Divorce with Dignity: Sara Marler | She Lift Project Podcast #77

Divorce with Dignity: Sara Marler, Trauma-Informed Family Lawyer 🎙️ Welcome back to the She Lift Project Podcast! In this powerful episode, host Cynthia Kirkpatrick sits down with Sara Marler, founder and managing partner of Marler Law Partners, a St. Louis family law firm redefining what it means to practice law with heart. Sara's firm doesn't just handle cases. It holds people. She has built a trauma-informed practice that places a licensed therapist alongside attorneys, designs offices around psychological safety, and shows up at hospitals when clients need it most. This conversation will change how you think about law, leadership, and what it means to truly help someone. 🔑 What you'll learn in this episode: • What "big T" and "little T" trauma actually mean and why it matters for everyone • How ACEs scores connect childhood stress to serious health outcomes in adulthood • Why the real finish line in co-parenting is not your child's 18th birthday • How to make transition days easier for your kids after a split • The difference between compassion fatigue and empathetic distress • Why creativity dies in the courtroom and what collaborative divorce offers instead • How a trauma-informed office is designed to calm the nervous system before a word is spoken • Why Sara is teaching law firms and universities a completely different way to practice 💬 About Sara Marler: Sara Marler is the founder and managing partner of Marler Law Partners, a family law firm in St. Louis specializing in trauma-informed legal care. A former prosecutor and public defender, Sara has been practicing law since 2006 and building her firm since 2014. She is a trained collaborative law attorney and a leading voice in bringing trauma-informed care into the legal profession. 📲 Find Sara Marler and Marler Law Partners: Website: marlerlawpartners.com LinkedIn:   / sara-marler-687565184   📲 Connect with Cynthia Kirkpatrick: Website: https://monetagroup.com/professional/... LinkedIn:   / cynthia-kirkpatrick-cpa-cfp   Subscribe and leave us a review wherever you listen! --- 🕒 CHAPTERS 0:00 Introduction and welcome back 0:47 Sara's return and why this episode was meant to be 1:04 What trauma-informed family law actually is 1:48 Sara's first therapy session and discovering big T and little T trauma 3:09 The personal crisis that almost sent her back to school for psychology 4:02 The frustration that changed everything: leaving clients worse than she found them 6:09 Big T vs. little T trauma explained 7:45 ACEs scores and how childhood stress shows up in adult health 9:19 The role of the on-staff trauma therapist at Marler Law Partners 11:53 Empathetic distress and the wellness piece inside the firm 14:51 Young Sara: how a girl who never wanted to do family law became its biggest advocate 16:23 From prosecution dream to her first jury trial before graduation 21:09 The public defender's office: burning out at month nine 22:52 Getting the dream job and why it disappointed her 25:17 The preeminent family law firm that didn't fit 28:15 Going out on her own the first time: associate math and hard lessons 30:24 The second time around: building Marler Law Partners in 2014 33:06 The biggest leadership lessons growing a whole firm 36:13 Why Sara is not afraid of change and what that means for her team 39:51 High-touch, high-need clients: who Marler Law is really for 41:09 Practical advice nobody gives you: the transition day strategy 44:37 I just have to get to 18 and why that's the wrong goal 48:34 High-conflict cases and what showing up really looks like 50:36 A trauma-informed case study: letting the client decide 54:19 How the team at Marler Law resets and takes care of themselves 57:57 The office environment: every sense is intentional 1:00:11 Lawyering for the whole person, not just the case 1:01:22 Teaching Simon Law Firm and WashU about trauma-informed lawyering 1:04:44 JD and MSW combined degrees and the future of the profession 1:09:43 Collaborative law: what it is and how it works 1:12:28 Who is the ideal Marler Law client? 1:14:47 The Connected Client Program and reducing lawyer anxiety 1:15:42 Sara's social media and how to find her 1:17:48 Closing: leaving people better than you found them --- #FamilyLaw #TraumaInformed #SaraMarler #SheLiftProject #CynthiaKirkpatrick #WomenInLaw #Divorce #MentalHealth #Podcast #StLouis #TraumaInformedCare #Leadership #WomenInBusiness #LegalPodcast #FamilyLawyer #CoParenting #Resilience #MarlerLawPartners #CollaborativeDivorce #DivorceWithDignity