Our Attorneys

Teresa M. Harkins La Vita is a partner and co-founder of the La Vita Law Center located at 1 Webb Street in Danvers, Massachusetts.    Attorney La Vita focuses her practice in the area of family law, assisting clients throughout Essex, Middlesex and Suffolk counties with a variety of family law matters including adoptions, Premarital Agreements, divorce, child support, alimony, child custody, parenting plans, paternity, contempt actions and modification actions.  Attorney La Vita serves her family law clients in litigation and is trained as both a collaborative practitioner and mediator. She is also certified to represent clients in Limited Assistance Representation agreements and is trained as a Category F Guardian ad Litem for family law matters.   

Prior to co-founding the La Vita Law Center in 2010, Attorney La Vita was an associate at a family law firm in Chelmsford, where she concentrated in divorce and other family law matters. Attorney La Vita’s legal experience also includes serving for two years as a Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Justices of the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court, where she worked closely with the Justices to thoroughly analyze legal issues and assist with family and probate cases.  Attorney La Vita is an honors graduate of New England Law | Boston, where she earned multiple scholastic achievement awards.  In 2016 Attorney La Vita was named the Lawyer of the Year by the North Shore Women Lawyers Association for her work on Partanen v. Gallagher, 457 Mass. 632 (2016) (the SJC concluded that a non-biological parent may be considered a "parent" under G.L.c. 209C, sec. 6(a)(4) , where the children were born into a relationship and the non-biological parent held the children out as her own).   

In addition to her practice, Attorney La Vita serves the Massachusetts Juvenile Court Department as a Care & Protection Court Investigator.  She taught Legal Research & Writing at New England Law | Boston from 2010 – 2016. Attorney La Vita has published numerous articles for the LexisNexis Emerging Issues Analysis division.    

Attorney La Vita is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts.  She is a past co-chair of the Women’s Bar Association – North of Boston Committee.  Attorney La Vita is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association, Essex County Bar Association, Salem Bar Association, Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation, and Massachusetts Association of Guardians ad Litem.  Attorney La Vita was selected as a Rising Star by Super Lawyers each year from 2013 - 2017. 

Attorney La Vita can be reached at 978-652-9287 or tlavita@lavitalaw.com.   

Maria A. La Vita is a partner and co-founder of the La Vita Law Center located at 1 Webb Street in Danvers, Massachusetts.  Attorney La Vita currently serves in a managerial position at the firm. Her diverse background includes over twenty years law enforcement experience, most of which have been spent as a detective investigating serious crimes including murders, sexual assaults, armed robberies and kidnappings. Her experience also includes the hiring and screening of police recruits in the state of Massachusetts as well as reviewing and implementing proper police policies and procedures.    

Prior to co-founding the La Vita Law Center in 2010, Attorney La Vita ran her own firm on the North Shore in Revere, Massachusetts. Attorney La Vita is an honors graduate of New England Law | Boston, where she was a Legal Research and Writing Assistant, received numerous scholastic awards and graduated Magna Cum Laude.  Attorney La Vita earned her Master’s degree from Western New England College and her Bachelor of Science degree from Fitchburg State University.    

In addition to her practice, Attorney La Vita has served as a member of the adjunct faculty of the North Shore Community College, where she taught Criminology. In 2007, Attorney La Vita published an extensive article titled When the Honeymoon is Over: How a Federal Court's Denial of the Spousal Privilege to a Legally Married Same-Sex Couple Can Result in the Incarceration of a Spouse who Refuses to Adversely Testify, which can be found at 33 New Eng. J. on Crim. & Civ. Confinement 243.

Attorney La Vita is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts. She is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Attorney La Vita can be reached at 978-652-9287 or mlavita@lavitalaw.com.