As the owner of O’Day Resolutions I have dedicated my professional practice to helping families through transition. I know, from years of practice and life experience, that family transitions can be hard. Whether you are dealing with a divorce, relocation of a parent, or single parenting, developing a new family dynamic and meeting everyone’s needs is difficult. Everyone deals with these changes differently and this often brings about conflict and disagreements.
Resolving these conflicts through the court system is expensive and stressful. As a Board Certified Attorney I have seen families completely deplete their life savings and go into debt to bring their cases to Court. Unfortunately, the results of all of this stress and expense are not what my client’s thought they would achieve. The Judges are then faced with picking the lesser of two “evils” rather than seeing the best for everyone involved. This only perpetuates the conflict. This is because our court system is based upon a win-lose paradigm. The parties must each tear down the other side in order to try to win some gain in front of the judge. As zealous advocates of their client’s position, the attorneys are also caught in the dynamic of the conflict and only exacerbate the disagreements. In 2012 I chose to no longer participate in this dynamic because I know it does not yield the best results for my clients.
As a Family and Civil Certified Mediator, I work with families to resolve conflict without litigation. As the mediator I am a neutral professional, exploring options that will meet the needs and interests of the parties and their children. We work as a team to seek win-win solutions whenever possible. We can address the underlying interests of the members of the family without seeking to destroy anyone. Mediation is appropriate for all issues that affect the family structure such as divorce, paternity, changes to the parenting structure, and support. As an attorney mediator I am extremely qualified to assist the parties in drafting the final agreement that will meet their needs, resolve the conflict and be appropriate to be entered into a Final Judgment by the Court if necessary.
I am also a Board Certified Marital and Family Attorney. This is the highest qualification an attorney can obtain in Florida and it means that I am an expert in the areas of family law. I am also specially trained and qualified in the area of Collaborative Law and have dedicated my individual representation of clients to the area of Collaborative Practice. This means that I work with my clients to avoid litigation and resolve their case through negotiations. As a member of a collaborative team, either as an attorney or as the facilitator of the case, I help the parties work towards a resolution of their case without the expense and stress of a trial.
I am also a Parenting Coordinator for the Sarasota and Bradenton area. In this role I work with High Conflict Parents to develop a co-parenting structure that will work best for the children of divorce. It has been well established that high conflict between the parents during or after a divorce is seriously detrimental to the children. As the Parenting Coordinator I work with the parents to establish a new structure that looks at the best interest of the children first. The parents must first disengage from the conflict and begin to parallel parent in order to place their children’s needs above their own hostilities that resulted from the divorce.
Finally, I work with individuals throughout the country as a Divorce Coach. In this capacity I work with the individuals to limit the conflict and resolve the issues of their dissolution without litigation. I do not provide legal advice in this capacity but teach skills to my clients to work with their spouse and the other professionals in their team to resolve the case and develop a new dynamic moving forward. I teach negotiation skills and detachment in order to help my clients find a new peace and look towards a better future.
I was born and raised in Ellicott City, Maryland. I graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Economics and then graduated from George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC in 1987. I was licensed to practice law in Maryland in that same year. At that time I worked for several non-profit organizations helping Refugees in the Washington, DC area. Following this I worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees out of Geneva, Switzerland. With the High Commissioner I was a Protection Officer, acting as the liaison between the refugee populations and the governments in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Croatia, Bosnia, Uganda and Mozambique. In this position I often worked with the refugees fleeing war zones to have a safe place in their countries of refuge. Negotiations and communication were key elements of this job, particularly in an international context.
Following eight years traveling the world and working in some of the highest conflict situations of the 1990s I returned to the United States and settled with my daughter in Sarasota, Florida. I was admitted to the Florida Bar in 2001 and opened my own practice in that same year. My practice focused exclusively on Family issues such as divorce and estate planning.
I reside in Sarasota, Florida with my daughter. In my free time I love to travel and explore the world with her. It is my greatest joy to watch her develop into a strong and beautiful young woman.
I am a Circuit Civil, County and Family Mediator, Parent Coordinator, Board Certified Marital and Family Attorney practicing now exclusively as a Collaborative Attorney.