Professional Bio
**MERRY TELEMAQUE, JD**
Merry Telemaque, JD, is an experienced conflict management professional who has provided mediation, facilitation, coaching, training, and consulting services to individuals, families, organizations, and government agencies since 2013. Her practice focuses on helping parties navigate complex family, workplace, community, and organizational disputes through effective communication, collaborative problem-solving, and durable agreement-building.
Merry currently serves on the rosters of the New York State Unified Court System's Family Court Child Custody and Visitation Mediation Program and Child Permanency Mediation Program, providing court-connected mediation services throughout the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Judicial Districts. She also serves on the Supreme Court Matrimonial Mediation Rosters for Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and Duchess Counties, assisting parties in resolving divorce and family-related disputes through mediation.
Since beginning her conflict management career, Merry has successfully mediated hundreds of family, custody, visitation, permanency, and matrimonial disputes. She is widely regarded by attorneys, judges, and litigants for her ability to resolve matters that have remained entrenched despite prolonged litigation. Particularly skilled in facilitating productive dialogue in high-conflict cases, she helps parties move beyond impasse and develop practical, durable, and forward-looking solutions.
Merry possesses extensive experience in the formulation, negotiation, and drafting of comprehensive parenting plans, separation agreements, stipulations of settlement, equitable distribution provisions, and statements of net worth. Her unique combination of legal, child welfare, and mediation experience enables parties to address both legal and interpersonal concerns while crafting well-structured agreements that support long-term stability and reduce the likelihood of future conflict.
Merry's professional foundation began with the New York City Department of Child Protective Services and Family Court, where she worked from 1986 through 1991. This experience provided invaluable insight into family systems, child welfare, and the challenges faced by vulnerable children and families—perspectives that continue to inform her mediation practice today.
Prior to transitioning to full-time conflict management work, Merry enjoyed a distinguished 19-year legal career. She served the New York City Corporation Counsel from 1991 to 1994 before establishing her own law practice in Cambria Heights, New York, in 1995. Over the next nineteen years, she represented clients throughout New York State, from Albany to Suffolk County, developing extensive experience in advocacy, negotiation, litigation, and dispute resolution.
Fluent in six languages and having traveled to more than fifty countries, Merry brings a multicultural and globally informed perspective to her work.
