Podcasts about aba section

This episode of the ABA-funded podcast, "Mind the Gap: Dialogs on Artificial Intelligence" was recorded at a Continuing Legal Education session. Our subject is, "The Intersection of Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence." Our two guests, Candace Jones and Jon Garon, are distinguished lawyers. Candace Jones retired recently from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Previously she was a partner at a large law firm in Cleveland and is a former Chair of the ABA Section of Business Law's Cyberspace Law Committee. She is now a member of the ABA Cybersecurity Legal Task Force. Jon Garon is Professor of Law, Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law and is the current Chair of the ABA Section of Business Law's Cyberspace Law Committee. Both Candace and Jon have written extensively on artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. Some of their writings are included in the materials for this program and will be linked in the podcast web page about this episode.

This week on Conflict Managed we welcome Susan Guthrie. Join us as we discuss:

I sat down with Legal Services Alabama Low Income Taxpayer Clinic Staff Attorney Maceo Kirkland, from Montgomery, Alabama, at the ABA Section of Taxation Midyear Meeting in Los Angeles, California in February 2025.

Why does an $850 billion pharma company obtain only 50 patents per year?Steve Caltrider, Chief IP Counsel at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, brings over 35 years of experience building valuable pharma patent portfolios and championing patent policies that promote innovation. Before Dana Farber, Steve rose to the role of General Patent Counsel at Eli Lilly. Steve has also served on the USPTO's Public Patent Advisory Committee and is currently the Chair of the ABA Section of IP Law.In this episode, Steve shares the story of why and how he relied on data to reduce Eli Lilly's patent portfolio, and explains why obtaining less patents is likely the better strategy for many large companies.He also discusses the critical role of IP in getting medical innovations to patients, the potentially catastrophic impact of the administration's march-in proposal, and his take on various developing patent policy issues.Selected Topics* IP's indispensable role in commercialization* Section 101 mess hindering development of diagnostics & potentially reducing drug costs* Data-driven patent strategies in the pharmaceutical industry* Impact of excessive USPTO fees on start-ups and smaller companies* How IP strategy differs at academic research institutions versus major pharmaceutical companies* Successfully navigating a career in patent law as in-house counsel* Role of outside counsel* Why all patent attorneys should pay attention to patent policy developmentsNotable, QuotableOn the role of IP in ensuring that medical research reaches patients“It's roughly a billion dollars to develop that drug and actually make it accessible to patients as a drug. No one's going to make that investment without IP. My role at the institute is to protect that discovery so that somebody will make that investment. Without the investment, it's just going to sit in the laboratory and it's not going to go anywhere and it won't reach patients.”On the impact of march-in proposal on non profits like Dana-Farber“I've already had partners tell us: I'm willing to sponsor your research, I'm willing to help fund your research, but it can't have any federally funded funding associated with it. Well, that can be catastrophic to us.”ABA-IPL Chair's Town Hall: Planning a Better Patent SystemRegister for “Session 6: How Far Can, And Should , USPTO Rulemaking Proceed in Addressing Issues of Double Patenting”: https://www.americanbar.org/groups/intellectual_property_law/events_cle/aba-ipl-chairs-town-hall/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.voiceofip.com

I sat down here with Howard University School of Law Professor Alice M. Thomas. The interview was conducted at the ABA Section of Taxation May 2024 meeting in Washington, D.C.

In this episode, I sit down with the renowned mediator and family attorney Susan Guthrie, who brings over three decades of experience in the intricacies of marriage, divorce, and everything in between. Susan's unique approach to marital issues through mediation has breathed new life into long-term relationships that seemed to be at a crossroads. She shares her wisdom on how couples can legally redefine their relationships, open up dialogues on intimacy, and why a "marital mediation" could be the saving grace your relationship needs. We dive into an in-depth discussion about the unspoken challenges many couples face after years of marriage. Susan provides us with real-world examples of how changing the dynamics of a relationship, with the help of legal contracts, can lead to a more fulfilling partnership. If you're considering a change in your marital life or simply looking for ways to spark new life into your relationship, this episode offers a wealth of knowledge, practical advice, and the possibility that love, indeed, can evolve with time. About Susan Guthrie, Esq.  Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law Attorneys and Mediators in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for more than 30 years. Susan provides online divorce and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Budget Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Advanced Mediation Institute. https://www.instagram.com/susanguthrieesq/ https://divorceandbeyondpod.com/top-episodes ********************************************************** Have a burning question or topic suggestion? karen@taboototruth.com ⁠⁠https://www.taboototruth.com/⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/taboototruth⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@taboototruth⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Youtube @taboototruthpodcast⁠⁠ *this podcast is not intended to give medical advice. Karen Bigman is not a medical professional. For any medical questions or issues, please visit your medical provider. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/taboototruth/message

Anne Marie Seibel, Chair of the ABA Section of Litigation and litigation partner at Bradley, shares her path to leadership within the legal sphere. Hosted by MC Sungaila, this episode dives into the fascinating intersection of Anne Marie's career trajectory and her prowess in bar leadership. If you're curious about the transformative power of bar leadership on your legal career and keen to unlock valuable strategies for skill enhancement and network expansion, this episode is an absolute must-listen. Tune in for an inspiring conversation that illuminates the boundless possibilities of combining legal expertise with impactful leadership.

In this episode of Status Check with Spivey, two experienced and respected law school Deans—Craig Boise, Dean of Syracuse University College of Law, and Daniel Rodriguez, former Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law—discuss the history, the present, and the future of law school admissions and legal education. Their conversation covers a range of topics, including problems with the LSAT, the recent test-optional proposal to the ABA, the impacts that the U.S. News law school rankings have had on legal education (and their thoughts on the new methodology changes), and a new pathway to law school admissions, JD-Next. You can find basic information on JD-Next, as well as a list of schools that have been granted variances to accept JD-Next in lieu of another admissions test (LSAT or GRE), here. Craig Boise is the Dean of Syracuse University College of Law, where he is currently completing his final year in that role, after which he will be working with colleges, universities, and law schools as a part of Spivey Consulting Group. He is a Member of the Council of the ABA Section on Legal Education, previously served on the ABA's Standards Review Committee and the Steering Committee of the AALS's Deans' Forum, and served as Dean of Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He holds a JD from the University of Chicago Law School and an LLM in Tax from NYU School of Law. Daniel Rodriguez is a current professor and former Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law. He served as President of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) in 2014 and served as Dean of the University of San Diego School of Law from 1998 to 2005. He holds a JD from Harvard Law School. You can listen and subscribe to Status Check with Spivey on ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠, ⁠Spotify⁠, ⁠Stitcher⁠, ⁠YouTube⁠, and ⁠Google Podcasts⁠. You can read a full transcript of this episode ⁠here⁠.

Today on Conflict Managed we are joined by Geetha Ravindra, Vice President for Ombuds Services for The McCammon Group. Geetha Ravindra has over 30 years of experience in ADR in international, federal, and state organizations. She began her career with the Supreme Court of Virginia where she was Director of the Department of Dispute Resolution Services and managed court-connected mediation programs for 11 years. For many years she provided mediation and training for the World Bank Group, and several federal and state agencies, and taught mediation at the University of Richmond and College of William and Mary Law Schools. Geetha then served as in-house Mediator and Ombuds for the International Monetary Fund and the Center for Global Development. Most recently, she was Director of Workplace Relations for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. She is an International Ombuds Association Certified Organizational Ombuds (CO-OP®) and a Virginia Supreme Court certified mediator. Geetha is past Chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, past President of the Virginia Mediation Network, and past Chair of the VSB-VBA ADR Committee. You can find Geetha online at here: Ombuds Services - McCammon Group Conflict Managed is available wherever you listen to podcasts. Conflict Managed is hosted by Merry Brown and produced by Third Party Workplace Conflict Restoration Services.

In this episode, Amy interviews Andrea Kupfer Schneider, Professor of Law and Director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution at Cardozo Law. Professor Schneider was the previous director of the nationally ranked ADR program at Marquette University Law School in Wisconsin, where she taught ADR, Negotiation, Ethics and International Conflict Resolution for over two decades. In addition to overseeing the ADR program, Professor Schneider was the inaugural director of the university's Institute for Women's Leadership. In 2009, Professor Schneider was awarded the Woman of the Year Award by the Wisconsin Law Journal and the Association for Women Lawyers. She was named the 2017 recipient of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Award for Outstanding Scholarly Work, the highest scholarly award given by the ABA in the field of dispute resolution. Professor Schneider has published numerous articles on negotiation, plea bargaining, negotiation pedagogy, ethics, gender and international conflict. She serves as the co-editor of the ABA Dispute Resolution Magazine and on the Board of Advisors for the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at UNLV School of Law. She is a founding editor of Indisputably, the blog for ADR law faculty, and started the Dispute Resolution Works-in-Progress annual conferences in 2007. In 2016, she gave her first TEDx talk titled Women Don't Negotiate and Other Similar Nonsense.  

In S05E04, William Schmidt and Erin Collins discuss the benefit of working in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, how things changed in moving to KPMG, some noteworthy cases, how being co-author of the IRS Practice and Procedure Deskbook benefitted her tax controversy practice, how her litigation background prepared her for being National Taxpayer Advocate (NTA), becoming the NTA at the beginning of the pandemic, what people should know when working with the Taxpayer Advocate Service, benefits of the ABA Section of Taxation, and tips for law students or young attorneys interested in tax.

As a mediator, you've probably come across the phrase "access to justice" when reading about or listening to discussions of mediation, but are you also familiar with the "procedural justice" aspect of mediation? And for the court-connected mediation programs that you mediate for...Do those programs collect data? In this episode, Veronica talks with Nancy Welsh--the Frank W. Elliott, Jr. University Professor, Professor of Law and Director of the Dispute Resolution Program at Texas A&M University School of Law--about both procedural justice and data collection in court-connected mediation.  Questions answered during the episode include: What is procedural justice when it comes to mediation? What is the connection between procedural fairness and self-determination? What can mediators do to help parties share their voice in mediation? How can ODR help support procedural justice in mediation? Why is data collection important for court-connected ADR and what data should be collected? Links to resources mentioned in the show:   Nancy's Faculty Profile Page   Aggie Dispute Resolution Program Page   Sampling of Nancy's Articles:   Do You Believe in Magic?: Self-Determination and Procedural Justice Meet Inequality in Court-Connected Mediation    But Is It Good: The Need to Measure, Assess, and Report on Court-Connected ADR   Making Deals in Court-Connected Mediation: What's Justice Got to Do with It?   Bringing Transparency and Accountability (with a Dash of Competition) to Court-Connected Dispute Resolution   About Nancy Welsh:   Nancy A. Welsh is the Frank W. Elliott, Jr. University Professor, Professor of Law and Director of the Dispute Resolution Program at Texas A&M University School of Law. In 2016-2017, she was Chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution.    Professor Welsh is a leading scholar and teacher of dispute resolution and procedural law. She examines negotiation, mediation, arbitration, judicial settlement, and dispute resolution in U.S. and international contexts, focusing on self-determination, procedural justice, due process, and institutionalization dynamics. Professor Welsh has written more than 60 articles and chapters that have appeared in law reviews, professional publications and books and is co-author of DISPUTE RESOLUTION AND LAWYERS, 5TH ED.  Additionally, she is co-editor with Howard Gadlin of EVOLUTION OF A FIELD: PERSONAL HISTORIES IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION. In 2006, she conducted research in the Netherlands as a Fulbright Scholar and taught at Tilburg University.  In 2016, she was named a Visiting Scholar of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School and a Visiting Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study at Indiana University Bloomington. She has advised state legislatures and federal and state agencies and courts regarding the institutionalization of dispute resolution, conducted empirical research, convened roundtables and symposia on various dispute resolution topics, and served as a mediator, facilitator and arbitrator.    Professor Welsh presents nationally and internationally, conducts training, and teaches Texas A&M's unique required course for 1Ls – ADR Survey - as well as Civil Procedure, Mediation, and Dispute System Design Seminar.

This week we are talking about the legal aspect of high conflict divorce. When it comes to divorce,  what most talk about from a legal sense isn't applicable to those navigating a divorce with an abuser or high-conflict person. That's why I asked my good friend, Susan Guthrie, Esq., to come back to the show and share what she knows about legal issues surrounding high-conflict situations.  Divorce is hard, divorce with a high conflict person is a completely different ball game. Listen to this episode to hear how to maneuver the legal system when divorcing an abusive or high-conflict spouse.  Show Highlights The tools do not exist in the legal system to change the behavior of a high-conflict person, but there are resources available that can help you protect yourself (6:09) High conflict people are unmanageable (11:37) Susan answers, “Can you mediate with someone who is actively lying and/or hiding assets?” (14:28) Why Susan says a consulting attorney is a necessity for the mediation process (19:01) When you are mediating or litigating with a high-conflict person, you move in small, purposeful steps (23:35) How to cope when an ex-spouse backs out of mediation at the last minute. Plus, what you can do from a legal perspective (33:48) Learn more about Susan: Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law Attorneys and Mediators in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for more than 30 years. Susan provides online divorce and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Budget Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Advanced Mediation Institute. In 2021 Susan launched her fresh and inspiring podcast, The Divorce & Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. which debuted on iTunes “Top Podcasts” List for self-help podcasts and which is one of the Top 1.5 % of All Podcasts worldwide! Divorce & Beyond is focused on pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of the divorce process and bringing tips and resources to help people to thrive and shine in their new future beyond divorce. Susan has been featured in and on media outlets such as CNBC, Market Watch, News Nation,  Forbes, the ABA's Just Resolutions Magazine, Thrive Global, Medium, and many more. She is licensed to practice law in the States of California and Connecticut as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States. Resources & Links: Information and links may also be found at: https://kateanthony.com/podcast/high-conflict-legal-qa-with-susan-guthrie-esq Grit and Grace Group Coaching starts on September 15th - Join us! Mosten Guthrie Academy BIFF: Quick Responses to High-Conflict PeopleDSG Abuse Mini-Series: How to Communicate with a High-Conflict Co-Parent with Bill Eddy Get Ready to BIFF Your High Conflict Ex with Bill Eddy on Divorce & Beyond  The Incredible Tale of One Mom's Successful 10-Year Battle to Be Free of a Narcissist with Tina Swithin on Divorce & Beyond TODAY'S EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY: THE REVISED SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO? PROGRAM   An online coaching program designed to help you make the right decision about your marriage...once and for all.  In this groundbreaking online coaching program, you'll unlock the support, education and deep transformational work you need to finally answer to your most burning question: should I stay or should I go? JOIN THE SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO FACEBOOK GROUP

This week, Andrew Belter and William Schmidt look at some U.S. Tax Court topics. First, the case Boechler v. Commissioner is before the U.S. Supreme Court where they have heard oral arguments.  In brief, an individual was a day late and missed the statutory deadline for a Collection Due Process hearing.  The Tax Court ruled that there was a strict jurisdictional deadline.  At issue before the Supreme Court is whether that deadline is jurisdictional or if equitable tolling can provide any relief. Second, there was a discussion on the ABA Section of Taxation's Pro Bono and Tax Clinics Committee listserv regarding Answers from IRS Chief Counsel in Tax Court.  For years 1983-2007, the Tax Court did not require answers in S cases.  We discuss the pros and cons of Answers, plus suggestions for what could replace them. Note:  the phrase we couldn't remember was financial disability.  William covered that topic way back in episode 55.  To learn more, you can also look at Internal Revenue Code section 6511(h), Rev. Proc. 99-21 or IRS Publication 556, page 15.  

Well, before we started we didn't think we had anything to talk about!  Andrew Belter (Wisconsin Judicare) and William Schmidt (Legal Aid of Western Missouri) caught up on recent tax news as the tax season is underway.  Access to transcripts with the CAF Unit and IRS budget restrictions from Congress are some of the topics.   The main portion of this episode is a discussion of the ABA 2022 Midyear Tax Meeting.  It was a virtual conference that took place from January 31 to May 4.  Hopefully we provided some insights in our preview of the event.  There are discussions that took place on topics such as diversity and ethics.  Updates on current events from the National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins, the IRS and the U.S. Tax Court.  Discussions of litigation that ranged from the U.S. Tax Court to the U.S. Supreme Court.  There are a variety of topics that should interest tax practitioners at American Bar Association Section of Taxation events.   Since the event has already happened, you have not necessarily missed out.  For American Bar Association members, the recordings are still available for 90 days after the meeting.  It is a bargain for LITC personnel to access the entire conference for $25.   The meeting was quite informative and it is always wonderful to see and speak with other tax professionals, even when it is all online.  

