About

I have practiced family law for over twenty years and have found a real calling in mediating family cases.  Every case I've mediated is different, but I am always honored to be part of the process of working on these important and difficult matters.  This is especially true in challenging cases.

Sometimes trial is the only way to settle a dispute, but it has real drawbacks.  Family law trials are expensive, time consuming, emotionally damaging and unpredictable.   Often, people in litigation find that they have an incentive to attack the other.  I have found that mediation can be effective in putting an end to this destructive fighting.

As a litigator, I have tried numerous cases, both jury and bench, involving every aspect of family law, including contentious custody issues and financial disputes over a broad range of incomes. I have participated in hundreds of mediations both as a litigator and as mediator. I maintain a healthy relationship with my fellow family lawyers, a group I appreciate and admire. My service to the profession as chair of both the Atlanta Bar Association Family Division and the DeKalb County Bar Association Family Division has been an honor and a pleasure.

I graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Government from Clark University, Massachusetts; I hold a Master's Degree from University of Georgia in Political Science; my Juris Doctor is from the College of William and Mary.  I have been a trial lawyer since 1996; I was an attorney at what is now Kessler and Solomiany Family Law, practicing strictly in the area of family law from 2001 until February 2017 (I was a partner in the firm from 2008).  I began seeking mediation work in earnest in 2016; by February 2018, my mediation practice became the majority of my focus and I established Tesser Mediation.

Mediating is a skill that benefits from study and experience. I teach mediation, and speak about it frequently. I’m a registered member of the Georgia Commission on Dispute Resolution and certified to handle all domestic cases, including family violence situations.

I myself have divorced, and remarried, and am part of a blended family--I understand very well the issues that parents face in a custody or divorce case.