Thank you for visiting my website to learn more about me and my practice. I am a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family and Civil Mediator. I have been practicing Family Law in Florida for over twenty years. For many years I had a standard practice, representing clients in mediation and litigation. I even obtained Board Certification in Marital and Family Law to demonstrate my excellence in representing my clients. However, in the many years that I represented clients in contested divorces, paternity actions and other disputes involving the family, I came to realize that our court system is often ill-equipped to meet the needs of families in transition. I therefore decided not to further pursue my Board Certification which required ongoing litigation and re-organized my firm to assist clients in settling their case without litigation.
I know first-hand how destructive a litigated divorce can be on the entire family structure, particularly the children. Many studies have shown that children suffer severe psychological damage from highly contested divorces. It is almost impossible to shield a child from the strains that are affecting the parents in these situations. Even when there are no young children involved in a divorce, litigation results in anxiety, financial hardship and depression in many who find themselves in this situation. After many years of zealously representing clients in the turmoil of divorce court I decided to close my litigation practice and focus on finding better solutions for my clients.
In 2006 I became a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator and in 2011 I became a Supteme Court Certified Civil Mediator and participated in special training to represent clients in the Collaborative Divorce Process. I also became qualified in Florida as a Parenting Coordinator, working with families to develop healthy co-parenting relationships. The common thread of all of my professional responsibilities is to help clients resolve conflict without litigation.
I encourage you to visit other areas of this site to learn more about Family Mediation, Collaborative Divorce Practice and Simplified Dissolution. My passion is to help individuals and families find resolution to conflict and develop new ways of working together to raise strong, healthy children, and move on to new visions of their lives. I work with couples to obtain an amicable divorce. I work with families that find their family business facing dissolution or transition and I work with parents struggling to develop a new way to co-parent after divorce or separation.
If you are interested in a little more about my background, I was raised in beautiful Ellicott City, Maryland. I went to the University of Maryland for my undergraduate education and then attended George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. After completing law school and being admitted to the Maryland Bar, I worked on several projects with refugees and day laborers.
In 1992 I joined the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a Protection Officer. In this capacity I worked in South East Asia, the former Yugoslavia and Africa. I worked with government officials and aid organizations to ensure the rights of the refugees were protected as they awaited a chance to return to their homes or were evaluated for resettlement.
I now live in beautiful Sarasota, Florida and work throughout Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and the greater Tampa Bay area. In addition to my individual work with families in transition I enjoy coaching individuals on the art of negotiation and conflict resolution. I also enjoy speaking to audiences large and small about developing negotiation skills and effective mediation.
Please click here for a copy of my full resume.
