ACFLS 2021 Member Directory
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Association of Certified Family Law Specialists 2021Referral & Membership Directory Dedicated to Promoting the Family Law Specialty Advancing and Exchanging Knowledge Encouraging Ethical Practice Monitoring Legislation acfls.org ACFLS BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Legislative Director Michele Brown Avi Levy San Diego County Los Angeles County 619-906-5745 310-453-6226 [email protected] [email protected] Vice President Associate Legislative Director Sherry Peterson Justin O’Connell Alameda County Monterey County 925-833-6990 831-655-6868 [email protected] [email protected] Treasurer Technology Director Mary Molinaro David M Lederman Sacramento County Contra Costa County 916-245-8883 925-522-8889 [email protected] [email protected] Secretary Associate Technology Director Stephen Montagna Henry Lewis Solano County Alameda County 707-421-7800 510-451-4822 stephen@montagnafamilylaw. [email protected] com Education Director Past President Christopher Melcher Dianne Fetzer Los Angeles County Sacramento County 818-591-3700 916-565-1200 [email protected] [email protected] Associate Education Director Journal Editor Catherine M. Goodrow Naghmeh Bashar Orange County San Diego County 714-939-1420 619-261-8085 [email protected] [email protected] Membership and Benefits Director Associate Journal Editor Debra Frank Nathan Gabbard Los Angeles County Los Angeles County 310-277-5121 310-453-6226 [email protected] [email protected] Outreach Director Coordinating Director (1) Richard Kliever Jill L. Barr Kings County Sacramento County [email protected] 916-922-8500 [email protected] Chapter Director (1) Kelly Robbins Coordinating Director (2) San Francisco County Diane Wasznicky 415-788-5400 Sacramento County [email protected] 916-455-5200 [email protected] Associate Chapter Director (1) Jillian Atuegbu Coordinating Director (3) Contra Costa County Barbara Hammers 925-390-0084 Los Angeles County [email protected] 310-458-0796 bhammers@hammersbaltazar. Chapter Director (2) com Fredrick S. (Rick) Cohen Sacramento County Executive Director 916-925-7177 Deanna Rolewicz rick.cohen@familylawlitigators. Yolo County com 916-217-4076 [email protected] Associate Chapter Director (2) Jennifer Hemmer Administrative Assistant Sacramento County Rachelle Santiago 916-922-8500 Yolo County [email protected] (916) 217-4076 [email protected] Chapter Director (3) Courtney Shepard Orange County 949-502-4400 [email protected] Associate Chapter Director (3) Dorie A. Rogers Orange County 714-740-1160 [email protected] TABLE OF CONTENTS ACFLS President’s Message ........................................................................................................7 ACFLS History & Purposes ......................................................................................................11 What Is a “Certified Family Law Specialist”? ..................................................................................................... 12 ACFLS Activities & Educational Programs ..................................................................................................... 13 Past Presidents ......................................................................................................15 Hall of Fame Awards ..................................................................................................... 16 ACFLS Outstanding Service to Family Law Award ..................................................................................................... 18 ACFLS Board Award ..................................................................................................... 18 Member Directory by County Alameda .............................19 San Diego ......................... 52 Butte .................................. 21 San Francisco ................... 56 Contra Costa ....................22 San Joaquin ......................62 Del Norte ..........................24 San Luis Obipso ...............62 El Dorado .........................24 San Mateo .........................62 Fresno ...............................24 Santa Barbara ................... 65 Kern .................................. 25 Santa Clara .......................66 Los Angeles ...................... 25 Santa Cruz ........................70 Marin ..................................37 Shasta .................................71 Monterey .......................... 38 Solano ................................71 Napa .................................. 39 Sonoma ............................. 72 Nevada .............................. 39 Stanislaus ......................... 73 Orange ............................. 40 Tulare .................................74 Placer ................................ 