Earlier this week on The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, she and I spoke about how to have the most difficult conversation of your life with someone: the “I want a divorce,” conversation. Today, Susan joins me to discuss what happens next. Together we explore some of the things you should do right after having the talk, including how to build your divorce team and considerations for divorce proceedings or mediation.  Susan Guthrie is nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the country. She has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. If you missed part one of our conversation, visit Susan's website to listen! - - - - -  Also: I want to hear your story and answer your questions! My work and my podcast are all about bringing you the most and best information possible on the subjects of divorce, escaping and healing from abuse, creating healthy boundaries and relationships, and helping you make the most informed decision on whether to stay or go. So, what questions do you have about divorce, or deciding to stay or go? Leave me a message, it can be anonymous, that I'll play on the air, and I'll answer your question on an upcoming episode. Show Highlights Why is January “divorce month”? (11:20) What is the first thing you should do after you share with your spouse that you want a divorce? (14:50) The biggest fallacy in the divorce process is that building a good team is going to cost you more money. (16:08) If the end goal is that you want to mediate, what is the correct path? (23:26) The key to collaborative or mediated divorce is working together. (28:33) Some approaches to divorce mediation and building a mediation team. (34:06) When you rush into your divorce and the emotions are high, you make your divorce take longer. (43:21) A reasonable expectation of a timeline for your divorce. (46:36) Learn More About Susan: Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee.  After a year and half of co-hosting the award-winning podcast, Breaking Free: A Modern Divorce Podcast, which reached over 3 million listeners, Susan recently launched her fresh and inspiring new podcast, The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. which debuted on iTunes “Top Podcasts” List for self-help podcasts. Divorce & Beyond is focused on pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of the divorce process and bringing tips and resources to help people to thrive and shine in their new future beyond divorce.  Susan has been featured in and on media outlets such as CNBC, Market Watch, News Nation,  Forbes, the ABA's Just Resolutions Magazine, Thrive Global, Medium, and many more. She is licensed to practice law in the States of California and Connecticut as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States. Resources & Links:Information and links may also be accessed at: https://kateanthony.com/podcast/after-the-talk-how-to-prepare-for-your-divorce-with-susan-guthrie-esq Send Kate your questions or share your story, here.Join Kate's Free Live Workshop on January 17, 18, and 19th. All you have to do is be in her Facebook Group to participate. Private Coaching with Kate Anthony Susan's websiteSusan on InstagramThe Divorce and Beyond Podcast: WE NEED TO TALK: How to Have the Most Difficult Conversation of Your Life with Kate Anthony TODAY'S EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY: THE DIVORCE SURVIVAL PROGRAM As one of the pioneers of the divorce coaching industry, I've been helping women (most of whom are moms) navigate the divorce process for the last decade. AND NOW, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, ALL OF MY DIVORCE WISDOM IS AVAILABLE IN ONE ONLINE PROGRAM. This program is 100% for you if… You're a mom looking for a clear roadmap to a divorce that won't destroy your kids You're looking for answers and a roadmap You understand that divorce is a long game You're willing to put away your boxing gloves You want this to be a respectful and collaborative process in service of your kids You understand that divorce is, first and foremost, an emotional process and you're ready to ‘go there' Are you ready to learn from one of the world's top divorce experts and set yourself on the path towards the best possible outcome? YEAH, Y'ARE!!!

The 2021 National Lawyers Convention took place November 11-13, 2021 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. The topic of the conference was "Public and Private Power: Preserving Freedom or Preventing Harm?" This panel discussed "ABA Law School Accreditation Standards."For many years, the U.S. Department of Education has recognized the Council of the American Bar Association Section on Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar as the accrediting organization for law schools. The importance of that function cannot be overstated. For nearly every state, a J.D. degree from an ABA-accredited law school is required to practice law. To become accredited, a law school must comply with the standards contained in the ABA Standards and Rules of Procedure for Approval of Law Schools. In May 2021, the Council of the ABA Section proposed a set of accreditation standards that, among other things, would require law schools to "take effective actions that, in their totality, demonstrate progress in (1) Diversifying the students, faculty, and staff; and (2) Creating an inclusive and equitable environment for students, faculty, and staff." An interpretation of that provision stated, "The requirement of a constitutional provision that purports to prohibit consideration of race, color, ethnicity, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, or military status in admissions or employment decisions is not a justification for a school’s non-compliance." The school would have to show "effective actions and progress . . . by means other than those prohibited by the applicable constitutional or statutory provisions." In addition, law schools must "provide training and education to law students on bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism: (1) at the start of the program of legal education, and (2) at least once again before graduation." The Council has since withdrawn the proposal for further study, but it may reappear.Our panel of experts will discuss the degree to which the ABA’s proposed new policy represented a change from its prior practice; if it was a change, how it came about, including any arguments for or against it; whether it is justified and consistent with the accrediting role; and, if it is not, what steps, if any, might be appropriate to take.Featuring:Hon. Scott Bales, Former Chief Justice, Arizona Supreme CourtProf. John McGinnis, George C. Dix Professor in Constitutional Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of LawProf. Thomas D. Morgan, Oppenheim Professor Emeritus of Antitrust and Trade Regulation Law, George Washington University Law SchoolMr. Daniel R. Thies, Shareholder, Webber & Thies, P.C.Moderator: Hon. Gregory Katsas, U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit

Merril Hirsh of Hirsh ADR PLLC in Washington, D.C. is a practicing ADR Professional, a lawyer with over 38 years experience, the Executive Director of the Academy of Court-Appointed Masters and the Chair of the Judicial Division Lawyers Conference Special Masters Committee. In this episode host, Caroline Stauffer, sits with Merril Hirsh to discuss how to become a special master and the advancements to diversify the field. Interested in joining the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution? Learn more about our membership options at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/dispute_resolution/membership/

In this episode, Rekha Rangachari sits down with Donna Serdula, an expert in sales, operations and training who has pioneered LinkedIn profile optimization and branding with diverse, global stakeholders. Principal, Founder and Owner of Vision Board Media, Donna shares her mission on how to “transform your future today,” through responding to her 4-point methodology, to build stronger resumes and CVs. Tune in to learn how to curate your best professional self on LinkedIn, complete with many tips + tricks (including Free LinkedIn Resources at https://www.linkedin-makeover.com/linkedin-resources/). View Donna's bio at https://donnaserdula.com/ Interested in joining the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution? Learn more about our membership options at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/dispute_resolution/membership/

Join the ABA and NAM(National Arbitration and Mediation)for an engaging conversation with Hon. John P. DiBlasi (Ret.), former presiding Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York and now a top-rated arbitrator/mediator at NAM on Maximizing the Benefits of Arbitration in the Aftermath of Mass Filings. ABA Resolution Podcast Host, Caroline Stauffer, covers Judge DiBlasi's transition from the bench to becoming a highly regarded neutral. The Judge also shares his insights on the recent press attention about mass arbitration filings in the Employment and Consumer ADR arena. Thank you to NAM for being a sponsor of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution 2021 Spring Conference. You can learn more about NAM at https://www.namadr.com/. Interested in joining the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution? Learn more about our membership options at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/dispute_resolution/membership/

Welcome to a new bar year! In 2021-2022, we will be bringing you relevant, timely, and thought provoking content on a monthly basis. Don't forget to follow and rate us to receive notifications when a new episode is out! On the first episode of the season, we focus on the role of ombuds. Ombuds/ombudsman are confidential, independent, and impartial conflict management professionals. Their roles and services are relatively unknown compared to other forms of dispute resolution. Caroline Stauffer speaks to Ken Skodacek, Chair of the ABA Ombuds Day Subcommittee, Kristie Hirschman, recently retired State of Iowa Ombudsman, and Kate Burkhart, Alaska State Ombudsman, to learn more about the recognition of Ombuds Day which will take place virtually on October 14, 2021. You can find more information at www.OmbudsDay.com and register for the virtual event at www.ambar.org/ombuds2021. Interested in joining the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution? Learn more about our membership options at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/dispute_resolution/membership/

