KINDLED BY PASSION, CONVICTION, AND EMPATHY, THIS MONMOUTH-BASED FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY FINDS SUCCESS BY PUTTING HER CLIENTS FIRST

BY ERIK SCHONING • PHOTOS BY TOMMY PANTALEO

Even from a tender age, Elizabeth Rozin Golinder knew she wanted to be a lawyer. The daughter of immigrant parents from Ukraine and Georgia, she’s always harbored the drive to push herself to succeed. Today her firm, Rozin | Golinder Law, has grown to eight attorneys, including a retired family law judge, and Rozin Golinder intends to keep growing as her client base has been rapidly expanding.
When she launched her practice in December 2016, Rozin Golinder drew on her lived experiences to bridge the gap between her client’s needs and the myriad complexities of the legal system.

“I didn’t really speak English until I was three or four because my family did not speak English at home,” Rozin Golinder said. “So when I started school, I didn’t know how to speak the language, and it was hard for me at first. Today, I equate that to my clients, because not everybody speaks the language of law. It can be really intimidating for someone to be thrown into a legal situation where they don’t know the jargon, just as scary as it can be for a young kid who can’t speak the language. I learned the language of law to help other people hopefully not feel as lost as I did when I was little.”
Family law is fraught. Practicing in custody cases, divorce, alimony, and even domestic violence requires a balance of delicacy and empathy, and Rozin Golinder believes it’s that personal touch that has allowed her firm to thrive over the past seven years. Today, the firm has three offices: its original Middlesex County office is still the largest, with two additional locations in Bergen and Monmouth Counties. In addition to family law, the firm also handles residential real estate and wills. “An Investment In Your Future” is the Rozin | Golinder Law tagline.

Despite her success and rapid expansion, Rozin Golinder remains very much hands-on within her firm, pairing clients and attorneys and managing a full caseload of her own. In addition, she is a trustee for the Middlesex County Bar Association and a member of the Monmouth County Bar Association. She also serves on the Family Law Executive Committee for the Middlesex County Bar Association and the Family Law Executive Committee for the New Jersey Association for Justice. She attends networking events focused on female entrepreneurs helping each other, and her firm frequently sponsors local organizations and events. Because family law is complexly intertwined with many different areas (real estate, counseling, finances) she sees herself and her practice as part of a larger fabric of New Jersey small businesses.
“We try to network a lot, to meet other business owners and see how we can refer people in the community,” Rozin Golinder said. “For example, we are always looking for realtors because a lot of our clients have to sell a house, or a financial planner if someone’s going through a divorce and they’re not really sure how to deal with stocks or assets. So it really has given me an opportunity to be involved in the community on my own terms.”
Today the firm is still growing, and Rozin-Golinder credits that success to her and her team’s ability to tailor their clients’ experiences to their specific needs. In a world of what Rozin Golinder calls “cookie-cutter divorce factories,” she’s found that no two clients are the same, and she spends much of her time making sure her clients and the attorneys they work with are a good match in terms of needs and personality. In an industry built on referrals, Rozin Golinder has been able to grow her client base by simply focusing on the fundamentals: client experience, peace of mind, and results. Her team, she pointed out, also deserves ample credit for the firm’s success.
“The dedication and efforts of our amazing team is a big reason why we are successful,” she said. “I couldn’t do it without them and their help.”
As Rozin-Golinder said, she can strike like a shark when needed, but when families are involved, oftentimes the quickest route is the best, and she and her team work hard to avoid adding unnecessary strain onto an already delicate and complex situation. The firm has never focused on the bottom line, sensitive to the fact that people very seldom get involved with family law unless it has become absolutely necessary.

“We treat every case as if it’s the most important case we have because going through a family law matter is different than any other type of legal matter,” Rozin-Golinder said. “It really is a loss for a lot of people. It’s a huge life transition. I have children myself. A lot of us have families, and when people call me and talk to me about their children, I understand that’s the most important thing. I know what it’s like to want to make sure your kids are safe and protected and want the best for them.”
So far, the results of this approach speak for themselves: Rozin-Golinder was recognized on the Rising Star list by New Jersey Super Lawyers for 2016 to 2023. In 2018 she was honored with the Young Lawyer of the Year Award for Middlesex County. In 2019, she nabbed the Martin S. Goldin Family Law Award, and she was recently selected to the Super Lawyers list for 2024 and has been included in the Best Lawyers in America list for 2024 after being nominated by her peers. It’s a testament to a client-centered approach to practicing law: treat people well, and the accolades will follow. In the volatile world of law, this level of success is no small feat.
“Going out on your own, in any business and especially this one, is definitely a big leap of faith,” Rozin-Golinder said. “But it’s something I knew I wanted to do from day one. Not everyone who graduates law school wants to open their own practice, but I knew that eventually I would want to. It was a lot of work, more work than anybody probably could have prepared me for. But I would not change one minute of it. It really is what I was made to do.”

Rozin | Golinder Law
197 NJ-18 Suite 303N, East Brunswick / 157 Broad St, Suite 201, Red Bank
190 Moore St, Suite 470, Hackensack