About Susan
Let me be Your Guide Through What Comes Next.
Susan brings 30+ years inside the legal system to Heroic Divorce™ coaching and Speaking, so you make smart decisions when it matters most.
Book Your Strategy CallFORMER PROSECUTOR, TRIAL LAWYER, MSNBC SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST | CERTIFIED DIVORCE COACH | CERTIFIED DIVORCE MEDIATOR
Her Story
A Career Built in the Hardest Rooms
I help people get through hell.
Not the abstract kind. The kind where you lie awake at three in the morning wondering if you made a terrible mistake, whether your children will be okay, whether you will ever feel like yourself again.
The kind where every decision feels like it could cost you everything.
Most people enter divorce feeling like a victim. And why wouldn't they? Everything is happening to them. The fear, the loss, the overwhelm, it is relentless.
But here is what I know after thirty years inside the legal system and from having lived it myself: divorce does not have to be something that happens to you. It can be the moment you become the hero of your own story.
That is the whole idea behind Heroic Divorce™.
Every great story has a hero who faces a crisis, finds a guide, and comes through trans formed.
You are the hero. I am the guide. And the mission is not just to survive your divorce.
It is to build a life on the other side that is better than the one you were living before, a life of joy, purpose, and genuine fulfillment.
I have been in the hardest rooms, as a prosecutor trying murder cases and felonies, as a trial lawyer in state and federal courts, as a Special Master for the Regional Family Trial Docket, as an MSNBC Senior Legal Analyst covering the cases that made headlines, and as someone who has been through a high-conflict divorce myself, I know what it feels like when your entire life is on the line and you cannot think straight.
Before I was a lawyer, I was an anthropologist. I later pursued an LL.M. at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, where I also taught as a Professor of Practice.
Every discipline I learned comes to bear in this work.
Then came the accident. Five surgeries. A profound reckoning. And the decision to walk away from titles that looked good on paper, to do the work I love.
Coaching. Speaking. Writing.
Those experiences are why I do this work. Not the degrees. Not the years on national television. Not the thirty years in courtrooms.
Those things mean I know how the legal system works, how opposing counsel thinks, and what judges actually care about.
But what makes me useful to you is something else entirely.
I know the way through.
I have walked people through the darkest chapters of their lives and watched them come through it into lives of joy, purpose, and genuine fulfillment.
That is not a tagline. That is what happens when someone stops reacting out of fear and starts making decisions from a place of clarity and strategy.
That is What I do
Approach
This Is Not Generic Coaching
Thousands of clients helped over three decades of practice in criminal defense, matrimonial law, mediation, and coaching.
Susan doesn't work from scripts. She works from experience, her own, and 30+ years of her clients'.
An anthropologist before she was a lawyer, Susan's mediation and coaching draw from a deep study of the science of human understanding.
She has sat across the table from prosecutors, judges, opposing counsel, and network anchors.
She knows how power works. She knows how fear works. And she knows how to help you move through both.
Whether you are facing divorce, a career crossroads, or a life that looks successful from the outside but feels hollow on the inside, Susan offers something rare: legal precision, emotional intelligence, and a framework for genuine transformation.
"Susan combines her prosecutorial background with her real-life experience. She is straightforward and compassionate — she speaks directly to the pros and cons."
— Dan Abrams, Chief Legal Analyst NBC News · CEO, Abrams Research
Credentials
Credentials That Speak for Themselves
Academic
Certifications
Bar admissions
Who she works with
You Don't Need to Hit Rock Bottom to Work With Susan
Her clients are at a crossroads.
Susan's private coaching practice is based in Westport, CT. Available in person and remotely.
Susan F. Filan, Heroic Divorce Coach
Former Prosecutor | Trial Lawyer
M.A., J.D., LL.M.
Triple-credentialed
30+
Years Inside the Legal System as a prosecutor, Trial Lawyer, & MSNBC Analyst
Certified Divorce Coach
Certified Divorce Mediator
Three Steps to Clarity
Book a discovery call
A confidential, no-pressure conversation to understand where you are and where you want to go.
Define your roadmap
Together, you'll identify the real challenges, not just the symptoms, and build a realistic, actionable plan.
Move forward with confidence
With Susan as your guide, you'll make decisions from a place of clarity, not fear.
External references & press
Referenced Across the Web
Podcasts
Steve Fretzen
Ana Melikian
Kate Augustyn
Matt Markel
Media
Press
Ready to Think Clearly When Everything Is on the Line?
You have survived hard things. Now it is time to build what comes next with someone who has been in the arena, knows what the stakes feel like, and has made it through to the other side.
Private conversation · That changes everything
Book your Discovery Call
FAQ
What is Susan Filan's professional background?
Susan is a former Connecticut state prosecutor, trial lawyer of 30+ years, and MSNBC Senior Legal Analyst. She holds an M.A. in Anthropology, a J.D. from Quinnipiac University School of Law, and an LL.M. in Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy from the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law, where she also taught as a Professor of Practice. She is a Certified Divorce Coach, Certified Divorce Mediator, and Recovery Coach Professional.
Has Susan been through a divorce herself?
Yes. Susan went through a high-conflict divorce. She knows what it feels like to lie awake at 3am wondering if she made a terrible mistake. She knows the pull toward decisions that feel right in the moment but cost you later. That experience is not incidental to her work. It is central to it and why clients trust her. Today she is happily remarried — and she knows that the decisions you make in your divorce determine the life you build on the other side.
Is Susan Filan still a practicing attorney?
Susan is admitted to practice in Connecticut and New York. Her current work is focused on divorce coaching, keynote speaking, and writing, not courtroom representation.
What is Susan's approach to coaching, is it therapy?
No. Susan's work is strategic, not therapeutic. It is built on legal precision, deep understanding of human behavior, and 30+ years of watching how people make decisions under pressure. Therapy looks backward to understand why. Susan's coaching looks forward to decide what's next.
Who are some of Susan's past clients and what do they say?
Susan's past clients include executives, attorneys, physicians, and creatives navigating complex, high-conflict divorces, custody battles, and major life transitions that required clear thinking when clarity was hardest to find. They understood that the right guidance at the right moment is worth the investment. Dan Abrams, Chief Legal Analyst at NBC News, has described her as straightforward and compassionate — someone who uniquely combines prosecutorial experience with real-life empathy.
How does Susan's background in anthropology shape her coaching?
Anthropology is the science of human understanding — how people think, decide, and behave. Before Susan was a lawyer, she studied human behavior. That lens shapes how she reads clients, opposing parties, and legal situations. It is what makes her analysis different from a standard legal mind.