Our Mission
At Mathey & Stern, we help our clients take care of their families, their homes, and their businesses with compassion and attentiveness. Our mission is to help you live life to its fullest by letting you stay focused on what’s most important to you, while we guard against any hazards you face along the way.
As principal attorneys, we bring a wealth of experience, both inside and out of the legal world. Between us, we have professional experience in financial & insurance planning, business ownership, and education. This, combined with nearly 20 years in the practice of law, allows us to approach our clients’ problems from a variety of angles, yielding a comprehensive analysis to better serve you.
We know that being a lawyer isn't about wearing a suit and tie, sitting in a cubicle, and doing paperwork. Being a lawyer is about developing relationships, helping people with their lives, and guiding them through obstacles that inevitably arise in the process.
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David Stern
partner
licensed in New York, New Jersey, & Ohio
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I was born and raised in the East suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, and I've been arguing to protect people's rights since daycare.
I received my B.A. from Vassar College in 2002, and I quickly moved to New York City, where I enjoyed playing music and living life before attending New York Law School and graduating with a J.D. in 2007.
After law school, I worked in operational real estate law at Forest City Ratner Companies and helped develop Bloomberg Law's legal search platform before pivoting to finance in the wake of the Great Recession.
For the next six years, I worked with First Investors and Strategies For Wealth, helping clients take control of their personal finances in the face of consumerism, taxes, familial conflict, and the estate planning process. During this same time, I formed a small legal partnership drafting wills and trusts for financial clients.
Ultimately, this experience reignited my love and respect for the law, where I felt I had a far greater ability to positively impact people's lives. But I knew I had to do it my way - ditching the tie and inflated overhead in exchange for personal service and meaningful relationships. So in 2016, I opened The Law Office of David Stern, where I continued to be committed to the well-being of every single one of my clients. In 2018, I met Sean Mathey, and after a year of friendship and collaborating on a number of cases, we merged our private practices to form Mathey & Stern in 2019.
In addition to my work with Mathey & Stern, I love spending time with my wife Virginia and our cat Cedi, reading, and watching the Browns and the Cavs.
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Sean Mathey
PARTNER
licensed in New York
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I was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and after high school, I struck out to find excitement and opportunity on the East Coast. After graduating from Boston University in 2001, I moved to New York, where I worked at a public relations start up for the next five years. It was this experience as a partner in a small business that sparked my interest in the law and the prospect of helping other business owners navigate the challenges and opportunities that an entrepreneur faces every day.
After receiving an M.A. in United States History at Hunter College, I attended Fordham University School of Law. At Fordham, I was active as an editor of the Urban Law Journal and a participant in Moot Court. Most formative, however, was the time I spent on estate planning and probate course work and as an intern for the Surrogate Judge of Bronx County. After graduating from law school, I served as a fellow in the law department of the Appellate Division, Second Department, until being admitted to practice.
Being an entrepreneur at heart, I always intended on hanging my own shingle after law school. Since then, I’ve committed my practice to helping people with the most important aspects of their lives - their families, their homes, and their businesses. Joining forces with David in 2019 and forming Mathey & Stern was a clear choice because I knew that he, like me, was committed to truly helping people in these vital areas of life.
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Juliet Mazer-Schmidt Jr.
ASSOCIATE
licensed in D.C.
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Born in Detroit and raised across its Grosse Pointe suburbs, I graduated Summa Cum Laude from Villanova University and Magna Cum Laude from The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law.
My compassion-driven legal career began clerking in the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, leading to appellate work for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation and clerkships with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Upon receiving my law license, I completed a pro bono fellowship with the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Eastern District of Virginia before joining Hogan Lovells US LLP’s D.C. headquarters as a Litigation Associate.
After more than seven years in Washington, I relocated to Chicago to study musical improvisation and movement therapy, pivoting my career to land with TimeLine Theatre Company’s Development Staff. Life led subsequently to New York City, where I welcomed a wide variety of arts administrative roles, contractor attorney assignments, and creative projects. In connecting with Sean and David in 2023, I am thrilled to work alongside knowledgeable, curious, service-oriented attorneys who listen well, care for their clients, and face challenges thoughtfully.