Guest Speakers:
About the Speakers
Following law school, Jill worked at a New York firm where she handled complex litigation in a variety of areas including antitrust, securities fraud, ERISA and RICO. She also represented victims of domestic violence, and later focused her practice exclusively on domestic relations.
Jill worked as an advocate for children and directed a program in the Stamford Court for volunteer GALs. She served as Founder and Executive Director of Child Advocates of Connecticut, a nonprofit authorized by the Connecticut Judicial Branch that trains court-appointed volunteers. Jill also served as a consultant to the hit HBO series “Divorce” starring Sarah Jessica Parker.
Sharon Wicks Dornfeld, J.D. is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Michigan Law School. She has practiced in Danbury since 1983. Her private practice primarily consists of representing minor children as an attorney or guardian ad litem in family, probate and criminal proceedings and serving as a mediator or parenting coordinator in custody cases. She also accepts appointments in the probate courts to represent or serve as a conservator for elderly or disabled persons. In addition to her private practice, since 1991 she has served as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Danbury and, since 2017, as an adjunct professor at Quinnipiac University School of Law.
Attorney Dornfeld is a member of the American Bar Association, Connecticut Bar Association, (Chair, Family Law Section 2011-12), Danbury Bar Association (President 1995), National Association of Counsel for Children, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, and the Collaborative Divorce Group of Western Connecticut. She is also a Life Fellow of both the Connecticut and American Bar Foundations. She currently serves as co-Chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the CBA Family Law Section.
Dr. Thayer is a licensed psychologist at Beacon Behavioral Services LLC in Avon and West Hartford, CT. She is trained in mediation and collaborative divorce and has many years of interdisciplinary experience as a mental health collaborative divorce coach. She is the past Co-President of the Collaborative Divorce Group of Connecticut and the Co-Leader of the International Association of Collaborative Professionals (IACP)Trainers Group. She is a member of the Connecticut Collaborative Training Team teaching the Basic Collaborative Divorce Training. Dr. Thayer is also a member of the IACP Access to Collaborative Committee. She is a co-founder of the PEACE Program, a parent counseling program for parents of divorce, and the co-author of two publications: The Co-Parenting Survival Guide and Adult Children of Divorce.
Dr. Thayer provides individual therapy and mediation and has given numerous presentations, workshops, and trainings for professionals. She is on the board of the Children’s Law Center and a former board member of CCND.