45 Ventura ..............................74 Riverside ...........................46 Yolo .....................................75 Sacramento ......................48 Yuba ....................................75 San Bernardino .................51 Member Index .....................................................................................................76 ACFLS PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Michele Brown ere we are, a year into the Pandemic, and it’s a year that none of us could have imagined. A year of changes and acclimation Hto remote hearings, depositions and trials, electronic filing, and impeachment through Zoom. It’s been a year of social distancing, masks and the infamous “you’re on mute.” We’ve had to meet with clients, prep them for depositions and hearings and even take live testimony over various remote platforms –often without ever meeting our clients in person over the past year. We have had to turn our sanctuary (our homes) into offices, transition staff to working remotely and those with minor children have had to juggle becoming a teacher, parent and lawyer at home overnight. And those of us who are not exactly ‘tech savvy’ have had to navigate the use of MS Teams, Zoom, Blue Jeans, Court Call and other platforms—all while trying to ensure the dog isn’t barking in the background or how to turn your filter back after your teenager thought it would be hilarious to turn you into a cat! Although this zero to sixty launch into technology and remote practice has been a steep learning curve for some of us, it has resulted in a step forward for the practice of family law and has brought exciting new changes to the Association of Certified Family Law Specialists (ACFLS). Through every cloud, no matter how dark the storm, there is a silver lining; and through the black cloud of this horrendous Covid-19 Pandemic, the glow on the ACFLS horizon has been the changes we have made in technology and education to reach all our members across the state through virtual webinars, virtual meetings, social media and a new and improved ACFLS List-Serve. Leading the ACFLS helm in Technology is our Technology Chair, David Lederman, and Associate Technology Director, Henry Lewis. David is not only the ACFLS guru of all things tech, David is a part of a state-wide task force on remote proceedings and has testified on Remote proceedings before the Assembly Budget Committee (as an individual). David and Henry have been instrumental in bringing ACFLS members the virtual webinars each month and have worked extensively with the crème de la crème of all Executive Directors, our own Deanna “Dee” Rolewicz, on the ACFLS website and the upcoming roll-out of the new ACFLS list-serve. 7 If you haven’t had the chance to interact with our Executive Director, Dee Rolewicz, and her Administrative Assistant, Rachelle Santiago, look for them at our Holiday party at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in December 2021 and thank them for all their hard work. Running ACFLS is yeoman’s work and Dee and Rachelle put in countless hours to ensure ACFLS members and the Board of Directors are provided with top notch assistance and an answer to every question. Although we had to cancel our Holiday Party in 2020, we plan to see everyone there will “jingle bells on” this year. With the help of our incredible Awards Chair, Sherry Peterson, ACFLS will raise the roof at this years’ event, as we honor our well-deserving award recipients, who will be our 2020 and our 2021 award winners. So mark December 4, 2021 on your calendars now for our San Francisco ACFLS Holiday Party and Awards Dinner. We also reluctantly had to postpone our Spring Seminar 2021 to 2022; however, the health and safety of our ACFLS members and their families necessitated us making this difficult choice. Fortunately, you will not have to miss out on the “Battle of the Experts—Preparing your End Game,” as the presenters and the responder panel have graciously agreed to come back in 2022. Three times is a charm and with our Spring Seminar Chairs, Avi Levy, Sherry Peterson and David Lederman planning this event for three years, it is definitely going to be a Spring Seminar for the history books. With the superb negotiating skills of our Spring Seminar Finance Chair, Diane Wasznicky, we are also able to roll-over our contract to 2022, thereby saving the ACFLS Spring Seminar budget. We look forward to seeing you March 4-6, 2022 at the Omni Rancho Las Palms Resort for Spring Seminar 2020-2022! Through the Pandemic and the birth of the ACFLS zoom webinars, ACFLS restructured its Education Committee and our new Education Director, Christopher Melcher, and Associate Education Director, Catherine Goodrow, have taken education to a whole new level. We have