Jay Halleck

Family Law Attorney

Attorney Bio

Jay Halleck is a family law and appellate attorney at Castro Law Group. He represents clients across Southern Maryland in divorce, child custody, and division of marital assets matters, and he handles appeals in cases that have already been decided at the trial level.

An appeal is not a second trial. There is no new testimony and no new evidence. A reviewing court looks at the written record from the original case and decides whether the trial judge applied the law correctly. That distinction matters more than most people expect, because it means the outcome of an appeal is often determined by what was said, objected to, and preserved in the courtroom months or years earlier.

Mr. Halleck has concentrated on appellate work over the past five years, and it shapes how he handles trial-level cases as well. He builds a record with an eye toward what a reviewing court would need to see if the case does not end the way his client hoped. Clients who come to him after an unfavorable ruling get a candid read on whether there are grounds for appeal, rather than an expensive process with no realistic path.

He earned his undergraduate degree in English and History from Williams College, then his J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. He has practiced law in Maryland since 2012.

Most of his family law cases resolve without a trial, and he tells clients when settlement is the better outcome. When the other side will not move, or when the terms on the table would leave a client worse off long term, he tries the case. He works regularly in high-conflict custody matters, where the goal is usually a workable order that holds up over years rather than a decisive win on a single issue.

Mr. Halleck works from Castro Law Group’s Waldorf office and appears frequently in the Charles County Circuit Court in La Plata. He can be reached at jhalleck@castrolawgroup.com.