Nonprofit Law, Family Law, Wills & Estate Planning

Admitted to practice before the Minnesota State Bar in 1994 Admitted to practice before the United States District Court, District of Minnesota in 1997

Core Trainings, The New Collaborative Experience, Why Collaborative Practice Works: Neuroscience Tools & Techniques, Annual Forum, Building Collaborative Relationships,

An important part of my role as a collaborative professional in dissolving a marriage/cohabitation is to 'hold the center,' to both support my client at a painful time and to help my own client to empathize with the other party, the children, and the extended family members during the transition from family living together to family living separately. The collaborative approach also improves the process of creating agreements like prenuptials, post-nuptials, and plans for unmarried couples so that planning for 'the worst' does not negatively impact the present relationship. After fifteen years of "traditional" family law litigation, having experimented with a number of methods of alternative dispute resolution, I joined the Collaborative Law Institute because the predominant manner in which we are trained to resolve legal disputes (competitively), is a destructive process in the family context. Collaborative Process not only changes the experience of decoupling for everyone involved, it empowers people to be creative and positive at one of the most damaging times in their lives.

Graduation Year : 1994

University Attended : University of Minnesota Law School and Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs (JD/MA), Bryn Mawr College (BA cum laude, Departmental Honors in Sociology)

Member Minnesota, Hennepin County, Ramsey County Bar Associations Volunteer Attorney for Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services (SMRLS) since 1994