Bernadette McNicholas is an experienced and successful attorney, having practiced law for over 32 years. Bernadette founded her solo practice in 1987, initially representing clients in the areas of domestic relations, criminal defense, personal injury, probate, traffic, collections, partition suits, worker’s compensation cases and real estate closing.
She has tried both jury and non-jury trials to verdict. Since 2003, Bernadette has concentrated her growing practice in the area of domestic relations, successfully representing clients in a myriad of domestic relations matters, including disputes involving the classification of property as either marital or non-marital property, the distribution of marital property, the allocation of parental responsibilities (former known as custody), parenting time, jurisdictional contests pursuant to the UCCJEA, child support, child relocation, maintenance, debt allocation, college contribution, contempt and enforcement hearings, parentage, orders of protection, prenuptial agreements and appellate matters.
In 2014, Bernadette merged her thriving law practice with the firm of Kamerlink, Stark and Powers. Bernadette joined Davis Friedman as a partner in 2019.
Education & Publication
Expertise
Bernadette has a solid reputation amongst her colleagues and the domestic relations judiciary as being prepared and thorough in her representation of her clients. Bernadette is a knowledgeable, detail-oriented litigator and she applies her knowledge, skills and experience to every one of her cases, focusing on obtaining the very best results for her clients. Bernadette educates her clients as to their rights and their obligations as they pertain to domestic relations matters and she deftly guides her clients through the court process. While Bernadette is a proficient litigator, she has also trained through the Collaborative Law Institute and she practices in collaborative law.
Education
Bernadette received her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1983, majoring in criminal justice. She then earned her Juris Doctorate from DePaul University College of Law in 1986.
Admissions
- Bernadette has been admitted to practice law in the State of Illinois since 1986. She is also admitted to practice law in the United States District Court Northern District of Illinois. Additionally, she is licensed to practice law in the State of Arizona and has been since 1993.
- Honors and Awards
- Ms. McNicholas has been named a Leading Lawyer in 2018 and 2019.
Community Involvement
Since 2016, Bernadette has been a weekly volunteer tutor in the Lawyers-Lend-A-Hand Program, which she thoroughly enjoys.