Hard-working, skillful and ever positive and upbeat, Mary Cay Trace has emerged as one of southern New Jersey's leading matrimonial attorneys. Now in the prime of her career, the charismatic and attractive West Deptford, N.J., native is poised to become, for years to come, one of the best-known names in law in the region.

It wasn't exactly a direct route for Trace, the daughter of a DuPont engineer and a registered nurse. True, she dreamed of becoming a courtroom attorney (inspired, she says, by an F. Lee Bailey book she read in sixth grade), but out of college she took a job in nearby Atlantic City with the Casino Control Commission. Three years later, naturally resourceful and energetic (as one of eight children nothing automatically came to her), Trace's ambition led to law school. She later clerked for N.J. Superior Court Judge Charles Sandman, getting her first taste of matrimonial cases - but much of her early career focused on developing her courtroom skills. She gained valuable experience handling criminal cases in the Cape May County Public Defenders Office and later handled an array of litigation that prepared her for focusing on divorce law.

Most remarkably, by 1988 Trace had the confidence and fortitude to launch her own practice and for 11 years she built her reputation, first as an up-and-coming divorce attorney, and later as a standout practitioner. Further, she contributed substantially to the 1999 report on Matrimonial Litigation, as a member of the Supreme Court Special Committee. In January 2000 Trace teamed up with Tom Jenkins, himself a widely respected matrimonial attorney. Their practice has flourished.

Now located in a 19th century landmark at 58 Euclid Street in Woodbury, Trace & Jenkins handles all matters of matrimonial law. Their upbeat workplace and successful practice attracts clients from throughout southern New Jersey. Trace lives in nearby Mullica Hill.