Teresa D. Calabrese, Esq. (she/her)
Mediator & Collaborative Lawyer at Mediation & Law Office of Teresa D. CalabreseTeresa Calabrese is a mediator and collaborative lawyer serving the NYC Queer community. Through mediation and collaborative practice, Teresa helps individuals, couples and families resolve conflict, problem-solve and make decisions together. She focuses on issues pertaining to: relationship formation, including co-habitation agreements and pre-marital agreements; building families, including donor sperm agreements and co-parenting agreements; and dissolving relationships and marriages.
Teresa also handles second parent adoption matters and provides basic estate planning services.
Teresa has presented programs for the New York State Council on Divorce Mediation, the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals, the Family and Divorce Mediation Council of Greater New York, and CUNY School of Law. Teresa has also participated in mediation and legal informational presentations for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Services Center.
Brian Esser, Esq. (he/him)
LGBT Family Law Partner at Law Office of Brian Esser PLLCBrian Esser is a solo practitioner whose practice focuses on building families through adoption, surrogacy, and assisted reproductive technology. He regularly works with clients pursuing private placement adoption, as well as families securing the parental rights of a non-biological parent through a second-parent adoption. He counsels families on sperm, egg, and embryo donor agreements, and all aspects of surrogacy. He has a particular interest in helping LGBT people build their families.
He is a former member of the board of directors of the National LGBT Bar Foundation where he served two terms as the board’s President, a fellow of the Academy of Adoption and ART Attorneys, and a member of the ABA’s Family Law Section Committee on Assisted Reproductive Technology. He is a founding board member of Equality New York, a statewide LGBTQI advocacy organization. He and his husband Kevin live in Park Slope, Brooklyn and have two sons through open adoption.
