Category Archives: Family Law

ADR professionals are, by definition, skilled negotiators. What attitudes, skills, and strategies do we already have to help coach our clients to achieve the best possible outcomes? 10 Coaching Tips for Clients   1. Our clients all come to us from a place of fear. They fear loss: of what they want or need, of a relationship, of control, or of …
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Jared, Regina, Caroline and I are sitting in the dining room of the Fort Young Hotel in the capital of Dominica, Roseau. The dining room is actually an old fort which was built by the British in 1771 after they had seized the old fort from the French. We arrived on Saturday after an hour and a half drive through …
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With so many options, how does one choose the best dispute resolution process? This blog series will attempt to identify and define as many of the options as possible. This week’s focus will be on the Do-it-Yourself  option. The “SRL” (self-represented litigant) movement has grown in the past years, largely due to the growing sense that the legal system, and …
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As a mediator, mediation and negotiation trainer, and provider of court-connected dispute resolution services, issues of professionalism and professional ethics arise often in my work. Although professionalism cross all legal and dispute resolution cultures and contexts, they may arise more often in the family law context, where the drivers of conflict are often personal and historical. Lawyers, dispute resolution professionals …
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The steps that family/collaborative lawyers, mediators and arbitrators can take, based on informed screening to enhance client safety are explained in part 3 of this blog series. MORE

The following excerpt from “Safety Planning in Family Law Cases: An Emerging Duty of Care for Lawyers?” is part 1 of a 3 part series which offers some helpful suggestions for safety planning and screening in high-risk cases.   Take all clients through extensive screening interviews before choosing a dispute resolution process and a professional to provide that process. Ensure …
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FDRIO’s recent Unconference on May 4th introduced legal professionals to the perspective of LGBTQ+ parents in family law. Guest speakers touched on struggles faced by LGBTQ+ families in family law, including; fertility and what that means for coordinating parent access, child custody and parent decision making. With transgender parents, one or both parents might not be biologically connected to the child. …
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On January 29, 2016, I went ‘live on-air’ on Voces Latinas, a Spanish radio talk show in Toronto to talk about Mediate393 and what it is like being a roster mediator. I began the show by providing information about Mediate393 and the services offered by our team of roster mediators. The mediators at Mediate393 are comprised of mental health professionals …
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