Theresa A. Markham, Esq. is a compassionate, intelligent and aggressive New Jersey divorce attorney, with a 10+ year law firm practice in northern NJ, and with a dozen years of Wall Street experience. Theresa often gets called when "What Happens in Vegas Doesn't Stay in Vegas."

Theresa loves living in scenic Northwest New Jersey with her husband, Chuck, and daughter Zoe, and is sometimes visited by her college-graduate step-daughter Samantha.  Her law firm (www.markhamlawyer.com),  crafts creative solutions for her divorce clients’ financial disputes, while helping them grow through the difficult life challenge of divoce.  Her parenting eBook, The Kids' Bank Book, shows parents how to teach wise money management to their children.

Prior to relocating New Jersey several years ago, she lived in Manhattan and worked on Wall Street.  She has had two of her letters published in the New York Times’ Letters to the Editor, and has been featured in the American Bar Association Journal (see below).  She is grateful for the fabulous education she received at Fordham University School of Law (over a decade ago), as well as for her church.  A confirmed math-nerd, she loves playing with the family in the evenings, quilting (with its combination of geometry and art), driving through the countryside, making snow angels, and baking anything with lots of sugar, butter and white flour (preferably sugar cookies).  She's from a blended family – of both Red Sox and Yankees fans – of course, she cheers for the boys in red (it’s the irresistible underdog advocate instinct).  Originally from just outside Fall River, Massachusetts, she occasionally “paks her cah in the yahd” and has to drive to Boston for real clam chowder and baked beans.

Here are Theresa's "vital" stats:

Admitted to Bar: 1997, New York, U.S. District Court, Southern District New York, Eastern District New York; 1999, New Jersey, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey.

Education: SUNY at Purchase (B.A. 1992), Fordham University School of Law (J.D. 1996), Fordham Environmental Law Journal (1993-1994).

Member: Sussex County Bar Association, Sussex County Family Law Committee, Sussex County Matrimonial Early Settlement Panelist.

Career: Law Office of Theresa A. Markham PC (and its prior entities), owner (1999 - present). Adjunct Faculty, Sussex County Community College (1999-2000). Morgan Stanley Compliance Counsel (1996-1999), and Securities Industry professional (1987-1996).

Contact Theresa Markham, Esq. at:

Law Office of Theresa A. Markham, P.C.
529 State Rte. 515, Ste. 201
Vernon, NJ 07462
Phone (973)764-8811
Fax (973)764-4787

Law Firm
website:  http://www.markhamlawyer.com/
email:      markham@markhamlawyer.com

Shark Bait
website:  http://www.divorcesharkbait.com
email:      markham@divorcesharkbait.com

Kids' Bank Book
website:  http://www.kidsbankbook.com
email:      markham@kidsbankbook.com

Theresa's Blog:  One Million Thanks

LinkedIn:  Theresa's LinkedIn profile

Squidoo:  Theresa's Squidoo profile

Theresa's Favorite Charity is:  Champ House
And here's why:  Theresa's Champ House Squidoo page

New York Times, Letter to the Editor, August 11, 1996

G.O.P. Convention Spirit

To the Editor:

     The best evidence of America’s decline is a quote by Paul J. Manafort, Bob Dole’s convention manager (front page, Aug. 8):  “If there are any political issues, which there won’t be in this convention . . .”

     Thus, the candidates themselves have eschewed the value upon which our nation was founded:  the free exchange of political speech to achieve the ends of self-government.

     Why look to the evils of the news media, the welfare system or the lack of family values for the cause of our social malaise, when our leaders stand before us void of the American spirit?

Theresa Caron (Markham)

New York, Aug. 9, 1996

American Bar Association Journal, September 1999

Netting Surfers With a ‘HULA’ Hook - Web sites alone won’t catch clients- try special services, links and quotes

By Jill Schachner Chanen

     Log on to Theresa A. Markham’s Web site if you want to learn how to “HULA,” but don’t expect lessons on Hawaiian dancing, HULA stands for Halt Unnecessary Lawsuits and Arbitrations, and Markham, a solo practitioner who represents brokerage firms, is betting potential clients are going to want to follow the links.

