SHARI JO REICH

A native of Buffalo, SHARI JO REICH is a 1983 magna cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Albany, where she received simultaneous honors from the Political Science Department.  She earned her law degree in 1986 from the SUNY at Buffalo School of Law, and was awarded the Order of the Barristers.  She also received the Law School Award for Proficiency in Estates and Surrogate’s Law.

 

Shari Jo began her legal career in 1987 with the offices of Paladino, Cavan and Quinlivan in the Ellicott Square Building.  In 1990 she opened her own law office and practiced on her own until she joined Kenney Shelton Liptak Nowak LLP as a partner in 2006.  In 2012 she was named one of six Managing Partners of the firm.  In 2019, Shari Jo formed a partnership with Laura J. Emerson, Esq., known as REICH/EMERSON LLP.

 

Shari Jo has been an adjunct faculty member at Hilbert College where she taught Domestic Relations law in the paralegal program.  She taught “bridge courses” on Solo Practice at the SUNY Buffalo School of Law.  She is a past President of the Western New York chapter of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York.  Shari Jo is a four-time past president of the Board of Directors of Gay and Lesbian Youth Services of Western New York, Inc.  She was a six year board member and Treasurer of Legal Services for the Elderly, Disabled or Disadvantaged of Western New York. From 2006 to 2009 Shari Jo served as a Director of the Erie County Bar Association and in 2015/2016 served as chair of the Association’s Judiciary Committee.  She was a board member of the Mid-Day Club, and in 2009 was elected as a board member of Temple Beth Am (now Congregation Shir Shalom) where she serves as its Vice President of Education.

 

She was formerly Secretary of the Board of Directors of the YWCA, and Chair of its Leadership Development Committee; a member of the Western New York Matrimonial Trial Lawyers Association; member of WNY Gay and Lesbian Coalition; lecturer at the Everywoman Opportunity Center; Vice-President of the local chapter of the American Jewish Committee; member of the Jewish Federation Board of Governors; and holds membership in the New York State and Erie County Bar Associations, as well as the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York.

 

In 2002 she received two awards: the Award of Excellence from the Everywoman Opportunity Center; and the M. Dolores Denman Lady Justice Award for Lifetime Achievement from the WNY Chapter of the Women’s Bar Association of the State of New York.

 

Shari Jo was honored by State Senator Antoine Thompson when she was named a recipient of the 2009 Women’s History Month Award for Public Service.

 

Over the last 14 years, Shari Jo has been named to the Buffalo Law Journal/Business First Who’s Who in the Law, an honor bestowed by her fellow matrimonial and family law practitioners.

 

From 2008 to 2019, Shari Jo has been named as a New York Super Lawyer for Upstate New York.  In 2012, 2018 and 2019 she was named one of the Top 25 Female Super Lawyers in Matrimonial Law in Upstate New York.

 

In 2016 and 2019, Shari Jo was appointed by the Honorable Gerald J. Whelan (Presiding Justice, Appellate Division, 4th Department) to the New York State Attorney Client Fee Dispute Resolution Program Board of Governors.

 

In 2020 Shari Jo achieved an “AV Preeminent” rating by Martindale-Hubbell.