In this episode of We Chat Divorce, we're joined by Susan Guthrie to discuss the topic: Divorce Attorney Secrets to Thriving BEYOND Your Divorce. Here's an overview of Susan's experience:   Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the United States, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides exclusively online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world through her business Divorce in a Better Way. Susan has also recently partnered with mediation legend, Forrest “Woody” Mosten, to create the Mosten Guthrie Academy to provide cutting edge gold-standard training for attorneys, mediators and other professionals.  As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Membership Officer and to be a Co Chair of the Mediation Committee and Annual Advanced Mediation Skills Institute.  Susan is also an internationally well-regarded expert in online mediation and has been training colleagues and other professionals in the practical and ethical considerations of conducting their mediations online with her innovative programs and webinars and has helped more than 18,000 colleagues transition to an online practice.  In addition to her other professional endeavors, Susan is an award-winning podcast host. Having reached a podcast listening audience of almost 4 million in the past two years, Susan is the creator and host of the hit podcast, The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. which debuted on iTunes “Top Podcasts for Self-Help” List. She recently launched The Learn to Mediate Online Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. to bring current information, updates and news on ODR to her thousands of followers.  Susan has been featured in and on media outlets such as CNBC, Market Watch, Forbes, Eye on Chicago, WGN, the ABA's Just Resolutions Magazine, Thrive Global, The Nook Online among others.    Hosts, Karen, and Catherine sit down with Susan Guthrie to discuss Divorce Attorney Secrets to Thriving BEYOND Your Divorce.   Learn More >> https://www.divorceandbeyondpod.com  Connect with Susan on LinkedIn >> @Susan Guthrie   ----more---- The We Chat Divorce podcast (hereinafter referred to as the “WCD”) represents the opinions of Catherine Shanahan, Karen Chellew, and their guests to the show. WCD should not be considered professional or legal advice. The content here is for informational purposes only. Views and opinions expressed on WCD are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. WCD should not be used in any legal capacity whatsoever.  Listeners should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter. No listener should act or refrain from acting on the basis of information on WCD without first seeking legal advice from counsel in the relevant jurisdiction. No guarantee is given regarding the accuracy of any statements or opinions made on WCD. Unless specifically stated otherwise, Catherine Shanahan and Karen Chellew do not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned on WCD, and information from this podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third-party materials or content of any third-party site referenced on WCD do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of Catherine Shanahan or Karen Chellew. WCD, CATHERINE SHANAHAN, AND KAREN CHELLEW EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST ----more----   Karen Chellew: Welcome to we chat divorce. Catherine and I are so happy to welcome family attorney and mediator, Susan Guthrie to our podcast today. In this episode, we're going to discuss divorce attorney secrets to thriving beyond your divorce. But first, let me take just a couple of minutes to introduce Susan. Karen Chellew: Susan Guthrie, she's a nationally recognized as one of the top family law and mediation attorneys in the United States. She's been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides exclusive online divorce mediation, and legal coaching services to select clients around the world, through her business, Divorce in a Better Way. She's also recently partnered with mediation legend Forrest Woody Mosten... Did I say his name right? Susan Guthrie: Mosten. Karen Chellew: Mosten, to create the Mosten Guthrie Academy to provide cutting edge gold standard training for attorneys, mediators and other professionals. In addition to her other professional endeavors, Susan is an award winning podcast host having reached a podcast, listening audience of almost four million in the past two years. Susan is the creator and host of the hit podcast, the divorce and beyond podcast with the Susan Guthrie, which debuted on iTunes top podcasts for self-help lists. She recently launched the learn to mediate online podcast with Susan Guthrie Esquire to bring current information, updates, and news on ODR to her thousands of followers. And that's just a small piece of all that Susan has done for us and our industry. Welcome, Susan. Susan Guthrie: Oh, thank you both for having me. I'm so happy to be here with you. Catherine: What I love about all that, I'm just going to call her Susan. That's how easy she is to talk to. Susan Guthrie: Oh, please. The worst part about being interviewed is hearing all of that first part. Karen Chellew: If I could give my personal accolades, I often think about you as the forerunner and paving the path so that all of us behind you have really good exposure in the new way of technology, mediation and to your point, Divorce in a Better Way. Thank you for all the work that you do, not only for people going through divorce, but for all of us professionals who are trying to help families just do it a better way. Susan Guthrie: Thank you. That actually makes me so happy because I do think it's a dual front approach. Let people know that they get divorced in a better way and let professionals know that people want that better way. There are people like both of you helping people to do that. I think it's just so incredibly important that people hear that message. I really appreciate that. Thank you. Catherine: It's really exciting that we're seeing a shift in power to the couple actually going through divorce and they're requiring a change. They need it. It's nice to see the professionals coming around to provide that for them. Susan Guthrie: I think we are seeing more and more professionals. I will a little bit throw my profession under the bus, the lawyer side of me, they're a little slower to come to the table. But I think it's really important, Catherine, what you just said, the people who are going through the experience of divorce want the control back. They're finally starting to understand something that's actually been true all along. It's like Dorothy, who always had the power to go back home if she just clicked those shoes. You never had to turn your power over to an attorney or a judge. But now I think it's a much better known paradigm that you can sit down and still control your life, even if you're going through the disruption of divorce. Karen Chellew: We've had the benefit of working with many attorneys who embrace the clients being informed and are trusting that more because I think also historically, maybe attorneys felt that only they knew how to do it, so they didn't really trust another way. But I think their trust level is also expanding into that realm of helping people divorce a better way. That's a good thing. Susan Guthrie: I think the more experienced the attorneys get with working with financial professionals like you and see just how much better the entire process is, for the attorneys included. We all know it's a tough way to make the living, honestly, to be there in the, I don't know what you want to call it, the sandbox of divorce day in and day out. When people are moving through the process in a more informed and supported fashion, I think everybody wins. Catherine: Oh, yeah. Otherwise you have one case for five years and who wants that? Susan Guthrie: [inaudible 00:05:33]. Catherine: Everybody gets fed up at that point, and it's never a good outcome. Karen Chellew: To our topic today, divorce attorney secrets to thriving beyond your divorce, Susan, I think you have some hacks, tips and secrets for us. Let's go to the first one. What's the first mistake most people make when they're deciding to divorce? Susan Guthrie: I think that very first mistake is something along the lines of what we've just been talking about here. And that is that they automatically assume that it's going to be a knock-down drag-out battle and they start preparing themselves for that both mentally, as well as with the team that they may be pulling around them. And as we just talked about, it does not have to be that way. You almost make it a preordained conclusion if you go into it with that mindset. The very first thing I always tell people to do is take a breath, take a moment and educate yourself, much as we're talking about right here, about all the different ways and the different approaches there are these days to getting divorced, to going through the process and start thinking about what's going to work best for your family. As you both know, there's mediation, collaborative divorce, online processes. There's so many different ways that you can go through this. I think it's really important not to automatically assume that it's going to be what I call, your mama's divorce. Your mama's is divorce is the old world. Have your divorce and you get to curate that the way you want it. Catherine: I feel like that needs to come from an informed perspective, which is why we work so hard to just financially educate anyone who's going through a divorce process, because a lot of financial literacy really, [inaudible 00:07:40] in these divorce cases, which prompts people to take that jumpstart or leap into a battle in their head because they're afraid they won't understand the information that they need or will they get the information that they need. When they come to us first and we can do that, you really feel the temperature of everyone. They have a chance at mediation, because I feel like mediation should be the first step anyone takes to any part of negotiations. I don't think you need to jump into this, we need two attorneys to fight something out. If you're informed, you should be able to make smart decisions on your own. Susan Guthrie: You actually said, I think, the key word in all of this is education because face it, your average person going into divorce... One of the scary parts of it is it's usually something you haven't been through before. You may have been through it tangentially through family members or friends or something like that. But the biggest emotion people feel in the beginning of divorce is fear and it's because they don't know and don't understand. Well, it is truly one of those areas in life where knowledge is power. It breaks down to certain areas that you need to know. You've already mentioned the one that you two are such experts at, financial. You need to educate yourself in the financial. You also need to educate yourself on the side of things if you have children on what's going to actually work best for them. There's a lot of information around that. And then frankly, you need to think about the process itself because that's still that knee jerk thought, much as you just said, Catherine, about getting two attorneys to do all that negotiating for you. Susan Guthrie: You don't need to hire someone to negotiate for you. You can strategize with an attorney. You can learn how to negotiate by educating yourself, if it's not something that you're well versed in. That educational step, hugely important, and finding the right people and the right resources to learn from. Because unfortunately, the flip side of the plethora of information that exists in our world at our literal fingertips, there's a whole library in here, you don't know who you're getting information from always. You do need to vet your experts and make sure they're like the two of you, people who actually are subject matter experts in your area before you get your information from them. Catherine: It's hard when you have a lot of people chirping in your ear telling you what to do and what you shouldn't do. It frustrates me sometimes when they're trying to advise them to make decisions and they don't even know what the overall agreement would look like. They're one-off decisions that could really blow up your whole scenario. That's always a frustrating thing, just too many people in your ear. Susan Guthrie: Well, and doing that thing you just mentioned right about, people will start to make piecemeal decisions before they have a full picture of what the actual, I always call it the marital pie. You two have a much better, much more financially technical term for it, your divorce solution and your- Catherine: Our financial portrait. Susan Guthrie: Portrait. But I call it the financial pie or the marital pie. But until you know exactly what's in that pie, a big mistake people make is they start slicing their pie up and dividing it. Well, I'm going to keep the house, he's going to keep this, we're going to do this. Before they know whether can you afford the house? What's the debt on the house? Can you refinance the house? I mention the house just because as we all know, that's a big area and often one of the larger assets. But that is something that people jump into and start making those piecemeal decisions when really it should be made as a part of an entire whole. Karen Chellew: Oh, I'm so glad you said that, Susan, because it just seems like recently many of our clients who even have attorneys engaged, they're having discussions about dividing one of the larger assets without taking the whole pie, as you say, into consideration. That's red flags for us, to watch a client feel like they have to participate in those discussions when they don't have a full understanding of the entire portrait. Susan Guthrie: It's when mistakes get made. And honestly, the biggest issue when I see that happening, and maybe you two have seen this is, someone will say that they agree to one of these of the moment, piecemeal things, and then realize as things start to unfold, maybe that wasn't the right decision. They walk it back and to the other party that feels like reneging. That feels like going back on your word and now what have you done? It may have been done innocently, but you have now created a tension and a lack of trust because you've now turned around on something. It actually can lead to huge mistakes. It all goes back to what we talked about just a moment ago about you wouldn't make those mistakes if you took that time, before you jump into any of the dividing, to get educated, to understand what you have to get that financial portion. Karen Chellew: Absolutely. Catherine: Exactly. It's that mistrust that you cannot get back when you're going through divorce, because there's already a break in trust which led you to divorce. But now that's when that 10% or less cases end up in these litigation battles. Susan Guthrie: Sure. Catherine: If it would have just started differently... And I bet you, if we had about 100 people on here who are divorced and never knew any of us or anyone like us, they're all probably saying, gosh, I wish I started it differently. Susan Guthrie: The start is really one of the key moments in time. I think it's important for people to understand because as we all know, and I've been through it, you go through a long period of time where, am I going to stay? Am I going to go? Am I going to stay? It's exhausting. And then you get to that and you build yourself up to either have the conversation with your spouse, that's very stressful or you hear it and it's a big pow because you maybe didn't know it was coming. But everybody in that moment thinks, well, I've got to rush out and get an attorney. I've got to go get the meanest attorney I can find in town. They just jump into the process and put it all into the hands of that attorney. And instead, there are so many steps that are actually better steps to take such as engaging financial experts to start the financial education, getting a coach who's going to help you with now all that emotional content that you have going on, doing your research, listening to podcasts, whatever your resources and then making decisions about, well, do we want to sit down and mediate? Susan Guthrie: Do we want to hire a collaborative professionals? Do we want to sit at the kitchen table and see what we can work out? There's a million different ways to come out this, as opposed to that, jump in, hire an attorney, and you're off to the races, or off to the war. Karen Chellew: And thinking that it's just going to be handled for them. And they're going to just arrive one day and get their share. I love that you- Susan Guthrie: My fair share. What I'm entitled to. Catherine: Yeah, what I'm entitled to. Karen Chellew: That's so true. Catherine: [crosstalk 00:15:32] I'm going to throw some of your colleagues under the bus a little bit as well is that we've seen people that go for their consult with an attorney because it's the meanest one or the sharkiest one, or what have you, who you have to have. And I have seen them promise things that really never play out in the long run and they don't even look at all of their assets. And it's all a depends type of scenario, but the person who's so emotionally charged going through, they're thinking that they're the shark or the best attorney, leaves their believing that's what they're entitled to or what they can expect down the road. It's really not the case. Again, I think going to an attorney consult can be very important, but it's the timing of it and what knowledge do you bring to that consult so that you don't get I call toxic positivity type of information. You get information based on data that you can process that later in a more reasonable way. That's another important thing. Susan Guthrie: So important. So important what you just said that I hope all of your listeners are hearing this and I will throw those same attorneys under the bus. Let me be really clear about this. No attorney in a consultation can promise you anything. No attorney at any point in your divorce can promise you anything as a result in your divorce. You know why? We don't wear the robe. We don't make the decisions. We don't have a crystal ball and we don't have a magic wand. None of that comes with a law degree. If you go to an attorney, here's another insider tip and that attorney promises you something, don't go back to that attorney. Do not retain that attorney. You are not paying for, what did you just call it, Catherine? It was so great. Catherine: Toxic positivity. Susan Guthrie: Toxic positivity. If you're going to pay for toxic positivity, what are you really paying for? Lies or untruths? It may feel good in that moment to hear what you want to hear. All an attorney can do is tell you a range of what we've seen in court or how we might see how south something might break down. But there is never an ability on the part of an attorney to promise you anything. A wonderful point for people to understand. And the other point that you made, I do think is also important for people to understand, if you're going to go for that consult, it can be a great educational experience. The more information you can give the consulting attorney ahead of time, such as the financial portrait, home run if you have something like that, because then they're able to give you insights, not promises, but insight about what's in there. So important. Karen Chellew: It is so important and I also love what you say about getting a divorce coach because so many people approach divorce, looking for emotional justice and they don't know the difference between divorce, division of assets, parenting plans, and support. I've just been through a really painful time in my life and I'm going through a painful time in my life and it's really not going to factor in a lot in the actual divorce process, as it relates to getting your assets divided and things like that. I love that you said, one of the first things is also to get a coach involved to help you make those differentiations. Susan Guthrie: It's probably one of my top tips. And again, some of my colleagues, at least in the legal sense, not my mediation colleagues as much, but my lawyer and attorney colleagues still haven't entirely embraced the concept of coaching. But when I work with a client who is working with a coach and they are able to sit down, hear what we're talking about, mull it over in their mind and then as we talked about in the beginning, make decisions for themselves, keep the power. They can do that so much more, in an easier fashion, also in a fashion that actually results in good decision-making. If you're going to make a decision based on that emotional justice, which by the way, does not occur. Karma, she may be a witch, but she doesn't really come along very often in a courtroom if ever, or in a divorce case it's just not the forum. It's not set up for that. Susan Guthrie: It is set up to divide your stuff and figure out how you're going to co-parent your kids. That's what it's about. It's not about he's a jerk or she's an over spender, or he did this, or she did that. It's not about that at all. Truly an important... I am a huge fan. For me, the ideal team in a divorce would be a good collaborative or divorce attorney, a good mediator, financial professionals like the two of you and a coach and or therapist, if we need also mental health help assistance or issues with the children. That sounds like a lot, your divorce is going to go much faster and much better to divorce in a better way, if you have that kind of support. Karen Chellew: Right. Catherine: So true. And then you don't live with regret of the decisions you made because to have that happily ever after divorce is prolonged when you're harboring a lot of regret and decisions that you know are not really for your best interests now. Now that the clouds have gone away a little bit and the dust settles and you sit there and you say, this is what I'm stuck with. It's harder for you to move on with your life because you constantly replay the divorce process in your head. Susan Guthrie: Yeah. How many clients can I count who have I've spoken to a year down the road after the divorce or more who said, I cannot believe I fought over the blah, blah, blah. Insert anything, because I can tell you, playing cards, television sets, sofa. You name it. 15 more minutes with my kids and I know, please don't get upset with me parents, but 15 minutes and it costs you $25000 to litigate those 15 minutes and ramped up the animosity between you and your co-parent. Trust me, your kids would have been better off if you hadn't fought over those 15 minutes for six months. Absolutely. Karen Chellew: Having that focused approach, I think it does take a team. And for so long divorce has had this stigma about it, that it's embarrassing and something that is looked down on in our society. But if you liken it to the death of a loved one in your family, or even a surgery, a team is needed. It's very similar why a team is needed because there's a lot that you're working through in the divorce process, not only to maintain the family unit, but to make sure everyone's okay, for your own wellbeing, but also your financial wellbeing and to make really important legal decisions. There's a lot of different complexities that I think people don't realize. They look for the cheapest answer, not understanding how complex of a situation it is. Susan Guthrie: It's extremely complex and the more you layer into it, if you have no children, it still can be extremely complex on the financial side. Layer in children and depending on their ages and what's going on with them, you get an even more complex situation. And then you add the emotional contents on top of all of that. It's one of those things. I always find it interesting because I do find that people have that perception of, well, it's going to cost me a fortune to pull that team together. What they don't realize is their divorce is actually going to go much more quickly and be resolved much more quickly when they're informed and supported. When I say supported, I mean all those people. Susan Guthrie: I went to law school for three years, I've practiced for 30 plus years. I've learned a lot about finance. I've learned a lot about children over the years of my experience, but I'm not an expert in finance. I'm not an expert in children, despite being the stepmother to triplets. There are people who are trained in those areas and by the way, the way I've even learned what I do know is I've been lucky enough to work with fantastic professionals like you, where I've learned that information. They don't teach us about [inaudible 00:24:41] and 401ks and all that in law school. Guess what folks? Nope, I've learned in for people like you. Getting that information, understanding what you're work with, having your emotional control over or where you're at, actually means that your divorce will go by much more smoothly and quickly. And you will pay all of those professionals less than you would pay the shark attorney to drag your case into a courtroom and try it, which can take a year or two. These days, even longer with COVID. Karen Chellew: I'll agree with that. Catherine: I wanted to ask you a little bit about, and this [inaudible 00:25:19] to all of this. People don't really understand that in divorce, you're basically dealing with support, custody and equitable distribution. What we find really interesting and we're really actually proud of is that since we just stay in our zone, because we know what we're good at and we know what we're not good at, or we know there's other professionals good at, we like the team approach, but actually gathering the document and we're assessing the data. Couple of times we have one of the parties, typically the person who is not really the caregiver of the children all the time, now is starting to feel a lot of angst and says, "I'm not giving you any more forms until she agrees to custody of X, Y, and Z." Catherine: Our approach is, we collect your data. We assess it. We still need these documents. However, we're going to refer you to a mediator at this time, or we're going to refer you to a coach at this time and go talk about just the children thing, because they're not really going to do your financial decisions. And neither of you should make a financial agreement between yourselves, because we don't even have all the data for you to have all the knowledge you need. But really what happens is they then go off to who we refer them to and settle just their children. They're not doing these one-off agreements because a lot of people feel really pressured into, oh my gosh, they're going to take my kids if I don't agree to him [inaudible 00:26:44], or if she wants to keep the house, she has to do this. And we're going to deal with this all together. What is someone's choice other than what we're doing here? And is it somebody's choice to stop, take pause and say, "No, we're just going to go talk about the kids with a mediator or a coach and still gather those documents." I feel like that's how they keep their trust going, basically. Susan Guthrie: I think that's a fantastic suggestion actually, because yes, you do not... When we talked earlier about it's a puzzle and you need to put all the pieces together, taking the parenting plan outside of that is actually something that can be done and discussed at any time. Because what people need to understand, and I'm just going to speak about the law for a second, because I don't really think the law should have much to do with your children, but in a divorce, it does. The issue of what's in your children's best interests, which is the legal standard is something that is subject to be changed at any time. Even if you were to go and decide today that you think this particular parenting plan is in your children's best interests, if things were to change in the future, then that's up in the air that that can be revisited. It can always be revisited. Susan Guthrie: What I say to people, what you described, I call it the hostage-taking approach to divorce negotiations. It is the, well, I'm not going to give you what you want, or I'm going to take what you want if you don't give me what I want. I especially hate it when they do that with the children, but they will do it with other things that are important. I've seen them do it with the pets. I've seen them do it with the house. I've seen them do it with retirement. You name it, because that is a key thing that we all understand as professionals in this realm, spouses know how to push each other's buttons and they know where the weaknesses are. They will use those in a negotiation, which may be great if you're a cutthroat business deal guy. Susan Guthrie: But if you're trying to negotiate a settlement with someone that you're going to go forward and co-parent with, perhaps you don't want to come at it from that approach. Yes, I think it's a great approach. I think you can go to a mediator at any time in your divorce. And a good mediator is going to help you with the current issues, whatever those might be, as well as help you start working toward that final settlement. That's what people don't realize is they think they go to a mediation and it's all about what the final settlement is going to be. Very often in the beginning of a mediation, we are going to talk about how the kids are going to get to school every day for the next month, until school's out or how the bills are going to get paid while you're figuring out how the divorce is going to work out, how the mortgage is going to continue to get paid, or who's going to be responsible for doing this, that, or the other thing. Susan Guthrie: You can deal with immediate issues and you can always be working toward that final issue. But the key point is that you and Karen are working in the background to help continue pulling together the information that's needed so that when you have worked out what your, at least, current parenting is going to look like, you can move on to those financial issues. Karen Chellew: Agreed. Catherine: Don't you love when somebody comes to mediation, they say, well, we have an agreement. We just want to go over it with you. Susan Guthrie: Another situation that's hardly ever happened. Yes. [inaudible 00:30:21] to their credit, I don't want to deter anyone from talking to their spouse. One, I will say to everyone what I say to people in my opening week, we call it an opening statement in mediation, what the mediator says. It is perfectly acceptable to say, I hear what you're saying. I understand it. If you've asked the questions that you need to ask, let me think about it. I'm open-minded but I want to think about it and not make a decision right now. Well, that is the trap that people fall into all the time. And I always say, sounds great. I hear you. I need to talk to my financial advisor. I need to talk to my attorney. Give me some time to think about it and let's talk about it more with our mediator. Perfectly acceptable and actually a home run for everyone. Susan Guthrie: Because then when you come to mediation, you're ready to talk about it but with someone who's going to help you. That's the other thing people need to know, is that your mediator... Somebody said to me the other day in a mediation, Susan, he did this when we were married and don't you think that's unfair? Can you believe he did that? Don't you think that's unfair? Is that right that he did that? It doesn't matter what I think that's not my role at all. I actually didn't agree with her and I thought it wasn't that bad, but am I going to say that in a mediation? No, it has no bearing on anything. It's that she thinks that, so we need to deal with that in that context, but everybody thinks their mediator's going to make decisions for them. Susan Guthrie: That's absolutely not our role. Maybe he doesn't know she thought that was unfair. Maybe he doesn't know that she thinks he shouldn't have done that and maybe we need to talk about that. There was value in what she was saying, but she was looking for me to be her, the emotional justice that you were talking about, Karen, and that's not your mediator's role. But your mediator is there to say, maybe you need to talk to Tom. Have you ever expressed this to Tom, Mary? Maybe we should have a conversation about that. Do you think it would be helpful? Catherine: Right, which is great. We do that with our financial portrait, not to mediate them but we'll often hear, this was a premarital, I put 200 000 into our home. I want that back. Okay, well, how did you put the 200? Do you have a copy of the check that we can include in your portrait? Oh no, but I have a tax document and wife is unsure if it's premarital not. Our notation to the mediator is exactly this, husband is claiming he has a premarital portion. We requested these documents. They were not received. We're not telling him, even though we know it's not going to be considered premarital, he has no proof, but she's believing him because he's bullying her into it. And we can't say to her, it's not premarital because we're not going to meddle with what the mediator is going to do, or if they go to attorneys. Catherine: But we put enough in there that she's questing that. She says, "I'm not agreeing with you. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing. I just need to see this document." If we can't get it, then the next professional has [inaudible 00:33:30] just asked for that document. But their emotions are being heard. He's being heard. He realizes that it's not going to be considered premarital before he gets to that mediation. That little bit of the fight goes down. It's really, for us, rewarding to see them transform a little bit into, okay, maybe we will talk this out. And then the professional gets the document and knows exactly where they're coming from because we've wound some of it. It really does make a better process for everyone. When again, you need the knowledge. Susan Guthrie: It's critical. Part of that is two people having just misunderstandings about what the law is and flip of that, just because the law says it doesn't mean you two can't agree to do something different. Maybe in that particular case, the wife would say, well, I do remember you put in 20 000. I remember that really distinctly. I agree that it is absolutely fair that you get that 20 000 back. The other 180 is in the mix. I think we need to talk more about that. Now that may not be what a judge would do, but in mediation they get to be guided by their own moral compass and by their own definitions of fairness, within the context of, they have to come to an agreement. I get people all the time and I'm sure... Well, that's not fair or that's not what I'm entitled to. Who knows what's fair and who knows what's entitled to? What can you live with? What works for you and what works for your family as you move forward? Because I always say to people, yes, everything has a dollar sign, but always keep in mind, your peace of mind has a dollar sign attached too, and that you're going to spend a lot of money arguing over that television set probably much more than your peace of mind was worth. Karen Chellew: I think that comes from a space of just having some control. But when you're informed and you have a team, you won't even be fighting over a television or a sofa, you'll know the parameters of what's going to benefit you most. And that's where your focus will be. That's great. Susan, what last word would you like to leave with people about their divorce experience? Susan Guthrie: You used the words earlier, Karen, and I think it's important to say them again, divorce is so viewed as a shameful and stigmatized experience in our lives. I actually read a quote and I think it was a quote from Jennifer Aniston, she's been married and divorced twice. And she said to a reporter, I consider both of my marriages very successful. They just didn't last forever. Karen Chellew: That's what I say. Susan Guthrie: I've been married twice and divorced once. One, I would love it if we can start twisting that or inserting that thought into our brains as we go into divorce. And the other aspect of this that I want people to just consider is that instead of being a horrible, terrible experience of life and a horrible thing to happen to you, consider that divorce is an opportunity. Susan Guthrie: It is an opportunity for a new beyond. That's why my podcast is divorced and beyond. It's your opportunity to create a whole new future and truly in life, you can count on one hand the times in your life where you have those opportunities to make major changes to fit in with what you truly want. And we change and evolve as we grow. If you can view divorce as an opportunity, as opposed to a terrible, horrible thing that is happening to you, I think that you will find that you can divorce in a better way. Karen Chellew: I agree. [crosstalk 00:37:34]. Catherine: Amen to that. Karen Chellew: Thank you so much. This concludes this episode on divorce attorney secrets to thriving beyond your divorce. Thank you Susan, for a great conversation. Susan Guthrie: Thank you both for having me. I truly enjoyed this. Thank you. Catherine: Thank you.

