Brief Bio

EDUCATION
I am a California native, born and raised in Pasadena, a product of local schools and colleges (Occidental, 1973, and UCLA, M.A. 1977), and a graduate (cum laude) of Seattle University School of Law, 1983.

MEDIATION TRAINING

Confluence Northwest, 1990, 20 hours
Basic Divorce Training with Jim Melamed, February 1996, 40 hours
Community Mediation Training, Centinela Youth Services, 2002, 32 hours
Advanced Divorce Training with Ken Cloke, 2003, 16 hours
STAR Training, Strauss Institute, 2003, 18 hours
Advanced Family Mediation, Strauss Institute, 2006, 18 hours
Ongoing advanced training with Forrest "Woody" Mosten

LEGAL CAREER
My interest in divorce mediation began back in 1978, when I read an article about it in a newspaper. That article, along with other factors, prompted me to apply to law schools, but I got side-tracked into a more conventional legal career. I have been a Navy JAG officer, a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, a lawyer in private practice (approximately one-third of my cases were in family law), and Assistant County Counsel for Jackson County, Oregon. I attended my first mediation training in 1990, and it changed the way I practiced law to a more collaborative approach.

MEDIATION
During my tenure with Jackson County, I used mediation principles whenever possible to help disputing neighbors work out agreements in land use or zoning violation cases. In 1996, I opened a divorce mediation practice in Ashland, Oregon, but ended up moving back to California in 1997 for family reasons. Since then, I have sought further training in divorce and community mediation, co-mediated a number of cases involving juvenile defendants, trained and supervised sixty children who served as playground mediators in an elementary school, and opened my mediation practice.

My work concentrates on divorce and related family matters, (including parenting, support, and division of assets and debts), probate/contested inheritance cases, elder care concerns, family-owned business issues, and online mediation. Because I am not a member of the California bar, I am considered a "non-attorney" mediator. If you need an attorney for consultation or representation in your mediation, I am happy to provide referrals to California lawyers who support mediation as your preferred approach to problem-solving.

PERSONAL
I am the divorced mother of a young adult son. In my spare time I enjoy reading, working on a collection of short stories, dancing, and spiritual direction.