March 01, 2014
Just Another Day in Family Court
I exclusively practice mediation and Collaborative Practice and so I am rarely in court. Never being in court makes it easy for me to recollect...
December 10, 2013
Happy New Year: Focusing on the Virtues
During this time of year we are all invited, one way or another, to think about who we are and how we relate to others. ...
October 13, 2013
The Power of Grief: What Can’t Be Denied
Grieving is a deeply personal experience, but one can still recognize some commonalities running through most people’s grieving process. One way of looking at it...
September 12, 2013
Choosing a Professional: Should They Have All the Answers, Or All the Right Questions?
Mediation has lots of positives: you and the other person together control the outcome, your values can be discussed as part of the picture, and...
July 18, 2013
A Mediator Educates, Not Represents
It’s not uncommon for people to contact my office requesting that I “represent them and their spouse” in mediation. Inevitably, a vision of having to...
May 09, 2013
How the New Changes in the Family Law Courts Impacts Mediation Clients
As of January 1, 2013, all family courts in California are required to practice case management and oversight, echoing the system used for years in...
March 19, 2013
Considering Options: Evaluating Recent Changes in California’s Family Law Courts and Services
A few years ago, the California Supreme Court wrote a scathing analysis of the state of the family court system. It noted that the large...
December 19, 2012
What is Fair? Who is Right? It Does Not Matter: How to Approach Interest-Based Bargaining
Speak Respectfully Listen Carefully Just Say It Remember Your Values In the interest-based model of mediation the concepts of who is right and what is...
September 17, 2012
Conflict: Part of the Human Experience
We often think of mediation as an environment in which the mediator is a preternaturally peaceful person and the clients are kind to each other...
June 18, 2012
Strategic Negotiating: Is There Room For ‘I’m Sorry?’
It’s commonplace for one of my clients to say to another, “You should be sorry, you should tell me you’re sorry for what’s happening.” And...