Transcript: CHRIS NEWBOLD: Hello, well-being friends and welcome to the Path to Well-Being in Law podcast, an initiative of the Institute for Well-Being in Law. I'm your co-host, Chris Newbold, Executive Vice President of ALPS Malpractice Insurance. Most of you are listeners. For those of you who are new to the podcast, our goal is pretty simple. It's to introduce you to thought leaders doing meaningful work in the well-being space within the legal profession and in the process to build and nurture a national network of well-being advocates intent on creating a culture shift within the profession. I want to introduce my co-host, Bree Buchanan. Bree, how have you been doing? BREE BUCHANAN: Wonderful, Chris. Great to be here. How are you? CHRIS: Bree, I think I heard that you had just come off some vacation doing some bicycling in my neck of the woods. Tell us a little bit more about where you went and why. BREE: Yeah. So I got to go with a group of friends out over to your neck of the woods in Montana, the Trail of the Hiawatha and the Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes and got to get some cycling in, which was just really wonderful. CHRIS: Awesome, awesome. Glad to hear you get off the grid and that's such an important part. My vacation is next week where I'll be with my family on a lake, just relaxing, and we all know that, that's an important part of recharging and being our best selves. BREE: Absolutely. CHRIS: Yeah, so we are again, super excited for today's podcast. We are wrapping up a three-part series looking at the interconnection of well-being in law schools. We have had Linda Sugin from Fordham Law School, we have had Jennifer Leonard from Penn Law, and today we are so excited to welcome Janet Stearns from the Miami School of Law. Bree, I know that you have a personal relationship with Janet, a friendship. I would love it if you could introduce Janet to our listeners. BREE: Absolutely. I'm delighted that we've got Janet here today. I'll give you the official introduction to Janet, but from a personal standpoint, Janet and I have been sort of on the front lines of working in this area, gosh, Janet, I don't know, six, seven years starting back with the ABA's Commission on Lawyer's Assistance Programs. Janet has been a true leader in that space. So let me give you the full introduction, and then we'll go ahead and hear more from Janet. BREE: Janet Stearns is the Dean of Students and a lecturer in law at the University of Miami Law School. Has been there since October 1999. In 2007, she was appointed Dean of Students. Since 2011, she's regularly taught professional responsibility. Last year, she received NALSAP's CORE Four Annual Award recognizing the competencies, values and ethics of the very best law student affairs professionals, and I absolutely agree with that. She is the immediate past chair for the AALS Student Services Section, and as I know her, a member of ABA CoLAP, and not only an advocate for wellness programming in the law schools, but has also been the Chair of the Law School Committee and has led all of those efforts for, I'd say at least five years. Since she became the Dean of Students, she has been passionate about wellness initiatives there at Miami, including the Fall Wellness Week, Spring Mental Health Day, and a weekly Dean of Students constitutional walk around the campus. Finally, I'm proud to say that she won the CoLAP Meritorious Service Award in November 2020. So Janet, so glad to have you here. How are you doing today? JANET STEARNS: Well, Bree, that's such a generous introduction. So I'm blushing a little now, but I am delighted to be here with you and Chris and looking forward to chatting. BREE: Great. So Janet, because I know you, and I know how dedicated you are to this, I think that you've probably got a really good answer to this question that we ask all of our guests because we know that people that are committed to the well-being movement often have a real passion for the work. So what experiences in your life are the drivers behind your passion for being such a leader in the well-being movement in law? JANET: Well, Bree, I think I've often, for a long time been really interested in my own personal well-being. As I think back on my own experience in law school, a classmate of mine, we decided to decaffeinate together in law school. Not many people do that, but we did. We went off coffee cold turkey and really just recognized it made us less jittery and that we could actually feel better and be more present for what was happening around us. I tell students that's just one example of how we can actually use the law school experience to think about our own well-being. JANET: But I think that certainly my work here at the University of Miami has brought me into a space where I have had to work and counsel way too many students who have been struggling. Struggling with drugs and alcohol and suicide. JANET: I have spoken many times about a student of ours, Katie Corlett, who died just shortly after her graduation, really, I think about the week before the bar results came out. In a time, many of us can remember and relate to of incredible and stress, and she died of a drug overdose, and it had a huge impact on me because I had worked so hard with her to get her through law school. I had gotten to know her parents so well, and the time that we spent shortly after the overdose visiting her in the hospital and just thinking of the huge opportunity that was lost for her and for us. That has stayed with me. I often do say, as I talk to other law schools about our programming and our more institutional initiatives, we do not want to have any more Katies. BREE: Right. JANET: We want to do everything possible so that we can see our students graduate and be happy and not have any more Katies. BREE: Yeah, absolutely. Wow. That's powerful. CHRIS: Yeah. I mean, as the Dean of Students, you certainly get a window into some of those challenges. Janet, tell us a little bit about ... We're all creatures of our own experience and we all recall our own law school days ... Give us a little flavor of Miami Law. The location and the size, the focus, anything that you find particularly unique about the culture that you've worked to build at Miami Law. JANET: Okay, Chris. Well, Miami Law, we are actually in Coral Gables. We are not in Miami. But Coral Gables is a suburb of Miami, and the University of Miami Law School has typically been on the larger side of law schools. This year we're probably going to be welcoming just under 400 students, 1L new students to our law school, but we have about 1,300 students. So we have JD students, and we also have a very large population of LLM students in many different programs, but our international LLM is bringing students from all over the world with a particularly large focus on Latin America. So it is a school where we have a lot of international diversity. Miami is just a very, at its nature, multilingual community, but there is a lot of Spanish that is spoken and Portuguese and other languages. JANET: We have a lot of first-generation students, Chris, and working families, first-generation students from our community. As we know, Miami has been all over the news for various reasons. But it is certainly a very dynamic community with a lot of temptations, cultural temptations, drug, alcohol, late-night partying. Miami Beach goes around the clock. It's against that backdrop that we are trying to encourage people to really both focus on their studies and focus on their well-being. BREE: Yeah. So over the time ... You've been at Miami Law a little bit over 20 years ... What are some of the mental health and well-being issues you've seen your students face? I mean, certainly Katie that you talked about is the worst case scenario, but just from my experience, I imagine you've seen a lot of other things that don't lead up to such a tragic end. JANET: Right. Well, Bree, I do think that Miami is a community where there is a lot of opportunity to focus on well-being, the good and the bad, as I said. There are, I think a lot of stresses and temptations, but I think there also are a lot of an incredible amount of natural beauty here. Beaches and opportunities to get into the outdoors and enjoy the tropical climate, the Everglades when people take advantage of that. We really work hard to model that for our students. JANET: I think that we have gone through certainly over time, our students face a lot of challenges. I do think that being in such an active and vibrant place and such a, from my perspective, a city that never sleeps, we have to work really, really, really hard from the beginning of orientation to try to model limits. Limits on your time, learning how to say no, learning the value of sleeping, learning the value of focus. The fact is that you're not going to be at every single event or movie or social or networking opportunity. There's just too much. So I think learning how to set limits from the very beginning is actually one of the things I talk about in our orientation message. JANET: I do think another well-being issue and one we were just discussing some, it is an expensive city. There is a lot of opportunities to go out and spend a lot of money. There's a lot of variation in housing that's expensive. So we have to work very early to try to help people to understand their financial budget and how to plan for their law school years in a way that will make sense and leave them where they still can feel in control as they graduate and move into the legal profession. So financial literacy is another important aspect of well-being and one that we try to also talk to our students about from the very beginning. BREE: Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up because that's not something that we really talked about. There's the six dimensions of well-being, but that financial piece of it, that financial dimension, can be such a heavy burden for the students. Sure. JANET: Right. Right. Then of course, I mean, Miami Law and the whole world has had the opportunity, I would say through this pandemic, to even talk more about well-being. Right, Bree. I know that when I was sent home in March 2020, the first thing that I brought home from my office with me was I have a framed copy of The Serenity Prayer next to my desk. BREE: Right. Wonderful. JANET: In March, there were many, many calls with deans and faculty and students, "What about this? And what about this?" I just said, "We're going to say our Serenity Prayer. We are going to try to figure out what we can control here and what we cannot and how to distinguish those things." I think actually as we model that, because our students and people around us see our own process of trying to figure those things out and yet trying to stay calm and make decisions through the pandemic, I think we've really taught some valuable lessons. BREE: I think The Serenity Prayer should be standard issue with your law school diploma. JANET: Absolutely. BREE: That would be helpful. JANET: It always does the trick for me. CHRIS: Janet, I'm curious, as you think about kind of the state of well-being in your law school, has it become more challenging? Has it improved? I mean, you have the context of kind of stability and seeing it over a longer period of time, but just curious on your reflections on at least within your school what kind of trends that you're seeing as it relates to well-being. JANET: That's such a great question, Chris. I think what's interesting if we go back, I don't know ... I think when I started to work with Bree with the CoLAP but I would say we've been involved in planning ... I probably have done a Fall Wellness Week since I first became Dean of Students in 2007. I had been working with the ABA CoLAP and the ABA Law Student Division on the Mental Health Day Initiative now for, I don't know, five, six, seven years. JANET: There was a point I think when we would announce Mental Health Day and everybody would be like, "What is that? Why?" I would say in the last few years, what I'm noticing is I have a lot of people around the country, deans of students at other schools, they're like, "When are you going to announce the Mental Health Day plans? When is it coming? What's the theme this year because we're putting it on our calendars." I think people are very, very eager to talk about this right now, Chris, at some level. Of course, then we just have to reflect on the events of the last week of the Olympics. I mean, it just feels like we are truly having a national conversation, thanks to the courage of Michael Phelps and Simone Biles and others. BREE: Absolutely. JANET: We are having a national conversation, and people are eager to have this conversation with us. So there is a level of attention and focus that can only be a good thing right now for the work that we're doing. CHRIS: Yeah, for sure. Talk to us about some of the well-being initiatives at Miami Law that you're most proud of. I mean, you talked about Fall Wellness Week. Talk to our listeners about some of the things that you have initiated and instituted there that you think are actually driving results. JANET: So I do think that the Fall Wellness Week has become a great catalyst, and we try to have a very intentional conversation ... I was actually talking with some CoLAP colleagues yesterday about this, about when. When is the most effective time to raise these issues? My view has been orientation is not always the best time. I think your students are a little bit deer in headlights and it's a little bit too early, but we have been doing ... Recently we moved the National Mental Health Day to October. Now we try to program around October 10th. So for many of us, that's about six weeks into the school year, give or take. I think people are really receptive. They're starting to feel the stress. They're starting to feel some of the anxiety and self-doubt as they're trying to work their way through, and it's a really good time to come in and try to do some positive programming. JANET: We try to both do some national programming, but many schools are also using that to do school-based programming, often in partnership with the LAP in the state, everything from healthy smoothie happy hours, constitutional walks, yoga, physical fitness, and sometimes some actual conversations with thought leaders around the value of sleep as something that actually promotes your learning or the worries of study steroids. So we have used the Fall Wellness Week, I think, to maximum effect for a lot of programming. CHRIS: Do you keep that programming broader in terms of different areas of focus or do you actually look at kind of a 1L track, a 2L track, a 3L track? I'm just kind of curious on the structure of how you do that. JANET: Well, that's a great question. I would say right now the Fall Wellness Week has been broader for everybody. CHRIS: Okay. JANET: I think that we are actually starting to have some more conversations. We have been doing some 3L specific sort of pathway to the bar exam kinds of programming. I actually think there's a lot more that we can be doing in that regard. I think the ABA Law Student Division is also interested as we think about bar success and wellness. I think that there is some 3L targeted work that we have been doing, but I think that we could be doing more around that Chris, from my own perspective. JANET: But I think that point is well taken. I do think that we find by and large that if we were to hold a program either around suicide or around study steroids, or pick your topic, depression, and we just said, "Show up for a program," law students by and large are not going to show up for that program. They don't want to walk into a room and be identified and tagged as the person who's thinking about suicide. But if you can market your program, and I think we've thought hard about this, whether it has to do more broadly with mindfulness, well-being, success in law school, happiness in the profession, I think if you can market that program, you can deliver the same content, but you can get people in the room and then get the buy-in and really get much broader participation. So I feel very strongly about that. JANET: I just also wanted to highlight that I think over this last year, we have also tried to be a lot more intentional ... I'm not sure we weren't doing it before ... But about the crossover between the struggles over racial injustice that we are all experiencing, and certainly that some of our students in various affinity groups are experiencing with well-being. Last year's Mental Health Day highlighted my colleague, Rhonda Magee, who spoke about her fabulous book, The Inner Work of Racial Justice. We then had several follow-up programs that students found really, really impactful, where we were really focusing on the impact of well-being on targeted communities of color. JANET: We've had a lot of, I think, requests for some more programming targeted with our first-generation students around well-being. I think there is a huge outcry for doing more programming of this sort as we move forward. BREE: What advice do you have for others who may be working at a law school and are listening to this? Maybe they're faculty or administration and who want to enact some of their own initiatives. Do you have some advice for them? How to get it started and how to make sure it's successful? JANET: Well, Bree, I think, as you know, because you and I have talked about this a lot, I do feel that right now the vast majority of law schools in the country are doing positive things around well-being. Many want to do more. Some of us are doing it differently. Some have more resources than others to do this kind of programming. But I think there's a huge interest, and in fact, I think a demand to have well-being programming in law schools right now and to really connect this for our law students. This is one of the things I say to students all the time, "You're coming to us not only to learn about contracts and torts, you're coming to learn how to become a future professional. Some of the skills that we can teach and model for you about your personal well-being and learning to set limits and finding balance between yourself and your work, these are some of the most important skills and probably the most important skills we can teach you in law school." BREE: I think of sort of the fancy word for that, professional identity formation. Is that? JANET: We are all talking about professional identity formation. Exactly. Exactly. And this is a critical element of this. I think that the well-being community and the professional identity community have found a great partnership and shared interest. These are things that we are working together to message, and we're messaging them in all parts of the law school. We're messaging them in clinics and in externship programs. We are messaging this in all kinds of core courses, including professional responsibility. This is all a part of our shared mission right now. CHRIS: Janet, it's great to hear that. I mean, again, with your perspective. When I think of law schools and well-being, I think of you because I think that you've been kind of at the epicenter of kind of looking at what's been going on in the law school environment. It's encouraging to hear that your sense is that the vast majority of law schools have kind of leaned in on this particular subject. I'm just curious about maybe the why. Why we find ourselves in a significantly better position today than say we did 10 years ago? JANET: Well, I think first of all, I do believe as I both talk to people at Miami Law but people around the country, in fact, Chris many of us are experiencing issues or challenges around mental health and substances with our own families, with our friends. We have faculty ... In fact, I was on the phone the other day with a faculty member and she said, "My child is in the process of being hospitalized." So I think we are actually at a point where ... I have another faculty colleague ... Fabulous, very, very smart person who lost his wife to suicide. I'm coming to the world at this point. I think this it's not a Democratic issue, it's not a Republican issue. This is an issue that affects all of our families and things that we hold near and dear to us. I think people are being a little more open about that. JANET: I think as all of the work and certainly, Bree, all of the anti-stigma work that you and others have been doing for so long, I think this is seeping in, and I think people are coming forward and saying, "This affected my family. This affected my child. This affected my brother." I think faculty are also a little more willing, and I'm not saying everybody, but to be a little more vulnerable themselves with their students. I think some of this happened during the pandemic. I think there was something very equalizing about all of us being on Zoom. BREE: That's a great point. JANET: Struggling with Zoom, and I saw some faculty members, and then I heard about it from students who said, "I'm really struggling here. I haven't been able to see my parents. I'm divorced and I haven't been able to visit my child. And this really sucks right now. So I appreciate that this is really a confusing time for all of you as students and the faculty. Where it's like, "Oh my gosh, that torts professor's a real person." JANET: I view this as some of the, I like to call it the gifts of the pandemic, but I think that there were people who became a lot more real with each other. And that includes faculty members becoming a little more real with students as well. CHRIS: That's such a great observation. I've always been prone to say that we are obviously human beings before we are a law student, a lawyer, a professor, a judge. It feels like we're kind of getting more back to some of those kinds of basic levels of empathy and kind of all on the same trajectory of just kind of trying to live our best life. JANET: Right. Absolutely. CHRIS: Let's take a quick break here. We'll hear from one of our sponsors, and we'll be right back. — Advertisement: Meet Vera, your firm's virtual ethics risk assessment guide. Developed by ALPS, Vera's purpose is to help you uncover risk management blind spots, from client intake to calendaring to cybersecurity and more. Vera: “I require only your honest input to my short series of questions. I will offer you summary recommendations to provide course corrections if needed and to keep your firm on the right path.” Generous and discreet, Vera is a free and anonymous risk management guide from ALPS to help firms like yours be their best. Visit Vera at alpsinsurance.com/vera. — BREE: Welcome back everybody, and we're here with Dean Janet Stearns from the University of Miami School of Law. Janet, so one of the things that I really want to dig into with you because you sit at such a unique position of this nationally, and that is some of the policy initiatives that are occurring across the country to really try to change this circumstances for law students. I want to hear, and this is particularly in your spot as Chair of CoLAP's Law School Committee, could you tell us about some of the initiatives that you all are working on? In particular, I'm thinking about the whole character and fitness process, which has had such a detrimental impact on students' willingness to ask for help. And then also to dig into some of the changes you guys are seeking for the ABA standards. JANET: Well, thank you, Bree. I have to say, I think it has been a tremendous honor for me to be able to be involved with the American Bar Association CoLAP because you really feel the capacity to make change, to be in a room with people who are not only passionate about these issues, but who actually have some policy vision and the power to then act upon that vision. JANET: So we have been working through the CoLAP on several national projects that we think can really shift the conversation on health and well-being for students. As you mentioned, the first has to do with character and fitness. Why is this so important? Because in surveys that have been done and the preeminent survey by Jerry Organ, David Jaffe and Kate bender, looking at law student well-being, we learned the very scary high numbers of students who are experiencing depression, suicidality, substance use/abuse. We also learned that a very small percentage of those students were willing to come forward and ask for help from deans of students like myself. And the primary number one reason they told us they would not come ask for help is because they were afraid that they would have to disclose it on their bar application. JANET: So this became a huge cultural issue for us. How can we shift that culture so that people understand that when they need help, they actually indeed must ask for help, that we are here to help them, and that the bar character fitness doesn't become a barrier to that. So we have been working on trying to both evaluate what states are doing around the country and advocating for change, and specifically trying to either eliminate questions in the character and fitness process asking about mental health history or history of substance use disorders or narrowing those questions in time and scope so that people understand that their first duty is to take care of themselves and get help, and it will not stand in their way of ultimately being able to become a lawyer. JANET: We have had, I think we both, there has been, I think some policy conversations, we've been able to do some writing in this field, but as we know, in 2020, one of the great gifts of the pandemic was that early on the State of New York removed their questions relating to substance use mental health. Anything outside of conduct is no longer asked by New York. BREE: That was huge. JANET: That was huge. It was huge. So many people came together including great advocates in Massachusetts, which had been doing this for a long time that made possible the change in New York. Shortly after New York, I think in March, literally as we were moving into the pandemic, Michigan removed its questions. Again, thanks to a lot of great advocacy by Tish Vincent and others involved with the LAP in Michigan, the law schools in Michigan, and a month later, Indiana followed Michigan's suit just after the pandemic had started. JANET: The Chief Justice in Indiana, who I just think is one of ... My Ruth Bader Ginsburg I tell her ... Justice Rush, who really was so eloquent in recognizing the importance of this issue. The Supreme Court took very quick action under her leadership to remove the problematic character and fitness questions in Indiana. Then by the summer, New Hampshire also followed suit. So those were four states all in 2020. I feel like there's a great momentum there, Bree, and I continue to remain hopeful that we can continue to make progress in other states, particularly where we have some matching of an active law school community, an active bar well-being community, a judiciary, and we know that there are other State Supreme Court justices that are very, very enlightened on these issues, that we can work together to have more states implement reform in the character and fitness process. JANET: I feel strongly also where we can, if we can get either frequently asked questions or preambles, things that we can use as educational materials with students as they enter law school, as we talk about bar admission, so that they are very clearly told that this should not in any way keep you from accessing mental health or other counseling resources when you need it. BREE: Right. I mean, that's one of the things also is to include very explicit language in the introduction to the questions of the application process or somewhere, we want you to get help. That can be helpful too. I know that the Institute for Well-Being in Law is going to be joining in the policy efforts there too around trying to bring about state by state change on those character and fitness questions. So we're going to have a good group of advocates working on this around the country. BREE: I know another thing that CoLAP has been doing, and you've been a leader on really, and I can't imagine how many, maybe hundreds of hours that you've spent writing and working on this, Janet, but that is around the ABA standards for law schools. Can you talk a little bit about that? What you've been working on and the progress that's been made? JANET: Well, thank you, Bree, and this truly has been a labor of love. So the CoLAP Law School Committee, hand-in-hand with the ABA Law Student Division, has been seeking changes in the ABA accreditation rules to recognize the integral role of well-being in law schools, student services, and law school curriculum. As you know, all accredited schools are subject to the ABA accreditation standard. These standards are voted through the Council on Legal Education, through the ABA, and then ultimately approved by the House of Delegates. JANET: And so we have asked for several years for some language on well-being. We didn't get very far the first two years, but this year, I think again, another gift of the pandemic has been the incredible focus and importance of well-being. The Council in fact, did put out some draft language. It was not all that we wanted, but it did include a recognition that every law school needed to provide some well-being resources to its students, either directly or in collaboration with university resources, LAP resources, looking as well at financial well-being, emergency funds, and other essential resources that every law school must do. So the ABA Council recommended this language. We then had a large comment period. We are currently in the middle of a second comment period on proposed language. We hope to hear more in this month of August as to whether or not the package of proposals will be pushing forward by February to the House of Delegates. JANET: I will note that the package right now also has some other very significant changes on professional identity education in law schools, and it also has a large package of proposals that have to do with diversity and inclusion and core curricula requirements in law schools around diversity inclusion initiatives. There is a very rich package of proposed revisions to the standards. We are going to remain hopeful that these can get to the House of Delegates this year. But I think the fact that we finally have well-being in a draft proposal as an essential part of every accredited law school, that is institutional change, and I'm very proud of how far we've come with this so far. BREE: Absolutely. And Janet, if our listeners, if somebody wanted to dig in further and learn more about that, can they go to the ABA website or how could they learn more or track what's going on in that area? JANET: All of the proposed changes and indeed all of the comments that have been received are all on the website for the ABA Section on Legal Education, as well as the notices of ... There will be a meeting as we're recording this, we are in the week of the ABA Annual Meeting ... But my understanding is August 19th and 20th, the Section on Legal Education will meet again, we understand, to discuss next steps on these standards. Of course, if that is a problem, anybody is free to email me at the University of Miami. We have a large community of friends across the country who are in a very close conversation about continuing to advocate for these changes to the standards. Please join us. CHRIS: Let's talk a little bit about the future as we kind of look ahead. Obviously we've made a lot of progress through the efforts of you and other folks who are keeping a close eye on this. You talked about the fact that there's more awareness, more eagerness, more focus, but we also know that culture shifts in our profession, they don't happen overnight. I'm just kind of curious on your perspective of what's on the horizon. What things do you see in the future being done by law schools to continue to move the needle on improving the well-being of law students? Because we obviously know that you're preparing the next generation in some respects. There are general generational aspects to the improvement of the profession. So I'd love for you to break out the crystal ball, so to speak, and kind of talk about what you see kind of coming down the road as we continue to maintain an emphasis on this issue in the law school environment. JANET: Well, thank you, Chris. I'm not very good with a crystal ball, but let me try here. So I do believe, and I think at the CoLAP level, first of all, I believe that we need to work hard to make sure that not just student services folks, but faculty and administration do need to be trained on mental health first aid, which is a course, i an eight-hour course, to make sure that they have basic skills to be prepared to have conversations with people. This course, this mental health first aid course is not only for law schools, this is being done in law firms, it's being done with police, it's being done all over the country right now so that people are more equipped when they come in contact with a client or a patient or a student or a colleague or a child that they have some more basic skills to be able to triage the situation and feel prepared to understand what somebody is going through. So I do think we need to continue to push that course out, number one. JANET: I think number two, that we need to have some more institutional structure for keeping these conversations going, as you've said, Chris. I would say at the University of Miami, I have formed some great partnerships with other people at our university. I would include the people, my friends at the medical school. I think that our medical education and legal education in our student populations, there're strengths and there're weaknesses. There's a lot of overlap. So I've tried to partner closely with the medical school, our counseling center, other people at the university so we have some institutional structure for continuing a conversation. I think that's incredibly important because me, one person, I get busy and distracted by other things. But when you know that people are coming together at regular intervals to have a conversation that is empowering. That creates accountability, JANET: I think we also get a lot of accountability by working with the LAPs in our state. We just, this summer, just last month, the Florida LAP got all of the law schools in Florida together for a program. I know that these regional meetings are taking place right now in other states. That also creates a catalyst for change. Also when you're working with the State Supreme Court on the character and fitness topic. I think there is a strength in numbers when we can bring people together, whether it's under the auspices of a well-being committee or whether it's just again, a time of coming together to support one another, share, and then try to again, begin to imagine ways that we can work together to create change. BREE: Absolutely. I've always felt that in regards to these policy initiatives and the work around the well-being movement, get passionate people together sitting around a table, you have a bunch of lawyers, they're brilliant, they're creative, they're solution-focused. We can figure this out. And so Janet, thank you for being there at the head of the table in these discussions, in this work around law school. BREE: I want to thank our listeners for joining us. This is the third and the final of our miniseries on initiatives and innovations in law school space. Please join us for our research miniseries, where we'll have three episodes digging in and talking with some of the lead researchers and thought leaders in the lawyer and well-being space movement. So want to thank everybody for joining us again today. We will be back with you in the next couple of weeks with more episodes. In the meantime, be well. Take care. Thank you all.  

