Jul 1, 2016 By Suzanne Elliott 2 min read

Upper St. Clair resident Melaine Shannon Rothey, a family law attorney who is the new president of the 6,000-member Allegheny County Bar Association, said her goal during her yearlong term is to bring generations of attorneys together,

“This is such an interesting time in the legal profession, as we have attorneys from four different generations currently practicing,” Rothey said. “One of my primary goals as president is increasing the interaction of attorneys from within each of these generations so we can all learn from one another.”

Rothey, 58, is a senior attorney at the downtown Pittsburgh law firm Jones, Gregg, Creehan & Gerace LLP, and heads its domestic relations department. She was elected president-elect of the ACBA in 2015.

“I am honored to begin my term as president of the Allegheny County Bar Association,” said Rothey, who succeeds Mark A. Martini after he completed his term June 30.

Rothey, who becomes the first openly gay president of the ACBA, said she also wants to promote diversity within the legal community and will work to ensure equal treatment for her colleagues in the legal community. Plus she hopes to encourage attorneys to serve the community through pro bono legal work and other charitable pursuits.

Rothey has an undergraduate degree from Marquette University and a law degree from Duquesne University. She began her legal career in 1984 with the Allegheny County Public Defender’s office and later worked as a shareholder at a Pittsburgh-area boutique law firm that specializes in family law. She joined Jones, Gregg, Creehan & Gerace in 2007.

Rothey has three children: Andrew, a downtown Pittsburgh attorney; Aaron, who will enter law school at Ohio State in the fall, and Amanda Bundy, a high school history teacher in Columbus, Ohio. Rothey’s wife, Gretchen Schumacher, is retired.