Mary Katherine Avery is a partner at a family law firm in Chicago. She enjoys representing clients through difficult divorces and custody cases, as she finds it rewarding to help people during intimate and difficult times in their lives. While the subject matter involves heavy emotions, Avery views her work positively and aims to ensure both parents can remain involved in parenting their children. She has practiced family law for over 20 years and formed her own successful firm, where she continues advocating passionately for clients.

1. Through the years, people have thought
it would be appropriate to commiserate
with Mary Katherine Avery when she
mentioned her career involving divorce
law. Avery doesn’t understand why.
“People meet me, and they say, ‘You do
divorce law?’ And they say, ‘I’m so sorry,’
and I am always so surprised by that. Why
are you sorry? I like the personal aspects
of it. I like working directly with a client
in the most intimate and often the most
difficult times in their life.”
Avery is a partner and founding member
of Avery Camerlingo Kill, LLC, a six-
lawyer firm in Chicago’s West Loop. She
handles many facets of family law including
divorce, custody, prenuptial and postnuptial
agreements, adoption, domestic violence
and orders of protection on both sides.
The subject matter is usually seared with
heavy emotions, but Avery views her work
as an opportunity to make a positive impact
on people’s lives, especially children.
“I’m driven by making sure that parents
are allowed to parent,” Avery says from her
exposed brick-filled office that includes a
picture of her own children.
“I think in a lot of divorce and custody
cases one parent will take control away from
the other parent because they can. One of
the things I feel strongly about is making
sure (both parents) have a genuine impact
on their child’s life, and there are tons of
ways where one parent can take that away.”
Learning and Liking the Law
Born in Kalamazoo, Mich., Avery
graduated from the University of Michigan
in 1989 and followed a dream to come
to Chicago when she enrolled at Loyola
University Chicago School of Law.
“I liked the writing. Also the chance
to communicate in court has always been
attractive to me,” Avery says. “I did a lot
of public service work when I was in high
school and college, and I always liked
representing people.”
Looking back at her time at Loyola,
Avery’s favorite memory was a legal clinic
under the supervision of Professor Theresa
Ceko. That class was influential as it allowed
her to stand up for actual clients.
“As a law student, you could actually
represent real people,” Avery says. “So that
is where I started to get the fire for wanting
to be in court.”
Upon graduation, Avery made such an
impression to Ceko that she referred Avery
to prominent divorce lawyer Scott Colky.
Not that long after, Avery was an associate
at Berks, Colky & Sinton, where she
fulfilled an ambition to practice family law.
“You can do every type of legal practice
in one area of the law, in family law —
writing, research, argument, litigation,”
Avery says. “I love to be in court. It’s every
element of trial practice in one package.”
Specifically, Avery wanted to take on
custody cases because of the obvious
important implications for the children.
Denise Nalley has known Avery since
their first day of law school on the Loyola
campus. Today she is a criminal attorney
who notices the passion Avery brings to
each case, something that was evident
when they were starting out.
“When people think of family law, they
think of a divorce and people fighting over
two plates, a cup and the car,” Nalley says.
“But that is not the reality. The truth is
the outcome of the proceeding will affect
the client for the rest of their lives. If a parent
loses a custody proceeding, that parent is then
living in a house with an empty bedroom.
Mary is always cognizant of the reality of
what these rulings mean for the client.”
A Successful New Adventure
After working for Colky who had started
his own firm, Avery was then presented
with an opportunity to form her own
partnership when Pepi Camerlingo and
Annemarie Kill approached Avery after
watching her in court. The three sat down,
Mary Katherine Avery
(Continued on page 150)
Family Law Advice
Served With Passion
During Stressful Times
by Daniel I. Dorfman

2. and there was plenty of common ground.
“It was clear she was very passionate just
by observing her in court,” Kill says. “We
all had an eye on starting the firm with a
good life balance by having time to spend
with our children and family.”
Avery herself was looking to take that
proverbial next step in her career.
“I was looking for more autonomy and
greater flexibility,” Avery says. “Scott was
great, but I was ready to go out on my own.”
Thus on Nov. 1, 2000, Avery Camerlingo
Kill was created.
Avery remembers being nervous in those
opening days, as they encountered typical
startup challenges. The three lawyers were
working off boxes, there weren’t any
secretaries, and even computers were in
the distant future.
While Kill admits there were certainly
frustrating days, she looks back on that time
with some fondness. “Back then it was a
leap of faith on our part, and so every time
there was a new case there was certain level
of excitement because it was new,” she says.