Stef Tucker and John Coe Bio Stefan (Stef) Tucker is a Senior Partner at Venable LLP in Washington, D.C. His practice encompasses mergers and acquisitions, entity planning, structuring and formation, asset protection and preservation, business transactions, and family business planning and wealth preservation. In addition, Mr. Tucker has extensive experience in federal and state income, estate, and gift taxation. Stef served as chair of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation from 1998 to 1999, having previously served as chair-elect, vice-chair of committee operations, council member, and chair of its committees on real estate and continuing legal education. Professor Tucker also served on the D.C. Tax Revision Commission in 2014–2015, the recommendations of which were adopted by the D.C. Council, resulting in major changes in personal and business income and other taxes in Washington, D.C. He was an active member of the ABA Section of Taxation Task Force on Tax System Restructuring, with a particular focus on real estate. In addition, he is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Division of Taxation, having previously served as a member of its steering committee. Professor Tucker was a professorial lecturer at law at George Washington University Law School from 1970 to 1990, and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center from 1990 to 2015, in both cases teaching Tax Planning for Real Estate Transactions. Education J.D. Order of the Coif, University of Michigan Law School, 1963B.B.A., University of Michigan, 1960 Bar Admissions District of Columbia Professional Memberships and Activities Member, American Bar Association, Section of Taxation; member, Task Force on Tax System Restructuring; past chair, 1998 – 1999Member, District of Columbia Bar, Division of Taxation; past member, Division of Taxation Steering CommitteeMember, American Law Institute Member, American College of Real Estate Lawyers Member, American College of Tax Counsel Member, American College of Trust and Estate CounselDISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD, 2015, American Bar Association, Tax DivisionMember, DC Tax Revision Committee – tasked with advising the Mayor and Council of DC on suggested changes in the DC tax landscapeProfessorial lecturer of law, George Washington University Law Center, 1970 – 1990Adjunct professor, Georgetown University Law Center, 1990 – 2015 Adjunct professor, University of Michigan Law School, 2010 – presentAdvisory board member, Real Estate Taxation (LexisNexis)Advisory board member, Practical Tax Strategies (Thomson Reuters) Show Notes Current Role & Origins Thought 55 years billing by the tenth of the hour was enough. Still counseling people on a pro bono basis. He teaches at Michigan Law- Business Planning and Taxation and at Georgetown- Course in Entrepreneurship (5:05)He is a Michigan undergraduate and law school graduate and likes to go the Big House in Ann Arbor almost every Fall (6:45)Roots- Born in Detroit and moved to Flint, MI (8:00)His Dad was an insurance salesmanWent to Flint Central HS (8:35)Then went to Flint Com

Stef Tucker and John Coe Bio Stefan (Stef) Tucker is a Senior Partner at Venable LLP in Washington, D.C. His practice encompasses mergers and acquisitions, entity planning, structuring and formation, asset protection and preservation, business transactions, and family business planning and wealth preservation. In addition, Mr. Tucker has extensive experience in federal and state income, estate, and gift taxation. Stef served as chair of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation from 1998 to 1999, having previously served as chair-elect, vice-chair of committee operations, council member, and chair of its committees on real estate and continuing legal education. Professor Tucker also served on the D.C. Tax Revision Commission in 2014–2015, the recommendations of which were adopted by the D.C. Council, resulting in major changes in personal and business income and other taxes in Washington, D.C. He was an active member of the ABA Section of Taxation Task Force on Tax System Restructuring, with a particular focus on real estate. In addition, he is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Division of Taxation, having previously served as a member of its steering committee. Professor Tucker was a professorial lecturer at law at George Washington University Law School from 1970 to 1990, and an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center from 1990 to 2015, in both cases teaching Tax Planning for Real Estate Transactions. Education J.D. Order of the Coif, University of Michigan Law School, 1963B.B.A., University of Michigan, 1960 Bar Admissions District of Columbia Professional Memberships and Activities Member, American Bar Association, Section of Taxation; member, Task Force on Tax System Restructuring; past chair, 1998 – 1999Member, District of Columbia Bar, Division of Taxation; past member, Division of Taxation Steering CommitteeMember, American Law Institute Member, American College of Real Estate Lawyers Member, American College of Tax Counsel Member, American College of Trust and Estate CounselDISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD, 2015, American Bar Association, Tax DivisionMember, DC Tax Revision Committee – tasked with advising the Mayor and Council of DC on suggested changes in the DC tax landscapeProfessorial lecturer of law, George Washington University Law Center, 1970 – 1990Adjunct professor, Georgetown University Law Center, 1990 – 2015 Adjunct professor, University of Michigan Law School, 2010 – presentAdvisory board member, Real Estate Taxation (LexisNexis)Advisory board member, Practical Tax Strategies (Thomson Reuters) Show Notes Current Role & Origins Thought 55 years billing by the tenth of the hour was enough. Still counseling people on a pro bono basis. He teaches at Michigan Law- Business Planning and Taxation and at Georgetown- Course in Entrepreneurship (5:05)He is a Michigan undergraduate and law school graduate and likes to go the Big House in Ann Arbor almost every Fall (6:45)Roots- Born in Detroit and moved to Flint, MI (8:00)His Dad was an insurance salesmanWent to Flint Central HS (8:35)Then went to Flint Com

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/40833847/admin/ Check out or new website: TalesOfTheTribunal.com For Feedback, comments or submissions contact TalesOfTheTribunal@Gmail.com News: Swiss Court Ruling, Here Pepsico v. VPX, Here US v. Mexico in USMCA dispute, Here Forum Non Convenience NO MORE?, Here FINRA Hearing, Here   Opportunities: Lalive is seeking a Swiss-qualified International Arbitration Associate for its Geneva or Zurich offices, Here Next, Italian eyewear creator, SAFILO is seeking legal counsel to join its greater Milan area offices, Here Then clothing brand, H&M is seeking legal counsel to join its office in Shanghai, Here Then DWF is seeking two associates for its United Kingdom offices, both in its UK offices, Here Finally, Pinsent Masons is seeking a Construction Dispute Resolution Lawyer with 3-4 years experience for its London Offices, Here Finally, for opportunities this week, we note a call for submissions for a law student writing competition. Students enrolled in a US law school may apply to the 2021 James Boskey Law Student Essay Contest on Dispute Resolution.  Top prize is worth $1,000 and will be awarded for the best entry judged by the Boskey Essay committee comprised of representatives from the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution.  Deadline for entry is Friday June 11. Enter Contest, Here   Events/Webinars: ICC YAF Event, Here RAI Event, Here London VYAP Group, Here University of Southern California Event, Here   None of the views shared today or any episode of Disputes Digest is presented as legal advice nor advice of any kind.  No compensation was provided to any organization or party for their inclusion on the show nor do any of the statements made represent any particular organization, legal position or view point.  All interviewees or organizations included appear on an arms-length basis and their appearance should not be construed as any bias or preferred affiliation with the host or host’s employer.  All rights reserved.

