Attorney Profile

Ms. Iwanyshyn has been practicing family law for more than twenty years, but did not begin her career in the law profession. After graduating cum laude from Penn State University in 1975 with her Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting, she worked as an auditor for Coopers and Lybrand in Pittsburgh. She then advanced to the position of Audit Supervisor for Main Hurdman in Erie, where she obtained her CPA license.

She returned to Pittsburgh to become the Chief Accountant for the Allegheny County Controllers Office, where she managed a department consisting of more than 30 accountants. While working for the county in 1981, she began attending Duquesne Law School at night. She married while in law school, graduated in 1985, and began a family. She is divorced herself and has been living as a single mother since 1998. She has two children, Katheryn, 22, and Roman John, who is 18 and has had juvenile diabetes since the third grade.

After graduation from Duquesne Law School, Ms. Iwanyshyn became a member of the American Society of Appraisers. She completed extensive study and testing, as well as met experience requirements, to become an Accredited Senior Appraiser specializing in Business Valuation. Before practicing law, she acted as a valuation and forensic accounting expert, and she has testified as such during trials. She developed a relationship with Shannon P. Pratt, ASA, DBA, CFA, FASA,CBA, who is one of the foremost authorities in the field of business valuation. His books are quoted as authoritative treatises by all business appraisers published in 1998. Both she and her ex-spouse contributed to his book, Valuing Small Businesses & Professional Practices.

She received training through the Allegheny County Custody Mediation Program and became a court appointed custody mediator in the late 1990s. She then sponsored and orchestrated advanced mediation training utilizing the talent of nationally recognized mediator, Robert Benjamin. This allowed Ms. Iwanyshyn to receive approximately 100 hours in additional mediation and negotiation training. In 2000, she was selected for training in mediation by the United States Bankruptcy Court. She has mediated for the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the United States Postal Service, in addition to cases within her private practice.

Ms. Iwanyshyn is a former member of the Western Pennsylvania Mediation Counsel, and a former officer and member of the Board of Directors of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Society of Appraisers. She has also served as a member of the Academy of Family Mediators and The Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Animal Friends and The Family Mediation Council.

She divorced after 17 years and has experienced firsthand the complex emotional and financial issues surrounding child support and custody. Ms. Iwanyshyn worked with counselors to enable herself and her children to survive the devastation that comes from divorce, and she is willing to help clients by referring them for counseling and medication needs, should they appear they might be beneficial.

All of Ms. Iwanyshyn's experiences give her incredible insight and understanding, from which her clients may benefit.