About the practice

A Calmer Path Through Divorce and Family Change

Positive Pathways To Resolution and Success is a family law, mediation, and coaching practice in Fairfax, Virginia. I help people through separation, divorce, custody, support, and the division of property, and I do that work through negotiation, mediation, and the Collaborative Process.

20+

Years practicing family law in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Routes to a resolution: Collaborative, mediation, negotiated agreement.

Certifications behind the work: mediation, Collaborative law, mediator mentor, conflict coaching.

Why I Built This Practice

On the legal side, I work with families, couples, and individuals, helping you reach agreements on the questions that decide how your family lives next. Through conflict management coaching I also work with individuals and with organizations, helping people understand the conflict they are in, manage it, and come through it steadier than they went in.

I litigated family law matters in the Commonwealth of Virginia for more than twenty years. I founded Positive Pathways with a specific goal: to help clients plan for their futures through premarital agreements, and to resolve divorce, custody, child support, spousal support, and equitable distribution as peacefully and economically as possible, without needing to set foot in a courtroom.

Those years also made something else clear. What made a case harder was rarely the legal question. It was the absence of conflict management, on both sides, and the cost of that gap showed up as hostility, as strain on parents and children, and as money spent on the dispute instead of on rebuilding.

I trained with ICF accredited Radiance Partners, LLC and became a certified Radiance Coach, and the conflict management coaching side of the practice grew from there.

My mission

To partner with and support my clients in productive processes in which they achieve their desired results, gain insight and understanding, and accelerate their transition to a more peaceful and secure existence.

My vision

To preserve relationships, regardless of the origin or nature of conflicts, providing a space for dialogue, understanding, and resolution.

My Values

Authenticity

I build an atmosphere of trust and openness, honoring my clients’ values, needs, identities, and cultures; respecting their right of self-determination; and supporting them in a new vision of life moving forward.

Empathy

I actively listen and hear my clients in order to meet them where they are and to help move them forward in a way that serves them best.

Openness

I make room for my clients’ full participation in their process, and I believe it matters that they stay informed and educated throughout it.

Flexibility

Alongside legal knowledge, I stay creative and curious, so the solutions we find are ones you can genuinely get behind.

What I Offer

Collaborative Divorce

Each spouse has their own attorney and everyone commits in writing to settle out of court.

Learn more

Who I Work With, and Where

The process suits people willing to share information and work toward a resolution. A consultation is where we find out together whether that describes your situation.

Based in Fairfax, working across Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Fauquier counties, Arlington and Alexandria, and the communities around them. Remote meetings and secure document sharing keep the process workable around commutes, school calendars, and demanding jobs.

Individuals

Couples & Families

Professionals & Organizations

Private sector, Government, & Military Families

Start With a Conversation

Every matter begins with a complimentary process call. I walk you through the options, Collaborative, mediation, and negotiated agreement, and what each one involves. The call covers how each process works, not the details of your situation. Those come later, in a consultation, and there is nothing to commit to before then.