The next American Bar Association Section of Taxation May Meeting is coming up next week and it is virtual. On this episode, I discuss various committee panels that focus on tax controversy, policy, ethics, teaching and other interests I have. Also, there are panels connected to the Low Income Taxpayer Clinic world such as the Pro Bono and Tax Clinics, Individual and Family Taxation, and Diversity committees. If you are interested in tax, there are discussions of interest at every ABA Section of Taxation Meeting, but the May Meeting is often the largest event of the year.

Our Section's annual conference is nearly upon us, and for the second time, the team has planned a blockbuster event that you can enjoy from anywhere. Jaya Sharma of the conference planning committee joined me to discuss why you can't miss this year's conference and what to expect. The conference begins this Wednesday, April 14th and runs through Saturday, April 17th. For more on the conference, please visit ambar.org/spring2021. Registration closes on April 13th at 5 pm ET. You can reach Jaya at jsharma@sharmaadr.com.

The pandemic has been hard. On everyone. But one surprising silver lining: enterprising mediators have made the process easier, faster, and cheaper in many cases as a result of moving online. Sure, it might be just another Zoom meeting you have to sit through for hours. But it's a Zoom meeting from the comfort of your home. And strategic mediators are learning new skills they're using to manage online mediation to the great benefit of the separating party. To learn more, we've invited Susan Guthrie to join us this week. Susan is a top family law and mediation attorney legal podcaster! She's a leading dispute resolution professional, serving on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee and Annual Advanced Mediation Skills Institute. More than 17,000 dispute resolution professionals have benefited from her programs through Learn to Mediate Online®, and she's host both The Divorce & Beyond Podcast for divorcing couples and the Learn to Mediate Online Podcast for legal professionals.Links & NotesLearn to Mediate OnlineDivorce in a Better WayThe Divorce & Beyond PodcastLearn to Mediate Online Podcast

The pandemic has been hard. On everyone. But one surprising silver lining: enterprising mediators have made the process easier, faster, and cheaper in many cases as a result of moving online. Sure, it might be just another Zoom meeting you have to sit through for hours. But it's a Zoom meeting from the comfort of your home. And strategic mediators are learning new skills they're using to manage online mediation to the great benefit of the separating party. To learn more, we've invited Susan Guthrie to join us this week. Susan is a top family law and mediation attorney legal podcaster! She’s a leading dispute resolution professional, serving on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee and Annual Advanced Mediation Skills Institute. More than 17,000 dispute resolution professionals have benefited from her programs through Learn to Mediate Online®, and she’s host both The Divorce & Beyond Podcast for divorcing couples and the Learn to Mediate Online Podcast for legal professionals. Links & Notes Learn to Mediate Online Divorce in a Better Way The Divorce & Beyond Podcast Learn to Mediate Online Podcast

My friend Susan Guthrie, host of Divorce and Beyond Podcast, joins me to talk about why you might want to seek spousal and child support in your divorce. I am especially excited about this episode because it’s a crossover event that we created for you! This episode is Part 1 of the crossover event and you can hear Part 2 on Susan’s show. Alimony is the scariest and complicated topic that comes up during a divorce. Together, Susan and I talk about the complexities of spousal support, including how tax laws/bills affect alimony (currently, not in a good way), and when it’s appropriate to seek out support. In Part 1 of our crossover conversation (this episode, right here!) Susan and I talked about why women should take support. In Part 2, we discuss some of the support pitfalls to watch out for and why it may not be the best solution for everyone. Head over to Susan’s podcast to listen to Part 2! Show Highlights The real-deal about alimony and the factors that go into determining when alimony is appropriate. (4:34) Child support guidelines as they currently stand place children in the middle of a divorce. This is NOT okay. (16:44) As a stay-at-home parent, you’ve invested in the household, therefore spousal support honors the work that you’ve done — as well as the fact that you’ve been removed from the workforce for a time.. However, it’s a minimal return on your investment, which can leave women more disempowered in the end.  (18:15) What you need to know about negotiating support. (28:08) Learn More About Susan: Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the United States, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides exclusively online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world through her business Divorce in a Better Way. Susan has also recently partnered with mediation legend, Forrest “Woody” Mosten, to create the Mosten Guthrie Academy to provide cutting edge gold-standard training for attorneys, mediators and other professionals. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee and Annual Advanced Mediation Skills Institute. Susan is also an internationally well-regarded expert in online mediation and has been training colleagues and other professionals in the practical and ethical considerations of conducting their mediations online with her innovative programs and webinars for more than two years. To date, more than 15,000 dispute resolution professionals have benefited from her program and she has trained mediators in countries all around the world including programs for the American Bar Association (ABA), the Alternative Dispute Resolution Institute of Canada (ADRIC), and the National Association of Distinguished Neutrals (NADN) among others. Susan founded Learn to Mediate Online™ in 2018 and now offers more than 7 programs for professionals all designed to help them to advance their skills and their practice to new heights. In addition to her other professional endeavors, Susan is an award-winning podcast host. Having reached a podcast listening audience of almost 4 million in the past two years, Susan is the creator and host of the hit podcast, The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. which debuted on iTunes “Top Podcasts for Self-Help” List. She recently launched The Learn to Mediate Online Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. to bring current information, updates and news on ODR to her thousands of followers. Susan has been featured in and on media outlets such as CNBC, Market Watch, Forbes, Eye on Chicago, WGN, the ABA’s Just Resolutions Magazine, Thrive Global, The Nook Online among others. She is licensed to practice law in the States of California and Connecticut as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States. Resources & Links:Susan’s website The Divorce and Beyond Podcast Susan on Instagram Divorce and Beyond Podcast on Instagram Divorce Corp (movie) The Ultimate Divorce Survival Guide   JOIN THE SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO FACEBOOK GROUP

We are kicking off Season 2 of The Learn to Mediate Online Podcast with not one but two esteemed guests, The Honorable Bruce Meyerson (ret.) and Tracey Frisch, Esq. who are sharing some of the amazing opportunities for scholarships and grants through the AAA-ICDR Foundation that benefit and support dispute resolution programs and professionals. The AAA-ICDR Foundation® is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization funding projects and proposals that address important needs in the U.S. and international ADR community to expand the use and improve the process of ADR, increase access to ADR for those who cannot afford it, and share knowledge across different cultures.  In this episode, Susan Guthrie speaks with Bruce Meyerson, a member of the Board of The AAA-ICDR Foundation, and Tracey Frisch, Senior Counsel for the American Arbitration Foundation, about the wonderful work of the Foundation in supporting dispute resolution programs.  In fact, the Foundation has distributed more than $2 million dollars in grants in just the five years since it was founded. In addition to grants, AAA-ICDR Foundation has established scholarship opportunities and Bruce and Tracey join the podcast in order to shine a light on a new opportunity created in 2020 intended to support diverse neutrals in the field: The AAA-ICDR Foundation Diversity Scholarship Fund which grants diverse law students/professionals with up to $2,000 of financial assistance towards participation in a degree program or fellowship in alternative dispute resolution or attendance at a well-recognized conference.  This is an amazing opportunity so listen to the podcast and help spread the word! For more information: AAA-ICDR Foundation Diversity Scholarship Fund The AAA-ICDR Foundation is pleased to announce the Diversity Scholarship Fund which has been established through a special gift by the American Arbitration Association.  The fund grants diverse law students/professionals with up to $2,000 of financial assistance towards participation in a degree program or fellowship in alternative dispute resolution or attendance at a well-recognized conference. The mission of the Diversity Scholarship Fund is to encourage diversity and inclusion within the field of ADR by supporting the pursuit of knowledge and skill development through training experiences that encourage inclusive leadership growth in the field of ADR. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed quarterly until appropriated funds are expended. Please click here to access the application and further instructions.    For more information on this week's very special guests: Bruce E. Meyerson is a mediator, arbitrator, and trainer in Phoenix, Arizona.  He is a graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center (1972) where he was an Editor of the Law Journal.  He received his undergraduate degree from Arizona State University.  Mr. Meyerson was the founder and first Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest (where he now serves on the board of directors).  He served on the Arizona Court of Appeals for almost five years where he heard over 1000 appeals. He served as General Counsel of Arizona State University from 1986 to 1990.  From 1990 through 2000, Mr. Meyerson practiced commercial and employment litigation in Phoenix.  Since 2000, his practice has focused on conflict resolution.  He is a Past Chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution and the State Bar of Arizona ADR Section. He is an adjunct professor at the Arizona State University College of Law teaching courses in all aspects of dispute resolution, including mediation and arbitration. He is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, the International Academy of Mediators, the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the College of Commercial Arbitrators.  He serves as a board member of the AAA-ICDR Foundation where he chairs the Grants Committee.  He is the Chair of the City of Phoenix Civil Service Board and a member of the City of Phoenix Police and Fire Pension Board and Sister Cities Commission.  He is one of the initial members of the NCAA Independent Resolution Panel. Arbitrator and mediator in Phoenix, Arizona Former Judge on the Arizona Court of Appeals and General Counsel of Arizona State University Past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolution Adjunct Professor at the Arizona State University College of law teaching courses in mediation and arbitration Member of the Board of the AAA-ICDR Foundation Tracey Frisch As Senior Counsel for the American Arbitration Association Tracey is involved in a variety of legal matters that impact the Association.  Tracey also serves as an Adjunct Professor at Pace University Law School teaching Commercial Arbitration Law and previously served as an adjunct Professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law supervising law student mediators.  Tracey is a member of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York pro bono mediation panel specializing in employment discrimination cases and is a New York State certified community mediator and has mediated cases at many of Metropolitan New York's community mediation centers, Small Claims and Civil Courts.  Tracey has authored and spoken on numerous ADR focused topics. Tracey earned her law degree, cum laude, from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and B.A. from Tulane University, magna cum laude. **************************************************************************** About Our Host: Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Dispute Resolution Section as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee. Susan also is one of the leading experts in online mediation in the country and trains other professionals in the practical and ethical considerations of conducting their mediations online through her business Learn to Mediate Online (www.learntomediateonline.com.) Susan recently partnered with mediation legend, Forrest "Woody" Mosten, to form the Mosten Guthrie Academy for Mediation and Collaborative Law Training to provide the gold standard of training for professionals in an online format.  Upcoming Mosten Guthrie trainings include: Optimize Your Divorce Mediation Practice with Technology April, 2021 Advanced Mediation Training May, 2021 40-Hour Divorce & Family Mediation Training September, 2021 Consulting & Study Practice Groups ongoing There are even opportunities to customize your own training program or consulting group with Woody and Susan! Visit www.MostenGuthrie.com to find out more. In addition: The Learn to Mediate Online Training Program is NOW ON-DEMAND!  To date, more than 15,000 dispute resolution professionals have benefited from her online mediation training program which is available as an ON DEMAND COURSE!  The program will help you to transition your in-person mediation process to an online virtual proceeding via Zoom video-conferencing and more.  Go here to find out more: https://learntomediateonline.teachable.com/ Susan also offers additional training and webinars in (available on www.learntomediateonline.com): ***To receive 10% off the cost of the downloadable programs use code "PODCAST." **** Social Media Marketing for Professionals DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAM NOW AVAILABLE! DIY Website Basics DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAM NOW AVAILABLE! Susan also offers 1:1 private coaching and more.  Go to www.learntomediateonline.com ******************************************************************************************************** Susan has been featured in and on media outlets such as CNBC, Market Watch, Forbes, Eye on Chicago, WGN, the ABA's Just Resolutions Magazine, Thrive Global, The Nook Online among others. She is licensed to practice law in the States of California and Connecticut as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States. Susan's other Podcasts: After a year and half of co-creating and co-hosting the award winning podcast, Breaking Free: A Modern Divorce Podcast which reached over 3 million listeners, Susan recently launched her fresh and inspiring new podcast, The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. which debuted on iTunes “Top Podcasts” List for self-help podcasts. Divorce & Beyond is focused on pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of the divorce process and bringing tips and resources to help people to thrive and shine in their new future beyond divorce.   Follow us on Instagram:   @susanguthrieesq @learntomediateonline @divorceandbeyond @mostenguthrie Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform so that you don't miss an episode and if you enjoyed this episode, please give us a five star review and leave a comment telling us what you liked!  You can link to the most popular podcast platforms here:  https://learntomediateonline.com/ltmo-podcast   You can reach Susan at susan@mostenguthrie.com      

How are Court adjuncts and appointments selected in Business Courts? What are the qualifications of mediators and receivers? How do Business Courts use Special Masters to assist with discovery? In this third episode of our podcast series, we speak with Judge Christopher Yates from the Kent County, Michigan Circuit Court. Judge Yates is the co-chair of the ABA Section of Business Law’s Judges Initiative Committee and has served as one of the Section’s Business Court Representatives. Judge Yates provides practitioners with value insight based on his time serving as a Business Court judge, and how the use of Court adjuncts and appointments has changed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Divorce and Beyond Podcast Host         PRE-ORDER: My Dads Advice At 5:04 AM www.mydadsadvicebook.com   Before we start, I need your help.  Please let others know about the newsletter. If you or someone you know needs coaching, please click here and it will take you to the coaching page. My goal is to get the podcast in the top 100 Apple podcasts, and I can only do this with your help. Please leave a rating and review, share the link to the podcast with your social media followers, and support the guest on the podcast.   I was so blessed to be on Susan Guthrie's  "The Divorce and Beyond Podcast." She was a fun host and she really made me feel that I am actually making a dent in the Universe. Her brief bio: As an ADR professional it is my great honor to be a Co-Chair of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution Section's Mediation Committee and as a Co-Chair of the Planning Committee for the Annual Advanced Mediation and Advocacy Skills Institute. I am also proud to be on the Board of the Southern California Mediation Association (SCMA) as well as acting as the Co-Chair of the SCMA's Membership/Communications Committee. After a year and a half as one of the co-hosts of the iTunes Top 10 podcast, BREAKING FREE: A MODERN DIVORCE PODCAST, I have launched a fresh, new, and inspiring podcast, THE DIVORCE & BEYOND PODCAST WITH SUSAN GUTHRIE, ESQ. which is focused on helping individuals and couples transition in a healthy and positive manner through divorce and separation, and more importantly, to provide them with the tools and resources to thrive in their life BEYOND! The podcast is available on all major podcast outlets or by visiting https://www.divorceandbeyond.podbean.com. New episodes are released every Monday morning at 6:00 a.m EST! As an online dispute resolution expert, I also work with individuals and companies in the legal field, as well as other professions, to provide training in the ethical and practical use of the online platform to expand their client base and accessibility through my company LEARN TO MEDIATE ONLINE. Our personalized training allows mediators and other professionals to quickly and efficiently add an online platform to their existing practice in only two hours! You can find out more at www.learntomediateonline.com. Please enjoy this episode where I get to be the guest. PRE-ORDER: My Dads Advice At 5:04 AM www.mydadsadvicebook.com     PRE-ORDER: My Dads Advice At 5:04 AM www.mydadsadvicebook.com Tommy Maloney is the Executive producer and host of the podcast Blending The Family, where you can find on Apple Podcasts, Iheart Radio, Spotify, and Stitcher Radio.    Tommy has spoken at TEDx, Ignite Fort Collins, and Keynote Speaker at Everything Dad Convention. He even has won speaking awards through Toastmasters International.    The author of the book "25 Tips For Divorced Dads." "Why not you, Why Not Me" and His new book, "My Dad's Advice At 5:04 AM" is coming out in 2020. He has written for magazines: The Good Men Project, Modern Gladiator, and Nurture Magazine. Plus, he has been a guest writer.   Tommy enjoys a good red blend while writing or hiding from the family. A dad to Betsy, Becca, Connor, and Duke (RIP), Otis. A husband to Ann.  Podcast music by Twisterium / freebackgroundtracks.net Contact him at  Tommy@BlendingTheFamily.com   TEDx Talk: https://youtu.be/azG2K47iz4Q    Blog: http://blendingthefamily.com/blog/    Podcast: http://blendingthefamily.libsyn.com/    Apple Podcasts: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tommy-maloney/id958223196?mt=2    Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/tommy-maloney/blending-the-family    Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thetommymaloney    The Good Men Project: https://goodmenproject.com/author/tommy-maloney/   Medium: https://medium.com/@thetommymaloney   Calendly: calendly.com/thomasdmaloneyjr      

