error lessons from the trenches.
Her theories informed the law firm’s marketing practice, recognizing the internet’s global reach in getting clients to come to you, focusing on being found, and providing authoritative information of value to target audiences. She also developed a widespread community outreach digital library of no-cost/low-cost family law resources.
She attended advanced search engine marketing seminars through the years, gleaning actionable strategies from industry-leading online marketing experts, including speakers from Google, Microsoft, Zillow, and Avvo. She has acquired the necessary terminology and tools to understand audits, data, and vendor contract deliverables, so she brings a depth of expertise to her role. With more than 15 years of experience tracking analytics and conversion attribution, she constantly strives to refine the granularity of marketing metrics to drive benchmark results. Her ability to forge solid relationships with vendors complements her skill in blending digital marketing strategies with traditional methods. Annually, she updates and implements a comprehensive marketing blueprint, adeptly navigating the ever-evolving legal marketing landscape. This approach derives evergreen law firm revenue channels that will continue while allowing the firm’s attorneys to have a client-centric practice rather than a focus on individual business generation.
Embracing Technological Efficiency
The firm prioritizes technological efficiency using client-centric cloud-based case management software to optimize performance and has invested in privacy and cyber security measures. Under Mary Ellen’s guidance, Feinberg & Waller’s team has explored innovation in artificial intelligence (AI), implementing AI tools on the law firm’s marketing and legal sides for communication, search engine optimization, blogs, brief writing, discovery, and research. With the help of all the team members, the firm has developed an extensive training manual on office procedures and institutional knowledge and recorded video training sessions to guide future employees. She knows that the legal world is rapidly evolving, “Lawyers must be adaptable to change. We are ethically required to stay current on advanced technology and have a legal obligation to be competent. If you use tools your opposing side does not have, you give your clients an advantage. An ethical evolution framework in using cutting-edge legal technology and a strategic commitment to AI will be pivotal in the future success of law firms.” She is aware of the pitfalls of AI, its bias, and shortcomings and recognizes that AI tools become akin to employees who must be supervised by attorneys for mistakes and errors. She notes that the legal field is rapidly changing with AI and that lawyers have been unable to keep up with writing the legislation necessary to keep guardrails in place as we enter this transformative era.
Her interest in and focus on forwarding advances in public policy were clear in a guest column she penned for the Daily Journal, California’s legal newspaper. Her front-page column championed virtual access technology in California courthouses to provide greater access and efficiency in delivering justice.
Balancing Success and Challenges
Mary Ellen says her motto is metaphoric, not eloquent: “The kicker gets the front seat.” To her, it means being driven, ready to fight for it, and willing to work hard. Only then will you be rewarded with the opportunity to be at the forefront with an unobstructed view of what’s happening and take priority when opportunities arise. She acknowledges the inevitable challenges and that nothing comes easy but emphasizes learning from mistakes, finding solutions, and recovering from challenges. “I face problems every day. Once I realized that finding solutions to issues were the essence of success, that recognition was liberating, and it helped me achieve incredible job satisfaction. I’ve learned from every challenge, from roadblocks and bullies to catastrophes and economic crises.”
Ms. Waller attributes a significant part of her success to the people she works with at the firm. “I work with talented individuals who found their way into the field of family law because they have a servant’s heart.” They work in a problematic emotional area of the law because they value people and families and want to help guide them through a challenging time. Matrimonial law is one of the most difficult areas to practice as it involves many cross-over areas such as criminal, business, real estate, tax, trust and estates, intellectual property, bankruptcy, immigration, and international law. The firm’s lawyers and staff consistently attend seminars to educate themselves; it takes an individual wanting to constantly further their knowledge to work in this field. The partners lead monthly attorney case status meetings to help train, grow, and develop the associates. The collaboration and teamwork of these like-minded professionals have jointly enabled them to achieve outstanding results for their clients.
A Balanced Life
She values hiking and biking as meditative ways to reflect on work and life challenges. While not the best choice for speed, her 1980’s classic Nakamichi steel frame road bike has been a treasured timeless possession. She also enjoys horseback riding with the Cowboy Lawyers Association, a group of lawyers and judges who bond over a love for horses and exploring riding trails throughout California.
Outside of work, Mary Ellen embraces moments with family and friends, especially enjoying seeing live pop, rock, and alt/indie music concerts and theater performances. Additionally, she loves to enrich her world with other activities such as cooking classes, birdwatching, floral arranging, gardening, and even completing certified basic pistol training. She also contributes to the community through her involvement with the Los Angeles Trial Lawyer’s Charities as an honorary board member.
Interestingly, she abstains from using any personal social media during her time off, as she believes it would feel too much like work.
Looking Ahead
Mary Ellen eagerly anticipates future technological advances in the legal field and remains committed to advocating for efficiency, access, and overcoming barriers. At Feinberg & Waller, she prioritizes teamwork, technological innovation, and talent development, aiming to create industry-leading content and expertise. Mary Ellen believes that if you have the skill or strength to do something well, you should tap into that potential and seek opportunities to give it to others; lending your abilities to others can help improve the lives of those around you and society. Her forward-thinking approach also keeps Feinberg & Waller poised for potential opportunities, including strategic partnerships that could further enhance the firm’s capabilities and reach.
Mary Ellen is open about her educational pursuits. Details and her full resume are available at https://www.feinbergwaller.com/documents/ME-Waller-merged.pdf for those interested in exploring the resources and providers from whom she has benefited.
Mary Ellen Waller’s story is one of relentless innovation, dedicated leadership, and a profound impact on the legal field. Her journey continues to inspire and pave the way for future legal technology and practice advancements.
