Francesca O’Cathain is a named partner at Lesnevich, Marzano-Lesnevich, O’Cathain & O’Cathain, LLC, and practices exclusively in the area of family law. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, and is certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Attorney. She practices all areas of family law, including divorce, child custody, support, division and preservation of assets, prenuptial agreements and post-judgment matters of all kinds; she represents parents accused of abuse and neglect of their children. Francesca is also Of Counsel to the New York law firm of Berkman, Bottger, Newman & Rodd, LLP.
Francesca has been named a New Jersey Rising Stars Super Lawyers every year since 2012.
Francesca is a frequent lecturer for the New Jersey State Bar Association, New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education, New Jersey Association of Trial Lawyers of America, and various County Bar Associations. Francesca has also been appointed to prominent positions within the New Jersey State Bar Association Family Law Section, including membership on its Executive Committee and Co-Chair of the Young Lawyers Sub-Division of the Family Law Section in 2010-2011. Francesca is currently the Co-Chair of the Legislative Committee of the Family Law Section. In 2015 Francesca was named one of the “2015 New Leaders of the Bar” by the New Jersey Law Journal, and in 2013 she was named “Top Lawyers in Bergen County” by 201 Magazine. Francesca also received an Award of Merit from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for her work on Hague Convention Cases.
Francesca also serves as Treasurer and founding member of the Irish American Bar Association of New Jersey, a member of the Irish American Bar Association of New York, and a member of the Brehon Law Society. She was honored by the Irish Voice in 2010 by being named one of its Legal 100.
Francesca received her Bachelor of Arts from Claremont McKenna College, in California, in 2001, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Connecticut School of Law in 2004. She is a graduate of the American Bar Association Section of Family Law National Institute for Trial Advocacy Institute and the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers ‘Summer Institute’ for Training Associates (Beginners and Advanced Programs).
Francesca previously serves as a Board Member for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of New Jersey. She remains an adoption advocate, as she and her husband have adopted two children from China. Her family resides in Hillsdale, New Jersey.