In this episode of The Learn to Mediate Online Podcast, Host Susan Guthrie speaks with one of the leading civil dispute resolution specialists out there, Ana Sambold who shares her top tips for getting your cases settled ONLINE! Having served as a neutral in over 1,000 cases, many of them online, Ana Sambold is known for her ability to help the parties reach resolution!  Handling a wide range of cases including business/commercial, insurance coverage, real estate, torts, wrongful death, personal injury, succession/wills/trusts, and cases involving multinational and multilingual parties, Ana has a broad bad of trick that she pulls from to help her participants get their cases settled and it may surprise you, but she thinks that it is all so much easier online!  A major advocate of using technology where appropriate as a tool to help people address their conflicts, Ana shares some of her top insights and tips for you in this episode - don't miss it! About this week's Special Guest:  Ana Sambold is one of California's leading figures in the field of alternative dispute resolution. With over a decade of experience as a conflict resolution specialist, she has served as a neutral in over 1,000 cases across a broad spectrum of civil litigation matters. Her practice involves the resolution of business/commercial, insurance coverage, real estate, torts, wrongful death, personal injury, succession/wills/trusts, and cases involving multinational and multilingual parties.  She serves as a neutral on the selected ADR rosters of the American Arbitration Association (AAA), ADR Services, Inc., the Forum, several U.S. courts, federal and state agencies. She has served as an Adjunct Professor of law for California Western Law School and has taught extensively in conflict resolution, mediation, cross-cultural diversity and communication with the National Conflict Resolution Center.   As a prominent leader in the field of ADR, she currently serves as an Executive Officer of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, Co-Chair of the ABA Advanced Mediation and Advocacy Skills Institute, Executive Officer of the California Lawyers Association Litigation Section, and Chair of the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA) ADR Section.  She speaks Spanish fluently and mediates and arbitrates regularly using both English and Spanish. Ms. Sambold is a dually qualified attorney in the U.S. (California and U.S. Federal Court Southern District) and in Colombia. Her unique civil and common law expertise and fluency in Spanish allows her to understand the cultural and legal nuances that facilitate the resolution of disputes in multicultural settings and between parties of different nationalities. She received her Master of Law from University of San Diego School of Law (USD) and her training and credentials in dispute resolution from Harvard Law School, Pepperdine University School of Law - Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution, and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. For more information about her practice, visit: http://www.sambold-law.com/. She can be reached at sambold@sambold-law.com **************************************************************************** About Our Host: Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Dispute Resolution Section as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee. Susan also is one of the leading experts in online mediation in the country and trains other professionals in the practical and ethical considerations of conducting their mediations online through her business Learn to Mediate Online (www.learntomediateonline.com.) The Learn to Mediate Online Training Program is NOW ON-DEMAND!  To date, more than 15,000 dispute resolution professionals have benefited from her online mediation training program which is available as an ON DEMAND COURSE!  The program will help you to transition your in-person mediation process to an online virtual proceeding via Zoom video-conferencing and more.  Go here to find out more: https://learntomediateonline.teachable.com/   Susan also offers additional training and webinars in (available on www.learntomediateonline.com): ***To receive 10% off the cost of the downloadable programs use code "PODCAST." **** Social Media Marketing for Professionals DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAM NOW AVAILABLE! DIY Website Basics DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAM NOW AVAILABLE! Susan also offers 1:1 private coaching and more.  Go to www.learntomediateonline.com ******************************************************************************************************** To find out more about Susan's new venture with mediation legend, Forrest "Woody" Mosten, please visit www.mostenguthrie.com. ************************************************************************************************ Susan has been featured in and on media outlets such as CNBC, Market Watch, Forbes, Eye on Chicago, WGN, the ABA's Just Resolutions Magazine, Thrive Global, The Nook Online among others. She is licensed to practice law in the States of California and Connecticut as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States. Susan's other Podcasts: After a year and half of co-creating and co-hosting the award winning podcast, Breaking Free: A Modern Divorce Podcast which reached over 3 million listeners, Susan recently launched her fresh and inspiring new podcast, The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. which debuted on iTunes “Top Podcasts” List for self-help podcasts. Divorce & Beyond is focused on pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of the divorce process and bringing tips and resources to help people to thrive and shine in their new future beyond divorce.   Follow us on Instagram:  Susan Guthrie, The Divorce & Beyond Podcast and Learn to Mediate Online! Want a Learn to Mediate Online coffee mug?  Your can order yours here: https://teespring.com/learn-to-mediate-online-mug?pid=658&cid=102908&sid=front     EACH MONTH THERE WILL BE TWO WINNERS OF AN LTMO MUG OR OTHER SWAG!  To enter, just leave a 5-Star Rating and Review on iTunes or Podbean!We want to be sure to help as many online professionals as we can and your ratings and review really help to spread the word! Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform so that you don't miss an episode and if you enjoyed this episode, please give us a five star review and leave a comment telling us what you liked!  You can link to the most popular podcast platforms here:  https://learntomediateonline.com/ltmo-podcast You can reach Susan at susan@learntomediateonline.com

2020 became the year for virtual tax conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ABA Section of Taxation had their May Meeting and Fall Meeting held virtually. There are other conferences being held virtually as well. The Kansas tax training I attend each year is doing a mix of virtual and in-person. What is the best approach? I talk through some of the pros and cons of doing virtual tax conferences.

The ABA Section of Dispute Resolution in collaboration with the New York International Arbitration Center (NYIAC) hosts this innovative podcast convening global thought leaders to discuss the state of gender diversity in international arbitration. Topics include the impact of key initiatives and working groups (e.g. the recent ICCA Report of the Cross-Institutional Task Force on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings, the Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge and ArbitralWomen), the role of local and regional perspectives on diversity, and access and advocacy for and on behalf of all stakeholders. The session aired live on October 5 at 12:00 PM ET and is now available for on demand listening. - ICCA Report of the Cross-Institutional Task Force on Gender Diversity in Arbitral Appointments and Proceedings (https://www.arbitration-icca.org/publications/ICCA_Report_N8.html), - Equal Representation in Arbitration (ERA) Pledge (http://www.arbitrationpledge.com/) -ArbitralWomen (https://www.arbitralwomen.org/)

Links/Resources: Vapor intrusion:  https://www.environmental-law.net/environmental-law/vapor-intrusion/ Vapor Intrusion Archive Page (digital images of news articles thru 2008 discussing sites VI problems): https://www.environmental-law.net/environmental-law/vapor-intrusion/vapor-intrusion-digital-project/ Radon Page: https://www.environmental-law.net/environmental-law/indoor-air/radon/ Dry Cleaner Page:  https://www.environmental-law.net/key-practice-areas/environmental-due-diligence/dry-cleaners-and-commercial-real-estate/ List of contaminated NY Dry Cleaner Sites: https://www.environmental-law.net/key-practice-areas/ny-superfund-program/ny-contaminated-dry-cleaner-database/ Bible and the Environment: https://www.environmental-law.net/resources/the-bible-and-the-environment/ EPA Cleanups in my Community-Interactive Map for all federal remedial sites): https://ofmpub.epa.gov/apex/cimc/f?p=cimc:map::::71 EPA Superfund Sites Where You Live: https://www.epa.gov/superfund/search-superfund-sites-where-you-live EPA Lead Paint Page: https://www.epa.gov/lead EPA Drinking Water Page: https://www.epa.gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water Lawrence P. Schnapf is an environmental attorney based in New York City and New Jersey with over 30 years of national environmental transactional experience and is the principal of Schnapf LLC. https://www.environmental-law.net With this background and his geology training, Larry is uniquely qualified to handle the legal and technical issues commonly encountered with environmental issues. Larry primarily concentrates on environmental risks associated with corporate, real estate and brownfield transactions; commercial financing including asset-based lending, syndicated loans, mezzanine loans and distressed debt; bankruptcy, workouts and corporate restructuring. He has extensive experience with brownfield redevelopment and financing, including representing affordable housing developers and assisting local development corporations or not-for-profit organizations with their brownfield planning programs. Larry also counsels clients on environmental, represents clients in federal and state environmental litigation, enforcement actions, administrative proceedings and private cost recovery actions. He has also served as liaison counsel for PRP steering committees. He has also written numerous articles on environmental law, is the general editor/contributing author of “Environmental Issues in Business Transactions” published by the Business Law Section of the ABA and is also the author of “Managing Environmental Liability in Transactions and Brownfield Redevelopment” published by JurisLaw Publishing. He is also contributing author for several chapters of “Brownfield Practice and Law: The Cleanup and Redevelopment of Contaminated Properties” published by Matthew Bender and the Matthew Bender “Environmental Law Practice Guide”. Larry is the Chair of the Environmental Law Section of the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA), co-chair of the NYSBA brownfield task force and served as the co-chair of  the NYSBA Hazardous Site Remediation Committee from 1995 until January 2015 he became an officer of the NYSBA Environmental Law Section.  Larry is also on the advisory board  of the New York City Brownfield Partnership and served as the chair of the Brownfield Field Task Force of the Environmental Business Association of New York (EBA/NYS) from 2002 until EBA/NYS became inactive in 2009. He is a past Chair of the ABA Section of Business Law Committee on Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law. He is also a member of the board of BNA's Environmental Due Diligence Guide and a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. Larry has also served on a number of ASTM Task Groups, including Chair of the legal subcommittee for the ASTM E1527  task force for the 2013 revisions to ASTM E1527 phase 1 standard and was Co-Chair of the legal sub-committee for the ASTM Vapor Intrusion Task Group. Larry is an adjunct professor of environmental law at New York Law School and a faculty member of the NYLS Center for Real Estate Studies where he teaches “Environmental Issues in Business Transactions”, “Environmental Law and Policy” and a mini-course on brownfields. He is also on the faculty of the Center for Christian Studies at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church where he teaches “The Bible and the Environment.” He is listed in the New York Super Lawyers-Metro Edition (2010-2015; the Super Lawyers Business Edition (2011-15); The International Who's Who of Environmental Lawyers (2008-2015) as well as appearing in Chambers USA Client Guide of America's Leading Lawyers for Business. Larry has received the AV® Preeminent Rating from Martindale-Hubbell, the highest possible Peer Review Rating

What is your exit plan and how do you avoid paying the piper on all that taxable-gain you've just incurred from the sale of your ranch? Don't have a ranch but want one? Here's how you can use the tax code to your benefit the exchange into a ranch. Be prepared to drink through a fire-hose on this episode, their is an abundance of information for those who invest in real estate and would like to move assets or portfolio allocation to farms and ranches.Max A. Hansen, a Montana native, joined Accruit after 27 years as President and CEO of American Equity Exchange, one of the first Section 1031 qualified intermediary companies in the Rocky Mountain Region. For over 40 years, Max has helped taxpayers and real estate professionals successfully complete property exchanges.As an attorney and Certified Exchange Specialist™, Max has been assisting clients in real estate transactions involving exchanges for over 42 years. Max is licensed to practice and an active member of the State Bars of Montana, Idaho, Utah and California. He is a Past President of the State Bar of Montana and was State Bar Delegate and ABA delegate to the American Bar Association House of Delegates for over 20 years He served on various ABA committees including the Nominating Committee and the Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary and remains a member of the Committee on Sales, Exchanges and Basis of the ABA Section of Taxation.

In this episode Susan Guthrie is honored to speak with a pioneer in the field of family and divorce mediation and truly the leading name in the business, Forrest "Woody" Mosten, who shares his experience and expertise to help listeners have a successful mediation process. Divorce mediation continues to grow in popularity as an avenue to work through the issues of a divorce, but there are still questions in many people's minds about how it all works and whether mediation can be a successful process for their case.  This week's guest, Forrest "Woody" Mosten has been mediating family matters since 1979 as one of the pioneers in the field.  He has written all the leading books on mediation, collaborative divorce, unbundled legal services and teaches and trains students around the world in the practice.  He is truly a legend in the field and he brings his decades of experience and expertise to the fore to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about mediation and his tips to help YOU have a successful mediation process! Some Highlights From the Episode   Woody shares: Why even high conflict cases should consider mediation. Why you might want to hire a your mediator BEFORE your attorney. What it means to be "divorced obsessed." What the first three questions you should ask a potential attorney are. What other professionals you might want to consider for your "divorce team." and MUCH, MUCH MORE! This is your opportunity to hear from the best of the best so be sure to download and listen to this episode today! More About This Week's Very Special Guest:  Forrest "Woody" Mosten has been in private mediation practice since 1979. Mr. Mosten is in constant demand as a master trainer for basic courses, advanced courses, individual supervision for practicing mediators, conflict resolution professionals, and training other conflict resolution trainers. He is popular presenter at conferences throughout the world. In addition to his work as a neutral, Mr. Mosten maintains an active practice as a family lawyer representing clients in divorce, pre-marital agreements, and complex issues in property, support, and parenting issues after divorce. The California State Bar has recognized Mr. Mosten as a Certified Family Law Specialist. Mr. Mosten does not accept engagements that involve court appearances. He practices with a collaborative and problem solving model and has trained Collaborative Lawyers throughout the world and serves as a negotiation and mediation consultant for other family litigators. Mr. Mosten has been named Super Lawyer by Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine and as one of the top 25 Family Mediators in California by the Los Angeles Daily Journal. Mr. Mosten has been given two major awards by the American Bar Association: A Lifetime Achievement Award for Innovations in Legal Access by the ABA Section of Delivery of Legal Services; and the Lawyer as Problem Solver Award by the ABA Section on Dispute Resolution. His innovations in mediation and legal access have been reported in the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Business Week, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Daily Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the ABA Journal and many other publications throughout the world. You can reach Mr. Mosten through his website at www.mostenmediation.com or by calling him at (858) 999-0009. Mr. Mosten's books can be purchased through his website mostenmediation.com or on Amazon. The two books mentioned in this episode are:      Collaborative Divorce Handbook: Helping Families Without Going to Court      The Complete Guide to Mediation: The Cutting-Edge Approach to Family Law Practice   Susan and Woody's Upcoming Professional Trainings Mentioned in the Episode:      Advanced Mediation Training:  November 12 - 14, 2020      40-Hour Family & Divorce Basic Mediation Training:  January 26 - February 4, 2021 ********************** SUSAN GUTHRIE, ESQ., the creator and host of The Divorce and Beyond Podcast, is nationally recognized as one of the top family law and divorce mediation attorneys in the country.  She is one of the Co-Chair's of the American Bar Association's DR Section Mediation Committee and is the Founder of Divorce in a Better Way which provides a curated selection of resources and information for those facing divorce and other life changes.  Susan has created a website of curated resources for those facing divorce.  Find out more at www.divorceinabetterway.com. ***************************************************************************** THE LEARN TO MEDIATE ONLINE ACADEMY:  www.learntomediateonline.com LEARN TO MEDIATE ONLINE:  THE LEARN TO MEDIATE ONLINE TRAINING PROGRAM IS NOW AVAILABLE AS AN ONLINE COURSE!!  As one of the leading online mediation experts in the country, Susan Guthrie has created a simple and efficient online training program that allows mediation professionals to quickly and easily add an online platform to their practice!  The two hour online program covers the basics of conducting mediations through an online platform like Zoom, and reviews the ethical and practical considerations that arise in this format.  You even receive a copy of, and the right to use, Susan's Online Mediation Guidelines and Ground Rules to make your online mediations even easier for mediator and clients alike!  More than 15,000 professionals have benefited from one of Susan's trainings!  You can find the program at https://learntomediateonline.teachable.com/p/learn-to-mediate-online-training-program or just go to the website www.learntomediateonline.com! Also available at the LTMO ACADEMY:  Social Media Musts for Professionals and DIY Website Builder! ********************************************** THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS! DTOUR.LIFE  dtour.life is an easy to navigate system that finally brings much needed technology to an inefficient system. Spouses and family law professionals can now collect the endless data, manage the piles of documents, explore various settlements, detail budgets and most importantly, collaborate with the entire team with a single click. And we built this from the ground up with industry best practices and the most advanced security and encryption technology available.  Be sure to check it out today! SPECIAL OFFER:  Sign up for the FREE TRIAL here:  https://www.dtour.life/sign-up and then use special code "SUSAN20" to receive 20% off the cost of a subscription!    FAYR, the BEST Co-Parenting App on the Market!   What makes FAYR different?  At FAYR it's not just about efficiency and ease (though they love those).  They also help you create a better co-parenting experience by providing tools for: constructive communication, argument diffusion, and emotional support.  For information on our FAYR, the ONLY co-parenting app recommended by Susan Guthrie and The Divorce and Beyond Podcast,  visit their website at www.fayr.com.  Don't forget to use the code "SUSANG18" for 20% off!! ***************************************************************************** SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE! If you would like to sponsor the show please reach out to us at  divorceandbeyondpod@gmail.com for pricing and details!!! ********************************************************************* Remember to follow Susan Guthrie and THE DIVORCE AND BEYOND PODCAST on social media for updates and inside tips and information: Susan Guthrie on Facebook Susan on Instagram Susan on Twitter Divorce & Beyond Podcast on Instagram Divorce & Beyond Podcast on Twitter If you want to see the video version of the podcast episodes they are available on The Divorce & Beyond YouTube Channel!  Make sure to LIKE and SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a single episode! Finally, we'd really appreciate it if you would  give us a 5 Star Rating and tell us what you like about the show in a review - your feedback really matters to us!  You can also get in touch with Susan at divorceandbeyondpod@gmail.com.  Don't forget to visit the webpage www.divorceandbeyondpod.com and sign up for the free NEWSLETTER to receive a special welcome video from Susan and more!! ***************************************************************************** DISCLAIMER:  THE COMMENTARY AND OPINIONS AVAILABLE ON THIS PODCAST ARE FOR INFORMATIONAL AND ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY AND NOT FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROVIDING LEGAL ADVICE.  YOU SHOULD CONTACT AN ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE TO OBTAIN LEGAL ADVICE WITH RESPECT TO ANY PARTICULAR ISSUE OR PROBLEM        

