Blog
The Top Ten Ways Practitioners Screw Up Collaborative Divorce Cases
I have a lot of respect for collaborative professionals. Most people who choose this model are trying to do right by their clients. I still see the same problems show up again and again. There are others, but these are the ones I see most often. These are the top ten...
The Case for Teamwork in Family Law Practice
Why Family Law Burnout Happens Burnout in family law generally shows up as overload, with too many roles, too many expectations, and not enough structure around who is responsible for what. Reducing burnout in family law starts with how the work is structured, not...
Why Collaborative Divorce Matters Right Now and Why Family Law Professionals Are Taking a Closer Look
What People Bring Into a Collaborative Divorce Process Most people entering the family law system are struggling. They are dealing with loss, uncertainty, and fear. That is the reality they bring into the process. Once inside, conflict can escalate rapidly. Positions...
Mediation Training Methods: Giving You the Pencil
Tomorrow would have been my father’s ninety-seventh birthday. He was born on February 25, 1929. My mother was born on March 1, 1935, and she would have turned ninety-one this Sunday. Their birthdays always came close together. My parents met as students at the...
Styles of Mediation Explained: Transformative, Facilitative, Informative, and Evaluative
People talk about mediation as if it is one uniform process. It is not. In practice, there are different styles of mediation, each with a different level of structure and mediator involvement. If you are stepping into mediation work, or trying to decide what kind of...
Power Imbalance in Divorce Mediation: How Mediators Level the Playing Field
I have lost count of how many times someone has said this in an intake call: “My spouse is going to run me over in mediation.” Sometimes it is about money. One person has always handled it, and the other feels exposed. In other situations, it is communication. One...