I have almost 40 years of experience as a family law attorney and have been an active mediator and collaborative attorney for over 20 years. I devote my practice to all areas of family law, including, divorce, legal separation, child custody and prenuptial agreements. During the first half of my time in practice, I saw first-hand the costly (both financial and emotional), disadvantages to traditional divorce litigation. It was important to me to work toward bringing civility back to the legal profession. This led me to focus my practice on mediation ad collaborative law and to be deeply committed to respectful and goal oriented/interest based negotiations. I repeatedly see the positive results of a mediated or collaborative divorce versus the negative ones in the litigated divorce, reminding me of the benefits to the spouses and children that mediation and collaboration provides. Recognizing that some cases do require a litigated approach, I still accept litigation cases on a case-by case basis. I volunteer as a Special Master for Matrimonial Matters in Hartford, New Britain, and Middletown courts as well as the Regional Custody Trial Docket in Middletown. I am a founding member and co-chair of the Central Connecticut Collaborative Family Law Group and founding member of the Collaborative Divorce Lawyers Association; member of The Collaborative Divorce Team of CT; a member of the Connecticut, Hartford, New Britain and American Bar Associations and the International Academy of Collaborative Practitioners. I served as an instructor for The People’s Law School and am a life-time James Cooper Fellow of the Connecticut Bar Foundation. I am also a member of the Connecticut Council for Non-adversarial Divorce and serve on its Best Practices Committee. In 1984, I graduated from the Ohio Northern University School of Law; I received my undergraduate college degree in English from Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York. On a personal note, I live with my husband of over 30 years in Wallingford, CT. I have two daughters and a dog named Brady. I enjoy the beach, outdoors, reading, NFL Football, College basketball and a good cup of coffee.