5pm: Gathering – Light Dinner and Networking

5:30pm-5:40pm:  Introduction of Community Collaboration series

5:40pm-5:45pm: Tonight’s program overview.
•    Format and Agenda for Program
•    Introduction of Speakers/Participants

5:45-6:15: Role Play Skit

•    Distribution and summary of fact pattern
•    Introduction of players
•    Skit
•    Video clip
•    Neutrals

6:15pm -7:15pm:  Panel Discussion and Audience Participation

7:15pm -7:25pm:  Question and Answer Panel

7:25-7:30pm - Closing

YOUR MODERATORS:

Ivan Alter is a collaborative attorney, mediator and teacher with offices in Westchester County, New York and New York City. Practicing law since 1993, Ivan traded in an early career spent litigating complex commercial matters and high-conflict matrimonial cases in favor of a practice where his clients are empowered to design satisfying resolutions to their conflicts through Collaborative Law and Mediation.  Ivan is an adjunct professor of law at Brooklyn Law School, a director and trainer with the Center for Understanding in Conflict, a director of the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals, and a member of the Family and Divorce Mediation Council and the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.  Ivan is a graduate of Brooklyn Law School, Columbia University, and Brandeis University.

Anthony Markus of Markus & Sheridan, LLP has over twenty-eight years of experience as a family law and estate planning attorney. He has handled hundreds of divorce matters to successful conclusion through various methods including collaborative process, negotiated settlements, and litigation. He has been a member of the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals for over 12 years, co-authored the NYACP Protocols of Practice and presently serves as co-chair of the Training and Education Committee. He has advised divorce clients ranging from those involving straight-forward legal and financial matters to the complex, involving multi-million dollar businesses, comprehensives pensions, corporate benefit packages and unqualified plans. He has conducted numerous CLE lectures concerning collaborative practice, spousal and child support, qualified retirement plans, revocable trusts and the probate process for the New York City Bar Association and the National Business Institute. Mr. Markus is a former instructor for the Parent Education and Awareness Program (P.E.A.C.E program) where he taught parenting skills to couples going through divorce and is co-author of Collaborative Practice: Efficient Dispute Resolution for In-House Counsel for the Inside Journal of the New York State Bar Association. He is a founding member of the New York Civil Collaborative Group and participated as panel member of professionals in a 2012 CLE Video Webinar for the International Institute of Conflict Prevention and Resolution on the application of Collaborative Law in employment disputes. He presently sits as Justice for the Town of Mount Kisco.

Meg Sussman is a clinical psychologist who has been working with individuals, couples, and families for over 30 years. During that time she has specialized in helping divorcing couples transition to the next phase of their lives so that all family members can have the best possible outcome.  Dr. Sussman has been an active member of the New York Association of Collaborative Professionals from its inception and currently serves as Secretary of the Board.  As a collaborative professional, Dr. Sussman serves as a family specialist where she helps parents and children learn how to communicate more effectively, develop parenting plans and cope with the emotions they experience during this difficult time in their lives. This involves working with attorneys and financial professionals as part of a team.  In addition to her psychotherapy and collaborative practice, Dr. Sussman serves as a parent coordinator to assist parents when there are decisions to be made and to work together in the best interests of their children.