Most of our mediation work involves marital separation and divorce. We know from our own experiences, and from working with hundreds of couples in mediation, that divorce can be one of life’s most difficult transitions. As mediators, our goal is to give separating and divorcing couples the highest level of professional expertise, along with real compassion and empathy. We aim to combine effective use of conflict resolution methods with a skilled lawyer’s understanding of relevant state divorce law. Our process is a structured one that makes room for expression of feelings, but keeps a focus on the decision-making tasks that need to be accomplished. We seek to guide clients through settlement negotiations in a manner that minimizes the financial and emotional harm of separation and divorce and preserves (or repairs) the ability of parents to function as a parenting team, over the long term. Divorce is always sad, but it can be handled with dignity and thoughtfulness.