"Across three states, Jenny was hands-down the best divorce lawyer I worked with! Authentic, savvy, insightful, tough, empathetic and effective. Can ’t say enough good things about her."
Chief Executive Officer Mitzi Gardner
Mitzi Gardner is the Peyton Manning of paralegals. Or maybe the Joe Montana. She certainly has the organizational talents of Bill Belichick. Or maybe Dabo Swinney. Throughout her twenty-five-year career in Family Law, she has consistently shown the grit and moxie of LeBron James. Or maybe Michael Jordan. She has worked with diverse attorneys, always helping, correcting, shaping, listening, sympathizing, supporting, teaching, backing them up, and growing with them. Just like Roy Williams. Or maybe Mike Krzyzewski.
She also, if you haven’t guessed, harbors a deep, dark secret. One only her closest friends know. One that even they have real problems dealing with. Mitzi cheers for both North Carolina and Duke. She has Duke and UNC shirts. She’s been to the ACC and NCAA Tournaments in Brooklyn, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Charlotte, where she wore them both. Sometimes, she changes shirts several times a day. We think of this, ah, quirk, as just another example of how amazingly flexible Mitzi is. How she can adapt, sometimes instantly (as in, during a 20-minute half), to changing circumstances. Also, she can get along with just about anyone.
Mitzi graduated from UNC Wilmington with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. She received her Paralegal Certification, with a specialty in Civil Litigation, from Meredith College, an ABA-approved program. Mitzi is a Certified Paralegal through the National Association of Legal Assistants, Inc. (NALA) and a North Carolina State Bar Certified Paralegal.
That’s great and important, of course, but Mitzi swears that the best training she ever received was in college. She lived in a beach town and waited tables. She learned invaluable life skills. Things like how to put in long hours, multitask, and deal with demanding customers while remaining levelheaded, listening, and treating everyone with respect.
All skills that carried over into her career as a “kick-ass” paralegal. Like Peyton Manning, Mitzi could be nicknamed “The Sheriff” as she lays down the law at Triangle Smart Divorce in her position as Chief Executive Officer. While she has semi-retired from her daily paralegal duties, she, like Manning, continues to coach and train, travel, and study business, communication, and mindset.
Mitzi is divorced and has a son in his twenties who works for a local IT company. She has a great relationship with her ex-husband. She is remarried, has a blended family, and everyone works together. She strives to see that all our clients have the same kind of family law outcome she achieved.
She’s been through what our clients are about to go through. She brings her experiences to our clients and our Team every day. Despite all her (considerable) knowledge of North Carolina Family Law, litigation, and court procedures (among many others), perhaps the most important thing she brings to the firm is her ability to relate to our clients as someone who’s been through it all.
