For more than three decades Marguerite (Lily) Royer has been one of New York's steadiest and accomplished divorce lawyers, respected by peers and judges as a grounded and common-sense practitioner. Over her career she's handled hundreds of unique cases discreetly and effectively, clients and colleagues say. Royer built her career in the New York area (Manhattan, Westchester and Rockland counties) somewhat under the radar. She raised her profile substantially in 2009 by joining the 100-lawyer firm of Moses & Singer. She is now chair of the firm's fast-growing family law department. Further, her practice has expanded to include collaborative law, the more private, resolution-focused alternative to traditional litigation.

Early in her career Royer practiced in the high-end matrimonial department of a major law firm in Manhattan. After her daughter was born ("part-time and flex-time just wasn't done back then," she says), she practiced out of her home in Manhattan. Still, in many respects she was better connected to the New York divorce bar than many high-end midtown attorneys. And it was those lawyers who regularly referred matters to her.

Royer ("My older sister refused to call me Marguerite; It's been 'Lily' ever since") has professional roots in public policy and social welfare, and her disciplined, result-oriented approach reflects that. The daughter of a Sperry engineer, she grew up in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, aspiring to work in television news. While at SUNY-Albany, where she majored in Sociology and Political Science, she worked part-time with then-state assemblyman Charles Schumer and, later, for the New York State Assembly Housing Committee on major issues such as rent stabilization and rent control. The experience spurred her to law school, where her strong writing skills helped her become an editor of Pace University's Law Review. She contemplated environmental law (she was involved in the Pace Law School Environmental Law program, which in later years has come to work with Bobby Kennedy Jr.'s Riverkeepers, the non profit "neighborhood watch" of the Hudson River); instead she joined a high-powered Manhattan law firm working for the highly respected and well known Robert S. Cohen, Esq.

Through the 90s Royer lived in Manhattan and later Irvington, NY, married to a fellow divorce lawyer and with two children. In both places she had a thriving practice. Therapists referred ultra-delicate cases, some in involving spouses changing their sexual preference in midlife. "I got a reputation for being able to discreetly handle challenging cases - in or out of court." By 2003, Royer had built a sizable practice; in 2010 she was recruited by lawyers of Moses & Singer to head the firm's Family Law Practice Group.

Remarried in 2008, Royer today lives in Irvington. She has two grown children, and enjoys hiking, gardening and travel.