Sarah Novak Nesbitt, Managing Attorney of the Family Law Division of FLAG, has focused her professional life on working with children and families. Sarah recognizes the challenge of custody disputes, divorce, and child support issues and is passionate about helping families address legal challenges in a manner that remains child-focused and preserves the family relationships while ensuring that her clients understand their rights and legal options. Sarah encourages her clients to resolve matters through alternative dispute resolution and is a zealous advocate for her clients in such processes or when litigation is necessary.
After growing up in Montgomery County, Sarah attended the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She graduated magna cum laude with dual degrees in psychology and sociology. While at Notre Dame, Sarah focused her course work and research on infant and child development and family dynamics. She also volunteered with a mentoring and tutoring program for South Bend youth. Sarah returned to Maryland after college to work as a full time volunteer teacher at a scholarship school for low-income middle school boys in Baltimore City. Based on her volunteer experiences, Sarah become a lawyer to help children and families navigate the legal system.
Sarah graduated cum laude from the University of Maryland School of Law, where she was a Leadership Scholar. During her first summer, Sarah obtained a grant to intern for Project HEAL, a joint program from the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service and Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, where she assisted primarily in family law and special education cases. The following year, Sarah won the Maryland Public Interest Law Project Pro Bono Student of the Year award for her work in starting an ongoing program for law students to volunteer with Project HEAL. Sarah also volunteered throughout law school with the House of Ruth, providing services to victims of domestic violence. Her academic work included courses such as Domestic Violence and the Law, Children and the Law, Children and Divorce, Mediation in Family Law, and Families, Contracts, and Status. Sarah also focused on alternative dispute resolution options for families and litigation as a Rule 16 attorney in the Juvenile Law Clinic in special education and child protective services cases and as an intern for the Honorable Diane O. Leasure, then the Administrative Judge for the Circuit Court for Howard County. Upon graduation, and after a year of working as a law clerk, Sarah became an associate with Weinberg & Schwartz, L.L.C., a firm practicing exclusively family law in Columbia, Maryland. In 2011, 2012, and 2013, Sarah was named as a Super Lawyers Rising Star for her work in family law. Sarah was also admitted to the United States Supreme Court in 2012. Sarah frequently volunteers in the Family Law Assistance Program in the Circuit Court for Howard County and has appeared in the Circuit Courts for Anne Arundel, Baltimore City, Baltimore County, Carroll, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties.
Sarah currently lives in Montgomery County with her husband, three young children, and energetic Labrador. When Sarah is not busy with her law practice and her family, she enjoys spending time at the beach, cheering for the Fighting Irish football team, and cooking.
Sarah serves on the Board of the Collaborative Project of Maryland, a non-profit organization that provides low-cost Collaborative Divorce services to families in Maryland.
Practice Areas
- Collaborative Law
- Mediation
- Custody
- Child Support
- Divorce Professionals
- Court-Appointed Counsel for Children
- Guardianship of Minors
- Third-Party Custody Cases
- Adoption
- Qualified Domestic Relations Orders and Similar Retirement Orders
- Litigation
- Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements
Professional Associations
- Howard County Bar Association
- Maryland Collaborative Practice Council
- Howard County Collaborative Practice Chair of Ethics Committee
- International Academy of Collaborative Professionals
- Maryland State Bar Association
- Howard County Women’s Bar Association Vice President
- Maryland Woman’s Bar Association
- Divorce Roundtable Member
- Inns of Court of Montgomery County