     When they do, Markham’s site warns: “If you think your Ops/Compliance Manager answers complaints ‘just fine’ THINK AGAIN!” Click on that upper-case screamer, and read her advice on how potential clients might get dissatisfied brokerage customers to go away by telling them that “Theresa Markham takes care of investigating all our complaints.”

     Information for her clients--jazzed up and easy to find-- is all part of her plan for presenting herself in cyberspace. “A Web site cannot just be a static medium,” says Markham of Hamburg, N.J. “It has to be very personal. That’s why the whole feel of my site is geared toward my clients--90 percent of whom are male stockbrokers who are primarily geared toward making money.”

     Along with steps for a successful HULA, users get suggestions for motivational tapes, gifts for a secretary, inspirational quotes (Albert Einstein is a favorite), even a link to an industry headhunter.

     When Markham created her site this year for her new solo practice, she was determined not to make that mistakes that so many solos do: Launch a site and forget about it.

     By contrast, Markham’s Web site--http://www.brokerslawyer.com/-- is a continual work in progress, with features added or updated almost weekly to lure new clients and keep existing clients on the edge of their seats, eager to see what’s new.

     Markham’s is a lesson in Web site building that more lawyers should learn, many experts say. Given the ease with which Web sites can be produced and launched, it is no longer enough for solo and small-firm practitioners merely to have one. Rather, they need to continually update and promote their sites to make them effective tools.

     Yet many solo and small-firm practitioners--perhaps because of the cost or the time commitment--follow the mantra popularized in the movie Field of Dreams, says Denver attorney and technology consultant Barbara J. Leff.

     “People really do think that if you build it, they will come,” she says. But solo practice marketing is not like sticking a baseball diamond in an Iowa cornfield.

     Leff, whose company Legal Web Works produces Web sites for solos and small firms (www.legalwebworks.com), advises clients to think of their sites as part of an overall marketing plan. For starters, she says, Web sites need to be accessible.

 On Track With Search Engines

     One of the best ways to do this is to submit the site to as many World Wide Web search engines as possible, says Douglas Holmes, a Chapel Hill, N.C., solo who maintains several Web sites for his immigration practice.

     The submission process is easy and free: Simply go to the search engine’s home page and follow the “add your site here” instructions. Note that submitting a Web page to a search engine--such as Yahoo or Lycos--does not guarantee acceptance, so Holmes advises submitting the page to many search engines.

     Nor does getting a site on one search engine mean that it will be on other search engines, says Holmes. Each is a self-contained database and does not pull Web Sites from another engine.

     Markham also lists her Web page in Internet directories, which are indexes of Web sites for specific topics, such as New Jersey real estate. Most charge a small fee.

     Another effective sway of attracting visitors is by installing hypertext links to other Web sites--legal-related as well as nonlegal sites. “Think about where visitors go who might have the kinds of needs for which you can be of help,” Leff says. For example, she says, “If you are a real estate attorney, you many want to link to a local real-estate-agency Web site because people who are relocating may need an attorney.”

 Keeping it Personal

     Many of the links on Markham’s Web site are aimed at providing nonlegal services to her clients. She has links to purveyors of expensive wines, cigars, cars and other “toys” that stockbrokers like. She says the links do more than provide a service to her clients; they depict her as a lawyer who understands her clients’ needs and wants.

     “Any good attorney who is a good business person is always looking to know clients better,” Markham says. “The more you know who your clients are, the easier it is to give them information they want.”

     Note that before linking to other Web sites, “netiquette” requires asking permission of the other site’s owners.

     Leff suggests e-mail as another free, easy and frequently overlooked way for solos to promote their Web sites. Most e-mail programs allow a signature block--detailing the sender’s name, address and other information--to be built into every message sent. She says the signature block should always include the address of your Web site.

     Finally, do not underestimate the value of good content, Leff says. Most Web surfers want to see more that an attorney’s resume¢ on a Web site, “It is like creating a newsletter,” Leff says. “Think about what might be of interest to your clients.”

     Many of Markham’s small-business clients hire her for real estate matters. She has learned that many have similar concerns, so she added a frequently asked questions section to her Web site, which includes closing checklists and timelines.

     “What better way for them to get this information? And they do not have to pay $200.00 an hour to get it,” she says.