Deb Guston is this year’s recipient of the Saul Tischler Award, given to an exemplary attorney in the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Family Law Section.
Guston, who practices in Glen Rock, handles several aspects of family law, including adoption, assisted reproduction, surrogacy and guardianship. She is a visiting lecturer at Rutgers Law School on these topics and LGBTQ issues. A community activist as well, Guston served as president of the Board of Trustees of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and is active in LGBTQ rights. She has been a member of the NJSBA Family Law Section’s Family Law Executive Committee since 2007, and is a past chair of the LGBTQ Rights Section.
Guston spoke recently about winning the award and her career as an LGBTQ attorney.
What does winning the Tischler Award mean to you?
The Tischler is a validation for me in so many ways. This award is a sign of the respect of my peers, which is humbling. The award is also an acknowledgment that not all “family” law is divorce law—it includes the work I do in family formation, representing families of children with disabilities and other aspects of family protection that are integral facets of family law. This recognition is also, in so many ways, the culmination of a long journey for me as a lesbian attorney. When I first came to the practice in 1988, I could count on one hand the number of openly LGBTQ attorneys in New Jersey. While I never had any trepidation about being myself, there were times when my status was an “issue” in a case when the focus should have exclusively been on the parties. I did experience some counsel who were clearly uncomfortable around me. Thankfully, I have seen the profession become a more comfortable and desirous place for me to be and hopefully, I have been able to assist others with becoming more celebratory of diversity and more culturally competent in the process.
What do you love most about being a family lawyer, and why did you choose that specialty?
I started out in my practice to provide a broad range of practice areas to meet the needs of LGBTQ people, their families and families of all configurations where “traditional” practices may not have been a welcoming place or may not have been a good “fit.” To me, family law is an expansive field. I love that I am able to provide services to people from the time they form relationships, build their families and begin to care for children to when they need assistance at difficult times as parents and when partners pass away. Family law to me is as complicated, difficult and joyful as family life can be. I have loved learning from my clients and being part of their journeys through life. Being able to say that I have helped secure permanent loving homes for hundreds of children and protecting the rights of hundreds of those who are parenting them is the greatest joy of all.
You’ve been recognized by the NJSBA for your legislative work on behalf of the Association, most notably lobbying for the New Jersey’s Gestational Carrier Agreement Act. Why was that cause important to you?
My legislative work has been such an integral part of my practice and life. Surrogacy is the only way some people, gay or straight, coupled or single, can have children. For decades, New Jersey had a law that made surrogacy a risky endeavor. The Gestational Carrier Agreement Act of 2018 was a collaborative effort with some of my most trusted colleagues and that process not only created a great and necessary law, but helped me build a lot of very close professional and personal relationships. I have seen the same true in my work on fertility treatment access and fertility preservation laws and, most recently, my collaboration with my dear friends William S. Singer and former NJSBA President Tom Prol, on the marriage equality law. I have also had the honor of working with the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, lobbying in Washington, D.C., for federal legislation needed to help people form and protect their families. My legislative work has allowed me to fix things in the law that have been impediments or harmful to my clients. It has been terrifically satisfying.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
This is easy. I tell my law students this piece of advice all the time. Superior Court Judge Marguerite T. Simon (ret.) told me this when I was a very young lawyer arguing a motion I was destined to win, whether I spoke or not. After I started to talk, Judge Simon said, “Ms. Guston, I have one piece of advice for you...learn when to shut up.” I don’t know that I have really heeded that advice, but it is always in the back of mind.
What guidance can you offer family law attorneys, or attorneys in general, who are just starting their careers?
Find your passion. I truly believe I could not have become a good lawyer, no matter how well trained or smart, without being passionate about the work I am doing.
The 2022 Tischler Award will be presented on June 29 at the Liberty House in Jersey City. A dinner honoring Guston will run from 6 to 9 p.m. Visit njsba.com to register.