Dear Chris:
Thank you for your kind comments regarding my training experience with
Woody Mosten. I am sure that your ten years of collaborative law
experience in Rochester NY will help you in re-establishing your practice
in Southern California. It is wonderful that you had the opportunity to
attend one of Woody's peacemaking seminars.
Wishing you continued success in your mental health profession!
Joan
Joan Skudera
Mediator and Collaborative Attorney
66 Busteed Drive
Midland Park, NJ 07432
551-206-1912
joan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
www.skuderaesq.com
On Mon, Mar 10, 2014 at 1:09 PM, Christopher Burr <cburr18@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Dear Joan-
I am a mental health professional/psychologist who has worked for ten
years in the CL community in Rochester NY which is a very good group with
some highly experienced lawyers.
I have recently returned to Southern California and have had the
opportunity to attend one of Woody's peacemaking seminars. Your summary of
your experience is an excellent resource and commentary. Thank you for
sending it out. You've given me several ideas through Woody that will help
me in re-establishing myself here.
Best wishes with your CL work.
Chris Burr Ph.D.
On Thu, Mar 6, 2014 at 11:26 AM, Joan Skudera <joan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On February 25th, I had the privilege of participating in a one-on-one
consultation with Forrest "Woody" Mosten. I am an attorney and my practice
is dedicated to mediation and collaborative law. Although collaborative
law is relatively new to New Jersey, I know that attorneys and other
professionals have been participating in collaborative law in California
and other parts of the country for many years. I knew that Mosten was the
author of at least four books, a respected trainer and a popular presenter.
With the goal of learning and expanding my mediation and collaborative law
practice, I scheduled a one-on-one session with him in California. Mosten
had an unbelievable ability to understand my practice and me. With that
understanding, he provided me with an abundance of information tailored to
my specific needs. As many of you already know, Mosten is an amazing,
kind, and generous professional. Regardless of your level of practice, I
would highly recommend Mosten's one-on-one trainings.
I would like to share some of my experiences with Mosten and what I
learned before, during, and after my one-on-one session. When I initially
contacted Mosten regarding scheduling, he explained that, when a colleague
visited with him from out of town, he usually booked four hours -- an hour
for a meal on him and three hours of consultation. He gave me the choice
that if I wished to spend less time, I could unbundle our time and book as
little time as I desired at the same hourly rate. I appreciated the choice
in programming and chose the four-hour format.
Before the training, Mosten sent me a 22-page peacemaking self-survey. I
spent hours answering the questions and realized that I was learning so
much before I even met him. By answering the questions, I learned that
there were many areas of my practice that I could improve upon. To get the
most out of my training, I decided to read two of his books: *Collaborative
Divorce Handbook: Effectively Helping Divorcing Families Without Going to
Court* and *The Mediation Career Guide*. As soon as I started reading
the first book, I was sure that I had chosen the right trainer for me. I
am pleased to include Mosten's books as part of my library because they are
densely packed with useful information, resources, and a certain humbleness
that is so refreshing.
At lunch, Mosten was easy to talk with and, not surprisingly, he was an
excellent listener. He spoke about his family, shared some of his client
experiences, and discussed techniques for teaching mediation at UCLA. He
asked me a few questions and, within a short amount of time, he learned
about my family, some of the cases I have been working on, and the story
that led me to choose my profession. In hindsight, I think he was trying
to learn about my practice and me at lunch so he could tailor the
one-on-one session to be most effective for me.
When the one-on-one session began, Mosten became very energetic and began
to zone in, ask me questions, and extract information about my practice. I
felt comfortable being honest and giving him some answers that I knew he
would not like too much. Likewise, I think he shared some information with
me that he knew would be difficult for me to receive. Every so often, we
would discuss a subject and he would jump up, go to his computer, and send
a related document to my email address. During the session, he spoke about
the importance of writing, studying, volunteering, and networking.
According to Mosten, writing about my practice would be very effective.
He recommended the following: joining the CollabLaw group at Yahoo Groups
Listserve; writing a column in a local newspaper (people like to read
columns that are specific and not too general); responding to International
Academy of Collaborative Professionals "IACP" articles; writing about the
cases I work on; and, writing five lessons for each seminar I attend and
putting those lessons into practice. It is necessary to prepare a mission
statement (include on website), a vision statement, and a business plan.
Core personal values should be used to develop my mission statement and key
personal attributes should be reflected in my mediation and peacemaking
work. Websites are valuable in providing information to others and listing
accomplishments. In order to evaluate efforts spent on practice development
and education, he advised preparing time sheets for non-billable hours.
Studying mediation, collaborative, and other legal resources is very
important. Mosten suggested reading publications such as: *The Family
Court Review* and *The* *Collaborative Review* by the IACP. He
recommended books such as: *Limited Scope Legal Services* by Stephanie
L. Kimbro; *Unbundling Legal Services; A Guide to Delivering Legal
Services a la Carte* written by Mosten; and, books relating to business
plans. He discussed the benefits of participating in study groups and
discussing ideas with others.
Volunteering is an excellent opportunity for learning. Mosten commented
on the value of joining court mediation programs, working with pro se
litigants in the court system, and serving on bar association committees.
Networking and attending trainings are worthwhile activities. Mosten
explained that practice development requires an investment of time and
money. He suggested I become a member of Association of Family and
Conciliation Courts "AFCC" and recommended that I attend that conference
and a few others that are being held in the spring. Mosten provided other
ideas such as: practicing my "elevator speech" and working with a practice
development buddy. He also discussed the importance of being generous with
colleagues.
After the training, when I returned home, I was surprised to find over
three hundred pages of documents that Mosten had emailed to me during the
one-on-one session. Three days after the session, Mosten emailed me to ask
me what I had done since our meeting to build my practice. I cannot
believe how much Mosten had taught me in one session. When I asked him if
I could share some of the lessons he had taught me, he told me that I
should share his information with everyone. Mosten stated that mediators
and collaborative professionals are a very generous group. If you ever
have the opportunity to attend one of Mosten's sessions, you will gain a
wealth of information.
Joan Skudera, Esq.
66 Busteed Drive
Midland Park, NJ 07432
joan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
skuderaesq.com
551-206-1912
--
Christopher A Burr Ph.D.
9107 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 301,
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
(424) 354-7170