Moreover, Avery recalls there was
enough of a case log that the three remained
confident they had made the right move.
That success continued. There are now the
three partners and three associates. All six
attorneys are women.
Difficult Family Law Situations
Fourteen years later, one of the reasons
Avery’s client base has grown is that she
keeps an even approach when dealing with
difficult situations.
“Part of what makes you a good divorce
lawyer is helping you keep their emotions
in perspective,” Avery says. “This is a court
of law. This is not a court of emotion. A
good attorney may not necessarily control
people’s feelings or actions, but does help
them put everything in perspective so they
can move on with their lives.”
Such was the case with Michael Kelleher,
a fellow attorney Avery represented.
“She knew the law, and when our case
went to trial, it settled on the courthouse
steps because she was ready and the other side
knew she was ready,” Kelleher remembers.
“On the day we were supposed to go to
trial, I was stressed out and I was probably
willing to give away a lot more than I
should. She talked me down off the ledge.”
Avery believes a family lawyer must have
the role of counselor and be able to provide
perspective in situations where domestic abuse
has occurred. She talks about how many times
the victim has lost a sense of reality.
“People come in here and don’t know it
is domestic violence because it is so normal
to them,” Avery notes.
“When there is a client in front of me
in a domestic violence situation, I try to
encourage them to recognize that the
relationship and the environment they are
in is not normal. I try to explain to them
the cycle of violence, and what I see their
part is in it, and how it is affecting them
and their children. I encourage them to
help them get out of that situation.”
But she is disturbed by another side of
domestic abuse situations, as she believes there
has been some misuse of the Illinois Domestic
Violence Act. Under that act, a person who is
accused of domestic violence can be removed
from the family home, creating an opportunity
for misuse in custody litigation.
In some cases, “What litigants do is try
to gain a leg up in a custody by saying that
something happened that doesn’t really
constitute abuse,” Avery says. “Those are the
kind of cases I like to come in and defend.”
Avery doesn’t talk all that much about
major wins or losses in court during her career.
“In this line of work there are cases you are
proud of for one reason or another, but it is
not necessarily a clear cut victory,” she says.
With age, Avery believes she has learned
how to have the proper perspective even in
the most gut-wrenching family law situations.
“When I was younger and an associate,
I would get caught up in people’s drama
and their issues at times,” Avery says. “That
would almost perpetuate the problem.
I learned that doesn’t help the client get
through what they are going through, and
it gives you a lot of sleepless nights.”
But that doesn’t necessarily mean that
when she closes her office door at night
the cases — particularly the most troubling
ones — will leave her mind.
“Once in a while, a case will get to me,
such as a child being harmed or being kept
from a parent or when there is a type of
mental abuse. Sometimes I will take that
home with me, and it will constantly be on
my mind,” Avery says. “But there has to
be some separation because you have to be
able to live your life as well. I want to be
there for my kids.”
The kids she refers to are her two children,
and she is active in their respective schools.
Driven by Ethics, Energy, Effort
Avery’s colleagues not only rave about
her professionalism on the job, but they
praise similar traits that can be seen in the
way she goes about her daily life.
“Mary is such an ethical person,” Nalley
says. “I remember a time when we were
at the large luncheon and some people
started talking unkindly about someone
who wasn’t there.
“Mary stood up and said this is improper,
and we should not be talking about someone
who is not there to defend themselves. It
started again about 10 minutes later, and
Mary paid for her lunch and left. That was
typical Mary. She was not going to pick a
fight, she was not going to be judgmental,
but she was also not going to participate.”
Avery sees herself practicing for another
20 years. The three partners, who not
that long ago were working off boxes, are
aiming to make Avery Camerlingo Kill a
much larger operation.
One of the challenges ahead, Avery
believes, is adapting to the new appellate court
decisions and state statutes on family law. She
is looking forward to her first same sex divorce
case, whenever the opportunity arises.
With the firm flourishing, Kill reflects on the
time she has known Avery. “She has become
a better attorney, but she is so wonderful
at litigating,” Kill says. ”She is the most
passionate advocate I can imagine someone
having, and especially when she is representing
the underdog. The more challenging the
fight, the more energized she becomes.”
For her part, Avery believes the energy
Kill refers to is crucial as she tries to assist
her clients who are going through very
troubling situations in their personal lives.
“I think I am driven,” Avery says. “I am
a hard worker, and I really do care about
the outcome.” ■
(Continued from page 148)
This article originally appeared in Leading Lawyers Magazine—Women’s Edition for 2015 and has been reprinted with permission. © 2015 Law Bulletin Publishing Co.