Trainers

Vicki Carpel-Miller, MFT is a licensed marriage and family therapist in private practice for over 18 years, specializing in the treatment of divorce related issues and blended families.  Vicki was instrumental in bringing Collaborative Practice to Arizona and functions as a divorce coach, child specialist and/or case manager in Collaborative Divorce files.  Vicki is a Clinical Member of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT), and an Advanced Practitioner Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) specializing in custody and post-divorce issues.  She has received advanced training in family mediation, narrative mediation, interest-based negotiation, Collaborative Law and Collaborative Divorce Interdisciplinary Team Practice.  She has served as a custody evaluator, family court advisor/parenting coordinator and therapeutic interventionist for the Maricopa County Superior Court addressing children’s needs in family court disputes.  Vicki is currently on the Executive Committee of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) serving as Secretary to the organization, a member of the IACP Professional Development Committee and the IACP Forum Committee.  She is a trainer with the Collaborative Divorce Training Team, and co-founder of the Collaborative Divorce Professionals of Arizona.  She is a former member of the IACP Standards Committee, Core Skills Institute Committee, and the Advisory Council on Collaborative Training and Practice of the IACP.  Her office is located in Scottsdale, Arizona.  480-551-2600 ext 1 (office phone), or email at collaborate119@aol.com.

Mark C. Hill, CFP^®, CDFA, has been involved in the financial services industry in an advisory capacity since 1983. He is both a Certified Financial Planner practitioner and a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst. He recently served on the Board of the San Diego Financial Planning Association for three years and is the current President of the San Diego Collaborative Family Law Group. In addition Mr. Hill is a Regional Director for the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts, the Treasurer of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and serves on the Collaborative Divorce Training Team responsible for interdisciplinary trainings throughout the country.

Formerly a Portfolio Manager with a major Wall Street firm, he is a founder and Managing Director of Pacific Wealth Management, LLC, a San Diego-based investment management consulting and financial planning company. As a financial planner, Mr. Hill's business routinely involves assisting clients with issues related to budgeting, risk evaluation, investments, taxes, retirement planning and estate planning. In recent years, experience with clients has resulted in an increased focus within the practice on how these issues are dealt with in divorce and resulted in the formation of the company’s Pacific Divorce Management division. Mark C. Hill can be reached at:  858-509-9797, toll-free: 888-495-9797 or e-mail:  mhill@pacdivorce.com.  Web site:  www.pacdivorce.com.

Janis M. Pritchard, BA, LLB is a member of the Law Society of Alberta and received her call to the Bar in 1977, graduating with distinction.  She is a partner in the firm of Pritchard and Company LLP and her practice for the past 20 years has been restricted to family law.   Janis’ practice is now restricted to Collaborative Family Law and Mediation.  Janis is a Registered Family Mediator in Alberta and has received advanced training in Collaborative Law, Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice, Interest Based Negotiation and Mediation.  Janis is the founding President of the Association of Collaborative Professionals (Medicine Hat & Brooks).  Janis was key to implementing Collaborative Practice in Medicine Hat and other centers in Alberta, Saskatchewan, the Northwest Territories, Yukon, British Columbia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island and providing Collaborative training in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, Prince Edward Island, Ontario, Minnesota, New Brunswick, Austria, Yukon, Maryland and Virginia.  Janis is a former member of the board of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals where she co-chaired the IACP Board Committee dealing with Standards for Collaborative Professionals and co-chaired the Advisory Council on Collaborative Training and Practice of the IACP.  The Medicine Hat Collaborative Practice group has revolutionized the divorce process for clients and the practice of family law in Medicine Hat.

George B. Richardson, JD has engaged in Collaborative Practice since the early 1990s and is a founder and former President of Collaborative Practice Silicon Valley [established in 1993 as the Collaborative Law Association]. Since 1999, he has been a member of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals [“IACP”] and is co-chair of the IACP’s Standards Committee [charged with drafting standards for practitioners, trainers, and trainings in Collaborative Practice]. He is also co-chair of the Advisory Council on Collaborative Training and Practice of the IACP. He has presented on various aspects of Collaborative Practice throughout North America. Together with others, he has been offering introductory, fundamental, and advanced courses in Collaborative Practice since 1999. He has extensive mediation training and experience and has been practicing family law exclusively since the late 1980s.

