Mediation
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Mediation
Feb 2008
Hello,
Does anyone have experience with the following attorneys,
focusing on 1. their sharp legal knowledge, as well as 2. their
willingness to mediate rather than go to court? Positive or
negative experiences solicited ~ thanks!
Robert A. Goodman,
Steven Peter Small,
Eva Herzer,
Emily Doskow,
Christina Bemko Littlefield,
Vivian L. Holley,
Stuart I. MacKenzie
Thanks
Need bright attorney; not necessarily for court appearance
Eva Herzer is a keenly intelligent and straightforward yet
sensitive mediating attorney. She does not do traditional
contentious litigation at all, but works solely in mediation. At
the same time, she is well school in the ins and outs of the law
and makes a great adviser, speaking from a position of strength.
She also has a lot of experience in the areas of divorce and
mediation. I would recommend her.
Linda
I've had experience with Vivian Holley. I imagine her legal
knowledge is good enough, though my attorney told me that she was
incorrect about three statements made. As to her willingness to
mediate rather than go to court, well, mediation is Ms. Holley's
niche. My input is to try someone else first though. I was extremel.y
unhappy with her manner, her methods and her results. She could
also cost you a bundle bc she talks *so* slowly, laboriously, and
repeats things - really! My attorney always couldn't wait to get
her off the phone. Also, possibly in her efforts to appear fair, she implicitly gave
some legitimacy, encouraged the continued behavior of my vexatious
plaintiff. She actually recommended a *ridiculous*, patently
expensive and unworkable solution that both I and the plaintiff
rejected. anonynous
March 2007
My brother (who I love dearly) and I are having some difficulties
coming up with an agreed upon price and timeline for me to buy
out his portion of my mom's house. I think our relationship would
benefit from having a mediation session to hammer out the details.
Any recommendations for a particular mediator or advice on the
mediation process would be most appreciated.
anon
Dear Anon,
Mediation is likely the perfect process to work out the sales details
between you and your brother. It is voluntary (since there is no
litigation in your situation) and can cost anywhere from $200 - $300 per
hour. Mediators sometimes give discounted rates. Basically, you and your
brother will sit down together and the mediator will facilitate a
conversation between the two of you, which will involve listening to each
of you carefully and helping you each hear each other better, so that an
agreement
can be worked out. If you want a legally enforceable agreement, it is wise
to use an attorney-mediator or hire separate legal counsel to review the
agreement once you've written it.
A friend of mine, Claudia Viera, is a great mediator (and an attorney) and
I highly recommend her. She does work with families in addition to
employers/employees. You can access her web site at: www.claudiaviera.com.
Good luck to you and you brother. Claudia W
January 2007
Hi - Does anyone have information about finding a family mediator / conflict resolution
counselor? There are a number of BPN postings for divorce, child custody, inheritance etc
mediators. But we're not facing a legal issue - we just cannot seem to resolve how to care for
our elderly mother since our father has died. She has dementia so cannot live alone, but the
six adult siblings are divided about how to care for her. She is living with one of us, and
another actually ''Mom-napped'' her last weekend! We have so many years of conflicts and are
having a hard time just communicating with each other. It seems as if there should be someone
out there trained in helping family members talk to each other. We don't want to get into long
drawn-out family counseling sessions, but we just want to make a plan together and stick with
it. Though I live in Berkeley, most of us live in the San Francisco / Peninsula area so if you
know of anyone on that side of the Bay we'd be grateful for the recommendations. Thanks!
''we put the fun in dysfunction''!
A great mediator based in Oakland is Marvin Schwartz, phone (510) 530-1283.
He is
also a trainer (I was certified through his class), and is active in the
mediation
community, so if it has to be someone on the peninsula, I'm sure he'd be able
to make
a recommendation. But he's very good, so worth considering on his own.
Claudia
C
We recently posted a recommendation for a mediator. Our issue was couple
related, but
Robert has extensive family and community mediation and I am certain he would
be able
to help you in ways you never expected.
We are a couple who have been together for over a decade and always
considered
ourselves completely open with each other and had very little disagreements
throughout the years. This actually made it harder to deal with big issues
that came
about, as our life was taking new directions. With Robert’s help, we managed
to
deepen our relationship in ways we didn’t think were still possible.
Applying techniques of active listening and non-violent communication, Robert
helped
us understand the core of our individual hurt and how it is manifested in
this
specific case. In the mediation process we learned to be better listeners of
ourselves and our own needs and then express our needs and feelings in a way
that
gives full legitimization to the other’s needs and feelings. Robert
emphasized the
need to apply the new insights to our daily practices as a couple and he
offered
concrete ways to do so, and by that preventing further misunderstandings.
After each mediation session we felt uplifted, relieved and happy and this is
why we
want to recommend Robert. We think his skill is beyond description – you need
to
experience it yourself to understand, and we hope you would. He is a
compassionate
person and a truly dedicated mediator, with a mission to use his talent to
heal and
deepen relationships. Among his credentials are a masters degree in peace and
conflict studies, a law degree, conflict resolution training and an extensive
community mediation experience.
Please contact him directly: rterris[at]gmail.com
Cali
Oct 2004
A friend and I are currently sharing a duplex and are looking
for someone who can help us create an agreement regarding
repairs, remodeling and possibly changing the division of
ownership. Who can work with us on this?
Anonymous
We used Frederick Hertz for our tenants-in-common legal agreement
(we also have a duplex) and I recommend him. We had already
discussed and written out a bunch of stuff on our own and came in
with many ideas and notes, but he asked us the right questions to
pull even more details out. He was very professional and clearly
experienced in this type of legal agreement. He's in downtown
Oakland and his office number is 510-451-4114.
We chose Frederick Hertz after speaking with 2 other people who
do these agreements. Michael St. John (845-8928) says he's the
founder of tenants-in-common agreements in Berkeley but is not a
lawyer, and John Gutierrez (644-1904) who is an attorney and will
actually come to your house to survey the property to make sure
you're getting everything into the agreemment.
I'm very happy we chose Hertz. Our agreement seems great (though
fortunately we've never had to use it in any legal situation) and
his fee was lower than it would have been Gutierrez, who talked
about a minimum of like 5 hours or something. I will use
Frederick Hertz for future legal matters as well.
June 2006
Does anyone have experience with the family mediator Mary
Duryee? Any positive or negative feedback would be most
helpful...thanks!
Anon, please!
we had mediation with mary duryee. We had a particularly difficult situation, and
the
process was painful, as I am sure it may be for any divorce. Part of what was
frustrating was the communication, as she was not quick about getting back to us
about questions, and the custody schedule took her almost a month longer than she
had said it would. After much deliberation, and finally receiving the schedule, I
found out that our schedule is almost exactly the same as another set of parents
who used her, which has me questioning how personalized our schedule actually is.
anon
Re: Mediation for mom and 14-y-o in turmoil? (May 2004)
Dear Mother of the 14 Year Old Girl,
Mediation Services, 22227 Redwood Rd. Castro Valley,
offers FREE Parent-Teen Mediation. Mediation is a safe
space for both parents and youth to express thier point of
view and work towards a mutually satifying solution. We
will team up a youth and adult mediator for Parent-Teen
Mediations. Issues such as respect, trust, expectations,
and independence are issues that we see arise in Parent-
Teen Mediations. Please call Shana Subelsky,Youth Services
Director, at 510-733-4940 x 224. Thanks and Good Luck!
Mediation Services www.mediationservices.org
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