While the decision to end a marriage or relationship is never easy, resolving custody, parenting time, support, and property division need not be difficult or unreasonably expensive. As a Massachusetts divorce and family law mediator, I meet with both parties and help facilitate a satisfactory settlement. A mediated divorce spares clients the expense and stress of protracted lawyer negotiations or a litigated process in which the Judge makes decisions about you and your family’s future. Following decades of experience as a mediator and as an attorney in traditional and alternative dispute resolution, and with extensive negotiation and courtroom experience, I now focus my practice exclusively as a mediator and as a collaborative attorney. I mediate separation, divorce, and post-judgment support and co-parenting matters throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I also provide mediation services for prenuptial and postnuptial agreements (referring those clients to collaborative counsel for advice per Massachusetts law).
I was first trained as a divorce and family law mediator in 1988 and continue to maintain the credentials for my mediation services to be confidential under Massachusetts law. This means that my mediation clients cannot end the mediation process and then demand that I inform his/her/their new counsel about what happened in mediation or call me as a witness in Court.
I have conducted many mediations over the years as well advised many clients in my role as an attorney (when a clients was in mediation with another mediator). I bring 35 years of mediation, collaborative negotiation, traditional negotiation, and courtroom experience to the mediation process. I have worked with many attorneys to help settle cases and have a highly successful record of trial outcomes in Court. All of this experience helps me develop unique solutions for families who are separating, divorcing, or having post-divorce issues.
I approach each mediation with curiosity, compassion, and detailed attention. I work closely with the participants to ensure full financial disclosure and refer clients to collaborative counsel for advice when requested and when necessary. I enjoy addressing the financial issues of separation and divorce as much as working with parents to develop parenting plans for their children. My personal and professional life experience provides me with a deep understanding and appreciation of the complexity of extended family dynamics and the importance of shielding children from parental conflict during separation and beyond.
B.A. Oberlin College 1981
J.D. Northeastern University School of Law 1986
