Understanding, capable, effective.

I am a problem solver. My goal is to help people resolve as effectively and efficiently as possible the issues that they confront during their divorces. That's why I starting in 1999, studied and became a leader in the development Family Law sub-specialty of Collaborative Practice in Ventura County; the same interests and concerns also motivated me to become trained in Mediation. Each of these approaches is settlement oriented, cost effective and emotionally safe. The spouses themselves, the people who know the most about their own needs and those of their children, retain control of the divorce. Such approaches produce the best and most efficient results. I encourage people to take advantage of these techniques whenever possible.

Perhaps the highest calling for lawyers is that of advisor, counselor and problem solver. When individuals and small business are forced to turn their problems over to the court system and to lawyers who then act as adversaries, that often represents a huge failing of the most important responsibilities of my profession.

As late as the middle of the 20th century it was common in many areas of this country for people to address respected lawyers as, "Judge." Because that, in everyday practice, was their most important function - to help people resolve their disputes and to get on with the productive parts of their personal and business lives without the burden of discord and litigation. I have known and represented clients whose roots are deeply imbedded in the history of Ventura County and who have told me about how they benefited from that approach. Early in my career I was privileged to have been able to observe how well this approach served people even though at the time it seemed antithetical to everything that I had been taught about contemporary views of the adversarial system which were to govern my practice and those of my colleagues.

Over the first three decades of my career I was a zealous advocate, negotiator and litigator for my family law clients. In 1980 I was one of the first divorce lawyers to be certified as a specialist by the State Bar. As my career progressed it became clear that the 'contemporary' adversarial approach, courts and litigation techniques were tremendously inappropriate for families in divorce. It is upsetting and often terrifying to be subjected to that process - to be in court, to be required to place your future and the futures of your children in the hands of strangers who fight and argue supposedly on your behalf in order to resolve the most crucial and personal of your issues.

	Collaborative Family Law Professionals

In 2000 I founded Collaborative Family Law Professionals because a number of my highly regarded colleagues in family law and I recognized that Mediation and Collaborative Practice provide much better ways for us to serve our clients, to enable them to achieve most effective outcomes in secure private settings and to protect them and their children from the destructive dehumanizing trauma of the courts and of the adversarial system.

Consequently, I offer consultation only to clients (individuals and couples) who are interested in learning more about one or both of these constructive approaches. In most cases people recognize the huge value that is offered and they select one approach or the other with results that are often startlingly effective. In those relatively few situations where one or both people decide that litigation is necessary I refer them to well experienced and highly regarded divorce litigators who are among the most capable adversaries and litigators in the community.