Creating a Bridge to the Other Side
As a family law attorney and partner with Baer Romain & Ginty LLP, Brooke R. Ginty uses authenticity and humanity to lead her clients through some of life’s most difficult challenges.
Attorney Brooke R. Ginty has garnered many accolades over her 14 years as a practitioner of family law, including the honor of being named a “Top Lawyer” by Main Line Today five years in a row. While she considers such honors “gratifying,” she says the most important aspect of her legal practice at Baer Romain & Ginty LLP in Phoenixville involves meeting her clients where they are.
“My clients are facing divorce, custody, or issues of financial support,” she says. “For many, it’s the worst day of their life. It is my goal to understand where my client is emotionally and make sure that they understand the legal process. Because family law is not easy.”
This is especially true when families struggle with the devastating effects of alcoholism, substance abuse, and mental health. An estimated 10 percent of Ginty’s cases involve mental-health issues. She adds, “Often a client will come in and say, ‘I thought I was going to be with this person for the rest of my life. Now, I don’t know who this person is.’”
In these situations, Ginty prides herself on helping her clients become agents in their own stories while guiding them through a confusing legal process. She likens it to “pulling the lens back and helping them see the bigger picture.”
Born near Lake Placid, New York, Ginty found inspiration in her father’s entrepreneurial “can-do” attitude. A bartender by trade, Ginty’s father decided that he needed a different profession to support his family. He started with a local insurance company and climbed the ladder to become a branch manager of a large investment bank in Boston — “all without a college degree,” she says proudly.
Ginty showed entrepreneurial gusto while in undergrad; where she created her own major, Philosophy of Legal Rights. While her classmates were drinking wine in Italy, Ginty was taking a course on criminal justice at American University in Washington, D.C., and receiving an intense first taste of the legal system. “I was touring supermax prisons and doing ride-alongs with the Capitol Police,” she recalls.
After graduating from law school, Ginty worked in insurance defense litigation. The experience proved invaluable, but it did not offer the courtroom experience she craved. In 2017, after the birth of her first son, Ginty joined the law firm led by Stephen I. Baer and Robert M. Romain as a part-time associate. She became a partner two years later. Although she was nervous about making the leap, Romain’s encouraging words—“You are farther along than where I was at your stage when I stepped into partnership”—gave her the confidence to know she would excel.
Ginty strives to represent all of her clients with authenticity and humanity. Though she may have the reputation of being a bulldog for her clients, Ginty does not want to be perceived that way.
“One of my clients told me that what impressed her most was that I had compassion, not just for her and her children, but for her ex-husband,” she says. “That is my true goal: to find the humanity in the most contentious situations.”
Ginty ensures her entire practice maintains that human touch—or, in some cases, a canine touch. When clients come to the office, they are often greeted by two French bulldogs, Izzy and Meatball. She calls them “my puppa-legals.” Many times, by the end of a consultation, a client will have a snoring puppy in their lap.
“When I’m in court, I’m going to be an effective advocate,” Ginty adds. “But when clients are in my office, there will be a box of tissues and a puppy to snuggle.”
Ginty is excited to lead a firm that has served the Phoenixville community for 30 years. Going forward, she hopes to partner with other attorneys in Chester County to expand services while keeping the practice authentic and supporting her clients through good days and bad.
She is constantly reminded of the sentiment expressed by one of her role models: the Honorable Judge Rosemarie Aquilina. If her name does not ring a bell, Judge Aquilina oversaw the trial of Larry Nassar, who was convicted of abusing hundreds of children and young women while serving as the team doctor for U.S. women’s national gymnastics.
“She told the survivors, ‘Leave your pain here, and go out and do magnificent things,’” says Ginty. “That’s exactly what I want to do for my clients: create a bridge to the other side.”
Baer Romain & Ginty LLP
1288 Valley Forge Road, Suite 63
Phoenixville, PA 19460
(610) 933-9444 | baerlaw.net
1288 Valley Forge Road, Suite 63
Phoenixville, PA 19460
(610) 933-9444 | baerlaw.net
Photo by Nina Lea Photography
Published (and copyrighted) in Suburban Life magazine, April 2023.