The scariest part of divorce is that fight to the finish - the one where you're hoping to get everything you want, but the thought of having to negotiate and argue your way through it sounds as daunting as can be. Enter Susan Guthrie, Esq, top family law attorney and mediator with over 30 years experience. It's her experience, coupled with her commitment to helping uncoupling couples work through "divorce in a better way," that makes her a stand-out in the divorce community. And lucky for us, she's sharing her tips on making it to the divorce finish line - negotiations an all - as smoothly as possible. You're going to love these tips, especially Susan's outlook on divorce being an opportunity - a good one! Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee. Susan recently launched her fresh and inspiring new podcast, The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. (www.divorceandbeyondpod.com) which debuted on iTunes' “Top Podcasts” List for self-help podcasts! Divorce & Beyond is focused on pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of the divorce process and bringing tips and resources to help people to thrive and shine in their new future beyond divorce.

Come along on this daily journey with Chicago attorney Dave Scriven-Young to discover key principles in the areas of marketing, sales, and leadership. This episode features my next Legal Power Players interview with Dallas attorney, Amy M. Stewart. Amy is one of the founding partners at Stewart Law Group PLLC, a minority and woman-owned litigation boutique in Texas. Amy's areas of legal practice include labor and employment litigation/ADR, commercial litigation, product liability and ERISA related work. Amy’s background as a NCAA Division I Conference Champion Women’s Basketball Coach has provided her an understanding of how to build teams, develop, implement and execute successful game plans, including motivating others to higher levels of performance and creating an atmosphere of teamwork. An established leader, Amy is focused on you, your business, and your successful outcomes. You can learn more about Amy at https://stewartlawgrp.com/. During this interview, we talk about: --Amy's personal background, including college athlete & coach --Amy's legal journey – from large firms to running her own --Why branding is important for lawyers --Her success in rainmaking, including her work with the ABA Section of Litigation and other bar associations --How to train and mentor young lawyers and --A remote jury hearing that Amy participated in by Zoom. Join me every day for this podcast covering leadership, marketing, and sales skills for lawyers. Be a part of the discussion! You can leave me a voicemail by going to https://anchor.fm/attorneydsy and hitting the “message button”. You can of course also send me your question or comments on social: Twitter: https://twitter.com/AttorneyDSY Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AttorneyDSY/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/attorneydsy/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dscrivenyoung/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ILEnviroLawBlog You can also join me live on Wednesday night at 7 pm central for the Lawyers Emotional Intelligence Book Club at https://www.facebook.com/LawyersEQ/. We will be discussing Dr. Marshall B. Rosenberg's book, Nonviolent Communication. If you need an attorney or want to refer a case, you can contact me at (312) 239-9722 or dscriven-young@pecklaw.com. Check out my website: https://www.pecklaw.com/attorney/david-j-scriven-young/. We provide free consultations. Thanks for listening! Be sure to tune in tomorrow. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/attorneydsy/message

This episode of the Lawyers Emotional Intelligence Book Club starts a discussion of a new emotional intelligence skill -- how to stop brushing people off when something is bothering you. We talked about some tactics discussed by the Emotional Intelligence 2.0 book and gave an overview of our next book, Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Phd. You can join me live every week on Wednesday at 7pm central for the Lawyers Emotional Intelligence Book Club at https://www.facebook.com/LawyersEQ. About Dave Scriven-Young: Attorney at Peckar & Abramson, P.C. in Chicago, IL, litigating commercial/business, environmental, and construction disputes. Host, Lawyer Lifestyle Podcast; Co-Chair, ABA Section of Litigation Communications Committee; Member, ABA Standing Committee on Membership; Co-Chair, Chicago Bar Association Commercial Litigation Committee, Chair, Public Interest Law Initiative Alumni Leadership Council. J.D., DePaul University College of Law, B.A. Marquette University. He can be reached at dscriven-young@pecklaw.com. Be a part of the discussion! You can leave me a voicemail by going to https://anchor.fm/attorneydsy and hitting the “message" button. You can of course also send me your questions or comments on social: Twitter: Twitter.com/AttorneyDSY Facebook: Facebook.com/AttorneyDSY Instagram: www.instagram.com/AttorneyDSY LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dscrivenyoung/ YouTube: Youtube.com/ILEnvLawBlog If you need an attorney or want to refer a case, you can contact me at (312) 239-9722 or dscriven-young@pecklaw.com. Check out my website: https://www.pecklaw.com/attorney/david-j-scriven-young/ We provide free consultations. Thanks for watching! Be sure to tune in next week. #law #legal #lawyer #attorney #lawfirm #counsel #emotionalintelligence #EI #EQ #communication #selftalk --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/attorneydsy/message

This episode of the Lawyers Emotional Intelligence Book Club continues a discussion of Dr. Rangan Chatterjee’s book, The Stress Solution. My guest was meditation coach Jeffrey Bunn, and we discussed how proper breathing and meditation can help us to reduce stress. You can join me live every week on Wednesday at 7pm central for the Lawyers Emotional Intelligence Book Club at https://www.facebook.com/LawyersEQ. About Jeffrey Bunn: Jeff is the founding member of The Mindful Law Coaching and Consulting Group and a retired litigation attorney. He is a regular meditator, trained in the vipassana tradition and schooled in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Jeff was the initial vice-chair of the Lawyers’ Assistance Program Illinois Task Force for Lawyer Well-Being. Among his many speaking engagements, he led guided meditation sessions for the American Association of Law Schools, the ABA Women in Litigation section, as well as the State Bar of Nevada. He can be reached at https://www.themindfullawgroup.com/. About Dave Scriven-Young: Attorney at Peckar & Abramson, P.C. in Chicago, IL, litigating commercial/business, environmental, and construction disputes. Host, Lawyer Lifestyle Podcast; Co-Chair, ABA Section of Litigation Communications Committee; Member, ABA Standing Committee on Membership; Co-Chair, Chicago Bar Association Commercial Litigation Committee, Chair, Public Interest Law Initiative Alumni Leadership Council. J.D., DePaul University College of Law, B.A. Marquette University. He can be reached at dscriven-young@pecklaw.com. Be a part of the discussion! You can leave me a voicemail by going to https://anchor.fm/attorneydsy and hitting the “message" button. You can of course also send me your questions or comments on social: Twitter: Twitter.com/AttorneyDSY Facebook: Facebook.com/AttorneyDSY Instagram: www.instagram.com/AttorneyDSY LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dscrivenyoung/ YouTube: Youtube.com/ILEnvLawBlog If you need an attorney or want to refer a case, you can contact me at (312) 239-9722 or dscriven-young@pecklaw.com. Check out my website: https://www.pecklaw.com/attorney/david-j-scriven-young/ We provide free consultations. Thanks for watching! Be sure to tune in next week. #law #legal #lawyer #attorney #lawfirm #counsel #stress #emotionalintelligence #EI #EQ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/attorneydsy/message

Rekha Rangachari sits down with Kim Taylor to discuss JAMS’ involvement with the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, new developments, and resilience in the time of COVID-19. The Section thanks JAMS for their sponsorship of the successful Virtual Spring Meeting that ran May 18-22. Tune in to learn more!

Rekha Rangachari sits down with Jeff Zaino to discuss AAA-ICDR’s involvement with the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, new developments, and resilience in the time of COVID-19. The Section thanks AAA-ICDR for their Diamond sponsorship of the successful 2020 Virtual Spring Conference that ran May 18-22. Tune in to learn more!

Happy Episode 100!  To celebrate, I interviewed Professor Francine Lipman of the William S. Boyd School of Law at Las Vegas, Nevada.  She inspired the name for the Tax Justice Warriors podcast so I have wanted to interview her about that.  We talked about passion warriors for tax justice, being a William S. Boyd Professor of Law, teaching remotely, the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice, serving as a Nevada Tax Commissioner, and time management for her writing and other accomplishments. https://law.unlv.edu/faculty/francine-lipman

In this episode, Susan Guthrie discusses the recent concerns about the security of Zoom videoconferencing including Zoombombing, Zero Day vulnerabilities and what you can do to insure that your meetings are secure! As the Zoom videoconferencing platform explodes in popularity and use, there has been a great deal of talk regarding concerns about it's safety and security.  Incidents of Zoomboming have increased exponentially and there are growing worries about unintended participants joining meetings.  This is a particular concern for dispute resolution professionals whose proceedings require privacy and confidentiality for participants.  Susan shares insights regarding these concerns, and most importantly, the information that you need as professionals to make your meetings secure, so be sure to listen to this episode today!  Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform so that you don't miss an episode! Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee. Susan also is one of the leading experts in online mediation in the country and trains other professionals in the practical and ethical considerations of conducting their mediations online through her business Learn to Mediate Online (www.learntomediateonline.com.) Susan has been featured in and on media outlets such as CNBC, Market Watch, Forbes, Eye on Chicago, WGN, the ABA's Just Resolutions Magazine, Thrive Global, The Nook Online among others. She is licensed to practice law in the States of California and Connecticut as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States. Susan's other Podcasts: After a year and half of co-hosting the award winning podcast, Breaking Free: A Modern Divorce Podcast which has reached over 3 million listeners, Susan recently launched her fresh and inspiring new podcast, The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. (www.divorceandbeyondpod.com) which debuted on iTunes “Top Podcasts” List for self-help podcasts. Divorce & Beyond is focused on pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of the divorce process and bringing tips and resources to help people to thrive and shine in their new future beyond divorce.  

In this short introductory episode, Susan Guthrie, one of the leading online mediation experts in the world, shares with you some insights into the brave new world of online dispute resolution and why ODR is here to stay! This podcast is here to help you venture forth into the brave new online frontier and will keep you up to date and informed on best practices, tips and innovations to make your online practice a success! Join Susan and her expert guests every week for everything you need to know to LEARN TO MEDIATE ONLINE! You can find out more about Susan and her training programs and webinars at www.learntomediateonline.com.  Be sure to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite platform so that you don't miss an episode! Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee. Susan also is one of the leading experts in online mediation in the country and trains other professionals in the practical and ethical considerations of conducting their mediations online through her business Learn to Mediate Online (www.learntomediateonline.com.) Susan has been featured in and on media outlets such as CNBC, Market Watch, Forbes, Eye on Chicago, WGN, the ABA's Just Resolutions Magazine, Thrive Global, The Nook Online among others. She is licensed to practice law in the States of California and Connecticut as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States. Susan's other Podcasts: After a year and half of co-hosting the award winning podcast, Breaking Free: A Modern Divorce Podcast which has reached over 3 million listeners, Susan recently launched her fresh and inspiring new podcast, The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. (www.divorceandbeyondpod.com) which debuted on iTunes “Top Podcasts” List for self-help podcasts. Divorce & Beyond is focused on pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of the divorce process and bringing tips and resources to help people to thrive and shine in their new future beyond divorce.  

Susan Guthrie "How to Work from Home Like a Boss" on The Erica Glessing Show Podcast #5015 How Susan Guthrie, Esq. tapped into the power of her podcast to transition to a lifestyle of mediation as a work-from-home lifestyle. Now she teaches attorneys and mediation experts globally how to work remotely 100 percent of the time. Perfect timing!  More About Susan Guthrie, Esq. Susan Guthrie, nationally recognized as one of the Top Family Law and Mediation Attorneys in the country, has been helping individuals and families navigate separation and divorce for 30 years. Susan provides online divorce mediation and legal coaching services to select clients around the world. As a leading dispute resolution professional, Susan is honored to serve on the Executive Council of the American Bar Association's (ABA) Section of Dispute Resolution as the Membership Officer and to be a Co-Chair of the Mediation Committee. Susan also is one of the leading experts in online mediation and trains other professionals in the practical and ethical considerations of conducting their mediations online through her business Learn to Mediate Online (www.learntomediateonline.com.) After a year and half of co-hosting the award winning podcast, Breaking Free: A Modern Divorce Podcast which has reached over 3 million listeners, Susan recently launched her fresh and inspiring new podcast, The Divorce and Beyond Podcast with Susan Guthrie, Esq. (www.divorceandbeyondpod.com) which debuted on iTunes “Top Podcasts” List for self-help podcasts. Divorce & Beyond is focused on pulling back the curtain on the mysteries of the divorce process and bringing tips and resources to help people to thrive and shine in their new future beyond divorce. Susan has been featured in and on media outlets such as CNBC, Market Watch, Forbes, Eye on Chicago, WGN, the ABA's Just Resolutions Magazine, Thrive Global, The Nook Online among others. She is licensed to practice law in the States of California and Connecticut as well as before the Supreme Court of the United States. You can follow Susan on social media at: Instagram: @susanguthrieesq Instagram: @divorceandbeyond Twitter: @guthrielaw Twitter: @DivorceBeyond Facebook: Susan Guthrie LinkedIn: Susan Guthrie YouTube: Susan Guthrie and The Divorce Beyond Podcast   More About Erica Glessing SEO geek Erica Glessing believes when you tell your story, you change the world. Discover your zone of genius. Glessing is a #1 bestselling author 33X over, and built her company, SEO for Lead Gen, out of the desire to help entrepreneurs and small businesses be seen for their work in the world. With a strategic mindset, an easy laugh, and a creativity that meets geek sensibility, Glessing grew her podcasts to more than 100,000 downloads in 2020 alone and continues to build search engine optimization strategies for companies and influencers globally. “Global and local omnipresence requires discipline, commitment, and creativity,” says Glessing. She was originally an award-winning journalist, writing over 5000 articles for California newspapers before she built SEO for Lead Gen. Glessing is an Italian mom of three loud teens, a Corgi Aussi, and two very fat happy kitties. She lives in Northern California. You can find her: Instagram Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Sponsor Today's episode was sponsored by SEOforLeadGen.com, an SEO company dedicated to providing SEO and keyword strategy so your business can be seen and heard and generate ample leads to thrive. Resources For your own complimentary 90-keyword strategic SEO guide, go here now! KeywordResearchTools.SEOforLeadgen.com