My practice specializes in mediation and non-adversarial family law. I believe it is especially important to avoid the ravages of litigation when children are involved.
The majority of my mediation clients are actively seeking to divorce. I also mediate all of the following: pre-marital agreements (formerly known as prenuptial agreements), marital agreements i.e., conflicts between spouses who have not decided to divorce (formerly known as postnuptial agreements), post-divorce disputes and cohabitation (and co-tenancy) agreements between unmarried partners.
As collaborative counsel I am committed to the least adversarial practice of law possible. I believe collaborative legal representation offers the best hope for a non-adversarial resolution when mediation is not an option.
I am a practicing attorney with a master’s degree in psychology. As a psychotherapist I worked with individuals, couples, families and groups for 20 years before becoming a lawyer. My professional background includes: Association for Conflict Resolution, Founding Member: 2001, Advanced Practitioner (Family Section): 2001 – 2009; Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council, Founding Member: 2000, Board of Directors: 2000 – 2004, Treasurer: 2000 – 2002, Co-founder & Co-editor of the Collaborative Law Journal: 2003 – 2006, Member: 2000 – 2010; Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation, Member: 1993 – present, Board of Directors: 1993 – present, President: 2001 – 2002, Founder & Editor, Family Mediation Quarterly: 2002 – present, Certified Divorce Mediator: 1996 – present, and Massachusetts Justice of The Peace: 2008 – present.
Since opening my mediation practice in 1992, I have mediated hundreds of divorces and related interpersonal conflicts with both traditional and non-traditional families.
Mediating family disputes is at the heart of my practice. Believing that clients are the best experts on the life of their family, I focus on helping them craft fair and lasting settlements. Despite my client-centered approach, I will become actively engaged in the process when the parties approach an impasse. As a lawyer-mediator, I often draft all the court forms needed for a Massachusetts divorce. I encourage clients to do as much work as possible on their own to help minimize their mediation costs.
BA 1967: New York University, Spanish Literature;
MA 1970: New York University, Psychology; and
JD 1990: New England Law/Boston.
I offer all couples considering a Massachusetts divorce a free, one-hour consultation if no family court actions are pending, or have been filed in the past two years. My hourly fee for divorce mediation is $350, and clients sign a fee agreement and pay $3,000 as a retainer at the beginning of the process. While all divorces are unique, if a couple owns one house, has two children and are committed to resolving their differences, they can expect their mediated divorce to cost in the neighborhood of $3,500. Most couples share the cost of their mediation.
