My mediation style might be described as 'eclectic.' Though my formal education was in the field of psychology (B.S. and M.S.), I listen and react utilizing experiences as a former college instructor (University of Phoenix, Morgan State, Community College of Baltimore), a military officer (I served as an aviator in Vietnam) and as a respectful practitioner of mediation who believes that 'problems' can best be solved by people and not by courts. I have worked with and for the police and even taught, briefly, at the Police Academy.
I have had the privilege of viewing court proceedings from various perspectives. I have worked as a District Court Commissioner, been a Defendant, been a Plaintiff and had the privilege of serving as a juror. I have even defied conventional wisdom and gone to trial despite the urging of counsel to settle the matter and gained a lesson from that adventure. These experiences convince me that, given the time and a chance, mediation can yield a fair, satisfying and lasting resolution to a situation, which six to twelve jurors or a Judge, alone, might not have the time or the will to fully consider.
Inherent in us is the ability to communicate, talk things through and an ability to craft a solution which is more sensitive to our needs than one concocted by others.
I was initially trained by the Baltimore City Community Mediation Program in 1997, began child custody mediations working for Sheppard Pratt's Family Mediation Program which contracted with Baltimore's Circuit Court and eventually also began mediating buyer-seller disputes for the Maryland Association of Realtors. Currently on the roster for the following Circuit Courts: Baltimore City (family and civil), Anne Arundel County (family) and Howard County (family).