Gretchen Graef

Verrill Dana Boston HeadshotsGretchen Graef, of Counsel to Verrill Dana, retired in the summer of 2015 after practicing family law for 15 years.  Given her background as a psychiatric social worker, she frequently worked on high conflict cases involving mental health and child related issues.  Trained as a mediator and a conciliator, she consistently tried to settle her cases but sought court intervention when necessary.  She was active in Senior Associates for Justice, the Family Section of the Boston Bar Association, and in instituting the SERV (Settlement and Early Resolution Volunteers) Project in Suffolk County.

After graduating from Boston College Law School in 1992, Gretchen served as a Specialized Prosecutor of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault cases, in Norfolk and Suffolk counties. In Suffolk County, she was responsible for all the juvenile sexual assault cases and for a community based program which provided services to middle and high school students who were at risk of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system.  Gretchen also chaired an initiative with the Boston Public Schools, the Boston Police Department, and the Boston Public Health Commission aimed at reducing absenteeism in the elementary schools.

Prior to law school, Gretchen obtained a MSW from Columbia School of Social Work. For twenty years, she was a psychiatric social worker at Children’s Hospital, Boston, where she worked with families and children whose lives had been disrupted by illness, divorce, or desertion.  She was a founding member of the interdisciplinary team which offered mental health services to children who had been sexually abused and their families.  This team provided extensive training to medical and mental health agencies who were interested in developing similar services.

As an Access to Justice Fellow, Gretchen will volunteer at Justice Bridge (in the New Bedford office) as a mentoring attorney to recent graduates of the University of Massachusetts School of Law who are representing clients of very modest means in family law cases.  Gretchen will also explore the network of local agencies which can also support these clients as well as possibilities for resolving family law cases with minimal court involvement.