Nancy J. Ross, LCSW, BCD is a co-founder of Collaborative Divorce and principal of Bauer, Shepherd & Ross & Associates (BSR), a psychotherapy practice in Cupertino, CA.  As a clinician for over twenty-five years, Nancy has specialized in couple’s and family therapy. Currently, over 80% of the practice is dedicated to collaborative work.  She is both a divorce coach and mediator for custody and post-divorce issues.  A founding member of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP), she has also served on both the ethics and standards committees of IACP.  She is a Certified Interpersonal communications Trainer, training work teams, Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice teams and practice groups in effective teamwork.  As a member of Collaborative Practice Silicon Valley, (CPSV), she trains with their training team, introducing lawyers to the role of coaches and child specialists in Collaborative Practice.  With her CPSV colleagues, she has taught Collaborative Practice at Santa Clara University School of Law.  A co-author of Divorce:  A Problem to be Solved, Not a Battle to be Fought and author of numerous articles on Collaborative Divorce, she continues to teach and train in the Collaborative Divorce model with Collaborative Divorce Team Trainings.

Contract Trainers

Tamara Rounds, MSW, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker and family therapist. Tamara divides her professional time between Arizona State University where she is a Faculty Associate teaching advanced clinical coursework and her private practice were she specializes in child, family and adolescent issues. Tamara has been in private practice in Arizona since 1996 and has been teaching at ASU since 2000.  Tamara is the 2006 recipient of the ASU Most Distinguished Faculty Award for her innovative coursework in Mind-Body Integration and speaking presence in the classroom.

Tamara brings a rich tapestry of experience to the Collaborative process encompassing employment with Mayo Hospital and Mayo Outpatient Clinic working with patients presenting with chronic and persistent physical and mental health challenges; facilitating workshops on topics that include mindful parenting; adults taking active leadership and mentoring roles in their families; domestic violence; child abuse; stress management; and character building for adolescents.  Tamara teaches the following advanced degree level courses at Arizona State University: clinical skills building; assessment and diagnosis; ethics; family therapy; group facilitation instruction; residency and internship supervision; and child, adolescent and adult development. In addition, Tamara completed clinical rotations in Family Therapy, Adoption, Art and Experiential Therapy.

Tamara is a clinical member of the National Association of Social Work and an active member of the California Association for Marriage and Family Therapists. She is also is an active member of the Collaborative Divorce Professionals of Arizona Practice Group and functions as a divorce coach, child specialist and case manager in Collaborative Divorce.

Tamara places a high premium on the Collaborative Divorce process, as she believes it is the only compassionate approach to divorce.

Lauren G. Alexander, JD graduated from Emory Law School in 1979 and has been in private practice since 1989. She maintains an exclusively Collaborative practice, the Collaborative Law Office of Lauren G. Alexander.  She is a Judicial Officer in the Fulton County Superior Court Family Division and a certified mediator in domestic and civil cases.  Lauren, a member of numerous associations, has made a myriad of presentations on collaborative practice and trained practitioners in both introductory and advanced collaborative courses.  Lauren is the President of the Collaborative Law Institute of Georgia for the year 2007 and chairs the training for the state.  She co-chaired the 2005 International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) Forum in Atlanta and is on the IACP Research Committee.

Andrew Hoffman, CFP^®, CDFA has practiced as a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst since 1999.   His expertise in helping clients avoid the common financial mistakes made by many divorcing couples was featured in the Investment Advisor “The Ties that Unbind” (February 2001) and the Wall Street Journal “How to Plan the Perfect Divorce” (February 2003) and “Cost of a Breakup” (July 2006).

Andrew is a Regional Director of the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts and been a member of the Institute of Certified Financial Planners since 1996 and a Chartered Accountant (English equivalent of a CPA) since 1978.

Andrew has been a guest speaker on Financial Issues of Divorce in both the United States and Canada.  He has presented at the 2005 International Conference of Collaborative Professionals, the Institute of Divorce Financial Analysts Conventions in 2003 through 2006, to Financial Planning Associations in Louisiana, Texas and Iowa, the Baton Rouge, Slidell and 21^st Judicial District Bar Associations in Louisiana and Conflict Resolution’s 1999 & 2000 family law mediation seminars.

Andrew was trained in Collaborative Divorce in April 2004 (New Orleans), and is a financial trainer on Louisiana and National Interdisciplinary Collaborative Divorce™ Training Teams.  He currently is a Board Member of the Collaborative Divorce Professionals Group of Southeast Louisiana, was Vice President (2005-2006) and a Charter Member.  He was featured in The Times-Picayune "Law may clear away for kinder, gentler divorces" (February 2004) and Financial Advisor "A Kindler Gentler Way to Divorce" (July 2005).

Andrew can be reached at lacdfa@bellsouth.net, or through his website www.lacdfa.com (phone 985-674-1120).  His brochure, “Financial Myths of Divorce” can be downloaded from the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section of his website.