Linda A. Delaney, Partner

Linda A. Delaney is a founding partner in Delaney McKinney, L.L.P. and a litigator who views the law and our courts as vehicles for the protection of our most vulnerable. Ms. Delaney has litigated and negotiated complex custody and financial matters in the context of divorce and separation for more than 15 years. She has singular expertise in the psychological issues that occur in many high conflict custody cases. She successfully represents parents and children in complex child custody and divorce cases in Maryland and the District of Columbia. Her outstanding performance, and unsurpassed devotion to her clients and their children, have been recognized by Washingtonian Magazine in its guide to the areas' top divorce lawyers. Consistent with her concern for children, Ms. Delaney also frequently serves as a guardian ad litem representing children in custody cases.

Ms. Delaney is also committed to exploring global public policy solutions to improve the lives of children and families. In 2004, Ms. Delaney and her partner, Meg McKinney, founded the non-profit public policy institute, Montauro Group. Through targeted research and writing, the organization seeks to inform and influence the economic and social policy debate around work, family, child well-being and other vital issues.

In May 2003, Ms. Delaney was invited to participate in a dialogue hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center discussing the American Law Institute's Report, "Principles of the Law of Family Dissolution: Analysis and Recommendations." Ms. Delaney has been a catalyst locally for the increasing use of parent coordinators to assist parents in high conflict custody cases, as an alternative to custody litigation. She serves as an attorney advisor to the Psychology and Law Parent Coordinator Project, a joint project of the American Psychological Association, the Family Law Section of the D.C. Bar, and Argosy University, which provides free parent coordinators to low income families with custody cases pending in the Family Court of the District of Columbia Superior Court. Ms. Delaney also serves as a settlement facilitator for the D.C. Family Court.

Ms. Delaney was a panel member in the continuing legal education course, “Children Held Hostage” presented at the 2006 annual meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. She has served as a faculty member for continuing legal education courses sponsored by the Family Law Section of the D.C. Bar and has provided training for D.C. Family Court judges. In 2000, Ms. Delaney was elected to serve a two-year term on the Steering Committee for the Family Law Section of the D.C. Bar. She is a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, the D.C. Bar (Member, Family Law Section), the Montgomery County Bar Association (Member, Family Law Section), the Maryland State Bar Association, and the American Bar Association (Member, Family Law Section).

Ms. Delaney graduated with a B.A. from the State University of New York College at Buffalo in 1979 and received her J.D. from the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C. in 1983. She litigated complex civil rights and police misconduct cases before her practice shifted to family law and, in particular, child custody, where she thought she might make a difference in people's lives and sometimes in the law.

Publications by Linda Delaney: “No Approximate Parents: States Should Reject ALI's Proposed Standard for Child Custody Disputes,” Legal Times , Vol. XXVIII, No. 9, February 28, 2005.