Choosing a Portland Divorce Mediator

Last Updated: October 5, 2026

When one is starting out, one must prioritize flexibility and affordability just to stay afloat in a new practice. I was no exception. Now, though, what was once a necessity has become my brand. Know more and do more, while also being cost-effective, reliable, and ethical.

Over the past 21 years, my process has become more comprehensive while also becoming more efficient. What once took eight sessions now takes three or four -- and it includes more than it originally did. I have continued to keep families' costs as low as possible. My total fees for the typical mediation process are 25% less in 2026 than they were in 2005.

When you trust me with your divorce mediation, whether you visit me in person at my Beaverton office or choose to have your mediation sessions via Zoom from anywhere in the Portland area -- or anywhere in Oregon -- you can be assured that I will uphold for you what I have required of myself for the past 21 years.

Offering Value Without Compromising Values

I have worked with parents, teens, and preteens for 21 years. Through broad and thorough experience, I have come to understand clients spanning multiple generations. It's not possible to write a thorough parenting plan if it doesn't meet the needs of all of the people who will be involved in following it.

Relatable to the Whole Family

Although I employ a part-time staff, I do not delegate client contact to my staff. If you leave a message for me or send me an email, you will receive a response the same day (or early the next day if the contact is in the evening), and it will come directly from me.

I offer morning, afternoon, and evening sessions Monday through Friday. I am also available on Saturdays and Sundays by request. What is more, I will always be able to start your mediation within one week – often sooner. I leave room in my schedule to keep that promise. Few other mediators -- if any -- offer such extensive scheduling.

Accessible and Available

Divorce is a legal matter. The person helping you through it must have legal skills and knowledge that only law school can teach and no amount of self-study or in-office exposure can replace. As you search for a family law mediator, the lack of a law degree should be disqualifying.

As the law changes frequently, one must be aware of those changes and able to read statutes and regulations fluently and research case precedents for up-to-date knowledge.

Law-Degreed and Law-Aware

Your mediator must have broad and deep knowledge of divorce finance. Every divorce worth mediating has financial components. I spent two years taking a reduced caseload so that I could expand my knowledge of divorce finance and develop a comprehensive and innovative protocol. It's not enough to tell divorcing clients what people "usually do." There is no "usual" divorce.

Your mediator should be able to offer you at least three ways to approach every decision so that you can choose the best one for you in light of the pros and cons that she or he should be able to explain.

Finance-Trained

In the past 21 years in private practice, I have continued to refine an approach that seems to work best for the clients who come to me for divorce mediation. Over time, my methods have become more efficient and comprehensive, but the instincts that guided me in my early years have become my values today.

I hope you'll choose to work with me as your mediator. If you're still looking at your options, here are four key core tenets I hope you'll keep in mind, each of which has a linked article of mine:

Divorce is a legal matter, and your mediator must have a law degree. Is it required by the Oregon Revised Statutes? No. Should it be? Yes. Divorce is a legal matter, so you need a mediator who knows the law thoroughly.

But the second reason is less obvious but equally important: Law school teaches you how to analyze the law, how to think critically, and how to reason between the lines to understand how to adapt a new set of facts to a legal framework that doesn't perfectly align.

A top-quality divorce mediator needs substantial financial training. Many people don't realize that there are over 60 financial categories (different types and classes of assets, debts, support, and other finance-connected topics) that may arise in a divorce. I have training in all of them, and I have a dedicated page on this website for each one.
Some are more obscure than others, but when they apply to you, your mediator needs a firm grasp to be able to assist you competently.

Law school alone does not provide enough financial training. I supplemented my law degree with training as a Family Law Financial Analyst.

The process is usually better when neither side has individual attorneys -- whether in mediation or behind the scenes. Except in the highest-conflict cases, which aren't suitable for mediation anyway, each party having an attorney working on their individual behalf is generally counterproductive, unnecessarily expensive, and unavoidably adversarial.

Certainly, if you choose a mediator who does not have a law degree, you should hire an attorney because you will be poorly served without having someone with legal expertise on your team. However, most divorce mediators have law degrees, so having legal information is the value you need. That's different from hiring an individual attorney for legal advice with the goal of positioning each of you against the other party.

If you're ready to pay, you're ready to prepare and progress. One consultation model, which I understand but don't agree with, involves a free first hour, after which you decide on the fly whether to proceed to hour number two, which is billed at the full hourly rate.

If you're only ready for a meet-and-greet because you're still in the early stage of gathering information, I'm one of a handful of mediators offering such a meeting, which are free of charge. But if a longer consultation suits you, in which you'll actually discuss the details of your case and ensure that mediation is a good fit to address all of your concerns and work toward the goals you have in mind for the process, you're surely ready to prepare at least a modest amount of information before the meeting, to get the most out of your time and investment.

Collaborative practice groups are usually unnecessary. They typically make the process take longer, cost more, and require you to tell the details of your story to multiple professionals for no added benefit, as long as your divorce mediator has the expertise and experience to provide comprehensive services from several knowledge bases.

I decided to obtain the training and prepare thorough sets of my own materials to give you a firm legal foundation in Oregon law, a detailed understanding of your financial decisions through my expertise in divorce finance, and a meticulously detailed approach to parenting plans for minor children.