Faith Jansen, Family Law Mediation Center

After being admitted to practice law in California in 1981, I opened my own solo practice in 1984. In addition to providing traditional legal advice and court representation since 1981, I have offered mediation since 1991 and collaborative law services since 1997. In 1997, I was certified as a Family Law Specialist by the State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. I have been a member of a collaborative practice group, Collaborative Practice East Bay (CPEB), since 2005.

My goals go beyond simply getting my clients a just and fair result in their legal case. I want to get them that result with as little negative fall-out and as much positive personal progress as possible. To that end, I strive to use the most non-adversarial approach which fits that particular case. I strongly believe that my clients are best served if they can look back and feel good about knowing that they, as much as possible under the circumstances, used the most humane and enlightened approach to resolving their legal conflict.

In one litigation case, I had to spend months "following the money" (pouring through bank records) so that my client ended up with a settlement of $5 million dollars instead of nothing for one-half of the family business.

In another matter, a mediation case, the most important thing was for me to be present with the parties while they articulated their goals and needs in the midst of the pain they were feeling from closing out their marriage. My ability to listen while being present with them enabled me to lead them forward through the process of putting their ideas together with their practical options, helping them to find solutions together. This course of action resulted in a mediated settlement agreement of their entire case.

In some cases, my client's spouse has been the person in the marriage who managed the family finances. I've seen clients start the whole matter feeling overwhelmed by money issues. By enabling these clients to fully grasp the financial issues and then team them with financial advisors, they learned to independently manage their finances by the time the divorce was completed. In other cases, while my own client has had a reasonably fair and balanced perspective, the spouse on the other side has had unrealistic expectations and an imbalanced sense of entitlement. In these cases, I have always calmly, respectfully but firmly communicated my analysis of the law and its equitable objectives to the other party or their attorney and pursued cooperative negotiation whenever possible. In all cases, I only advise my clients to go to court when it is evident that doing so is the most cost effective way to get a reasonably fair result in keeping with their goals.