Tim Schlesinger
Tim has earned an international reputation as a preeminent surrogacy and assisted reproductive technologies (ART) attorney. He is in great demand for his work in fertility and family-building law, involving surrogacy, egg donation, embryo donation, sperm donation, parentage actions and embryo disputes.
Tim is proud to dedicate his career to securing parental rights and helping to shape the legal landscape for parents having children through ART. In addition, he uses his extensive litigation background in the rare instances in which litigation arises from disputes relating to ART arrangements, as he did when he successfully litigated the groundbreaking Missouri case regarding frozen embryos (McQueen v. Gadberry).
Tim was a partner for 20 years in the family law department of the highly-respected firm Paule, Camazine & Blumenthal, P.C., and he is able to use the skills honed during that time to prevent problems in ART arrangements before they arise.
Tim is a Fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys, and is a member of the Executive Council of the American Bar Association (Family Law Section) Assisted Reproductive Technologies Committee. In addition, he is a frequent speaker and lecturer on a wide range of ART and Family Law topics for organizations and sponsors of continuing legal education such as the American Bar Association Family Law Section, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproductive Technology Attorneys, the Missouri Bar Association, Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, St. Louis University Law School, the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy, and the National Business Institute. He has written many articles for legal journals and chapters in legal books, and he created the chapter on assisted reproductive technologies for the Missouri Bar Family Law Continuing Legal Education Desk Book.
- University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, Columbia, Missouri
- J.D. – 1983
- University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri
- Bachelor of Journalism – 1979
- Missouri, 1983
- Illinois, 1985
- Tennessee, 2015
- Oklahoma, 2019
- U.S. District Court Eastern District of Missouri, 1984
- U.S. Court of Appeals 8th Circuit, 1984
- U.S. Supreme Court, 1990
- Articles:
- Disputes Over Frozen Embryos in Family Law Cases—A Defense of Counsel or Contemporaneous Mutual Consent, 59 Fam. Ct. Rev. 83 (2021).
- Divorce 2021: Assets, Earnings . . . But who Gets the Embryos?, 43 Fam. Advoc. 52 (2021).
- Disposition of Frozen Embryos in Family Law Cases, 32 Am. J. of Fam. L. 3 (2018).
- Embryo Disposition Upon Separation or Divorce, 12 Scitech Lawyer 22 (2016).
- Surrogacy and Egg Donation Agreements—The Search for Certainty in an Uncertain Field, St. Louis Bar J. (2013).
- Surrogacy and Donation: The Evolving Law of Assisted Reproductive Technologies, The Briefcase (2011).
- Forensic Accountants as Experts in Missouri Divorce Proceedings, St. Louis Bar J. (2009).
- Assisted Human Reproduction: Unresolved Issues in Parentage, Custody and Support, Missouri Bar J. (2005).
- Sexual Abuse Allegations in Child Custody Cases—Defending a Parent’s Worst Nightmare, St. Louis Bar J. (1995).
- Books:
- Scott Sills, et al., Handbook of Gestational Surrogacy International Clinical Practice and Policy Issues 314 (E. Scott Sills, eds., 2016).
- Katherine A. Harmon, Karen K. Greenberg, Brian W. King & Tim Schlesinger, Navigating Adoption and Surrogacy Laws: Leading Lawyers on Recent Trends and Best Practices for Nontraditional Family-Building Cases (Inside the Minds) 69 (Aspatore, Inc.) (2014).
- Missouri Bar Family Law Deskbook: Alternative Means of Reproduction (7th ed. 2012).
- Missouri Bar Family Law Deskbook: Alternative Parenting Arrangements (6th ed. 2005).
