Marcelle Kott
BERGER SCHATZ
PRINCIPAL ATTORNEY

Marcy Kott is a principal attorney at Berger Schatz. She provides smart, concise, and direct family law advice, moving clients from start to finish in a practical and efficient manner.

Marcy represents clients in marital dissolution cases involving complex financial issues, corporate valuations, non-marital asset protection, spousal support issues, child custody and child support disputes, visitation, relocation, international child abduction matters involving the Hague Convention, and visitation. In addition to divorce cases, she has broad experience representing clients in matters involving premarital and post marital agreements, same-sex marriages, adoption, and complex parentage and assisted reproduction agreements.

Marcy’s practice focuses extensively on alternative dispute resolution. She is a certified divorce mediator and a fellow of the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois. Adept in both ADR and litigation, she is committed to utilizing the technique best suited to meeting her clients’ goals. Her flexible approach and practical orientation have enabled her to craft creative solutions to challenging cases.

The underlying focus Marcy brings to every matter is to provide clients with the tools to make them stronger and more capable. By making a deep connection with each client, she fosters collaboration to achieve the best outcome. Clients value her practical, big-picture advice relating to custody and parenting issues. Her solutions prepare clients for the long term.

Marcy is attentive and responsive and provides clear, action-oriented advice. With an understanding that outcomes are not necessarily determined by who spends the most, she works with clients to develop a strategy that meets their individual, family, and financial goals, deriving the maximum benefit at every turn.

Marcy’s reputation is built on her ability to be both a skilled negotiator and a strong litigator. Her most essential skill is her high level of emotional intelligence, a valuable trait when navigating high conflict matters with clients. Her intellectual honesty further provides an excellent foundation to meet her client’s long-term goals and develop the appropriate mediation or litigation strategy.

Crain’s Chicago Business named Marcy to its 2017 “Most Influential Women Lawyers” list. The same year and continuously since, she was named to “The Best Lawyers in America” list by Best Lawyers for her work in family law, arbitration and mediation. Since 2009, Marcy has been named to the Leading Lawyers Network and was deemed a “Top 10 Adoption Attorney” and “Top 100 Women Attorney in Illinois” list in 2015. Marcy was named to the “Illinois Super Lawyers” list in 2020.

Marcy sits on the firm’s Executive Committee, and she is a member of the American Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association and the Illinois Bar Association.

She received her J.D. from John Marshall Law School in 1992 after attending Indiana University and receiving her B.A. in 1989.