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Articles Published by Joy Rosenthal at Mediate.com

I opened Rosenthal Law & Mediation in 2006 to help families who are going through life transitions such as marriage, divorce, custody, and adoption. We mediate with families who are going through divorce, separation, or who have conflicts around custody or visitation. We also mediate prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, as well as donor and other family building agreements. We write up the Agreements and file New York uncontested divorces. We also specialize in second and step-parent adoption, and other matters related to family law.

From 1997-2006, I was a staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Juvenile Rights Practice in the Bronx and Brooklyn. I represented hundreds of children and youth in adoption, custody, visitation, abuse, neglect, foster care and delinquency criminal cases. I developed extensive investigation, interviewing, trial preparation, advocacy and courtroom skills, as well as the ability to manage many complex cases at once. I was one of a few attorneys selected to spend one year in the Appeals unit, researching and writing legal briefs on child welfare and delinquency appeals.

From 2001-2001, I took a year off from Legal Aid because I was selected to be a Fellow at the NYU School of Law Family Defense Clinic, where she supervised law students who were representing parents whose children had been removed from their care.

Before law school, I was a community organizer, worked with at-risk teens in Cambridge, Mass. and on the Lower East Side of NYC, I was a speechwriter for the President of NYU, and worked as a Retirement Plans Analyst at PaineWebber, Inc.

I have been mediating since 2006, and have been practicing Collaborative Law since 2007. I am a certified mediator for NYC Family Courts, where I frequently mediate custody and visitation cases, and maintain a private mediation practice. I serve as President of the Family & Divorce Mediation Council of Greater NY.

I am trained in both the Understanding-Based and Transformative models of mediation. My approach is to meet with both parties together as much as possible, and be very honest and transparent about the dynamics I perceive. I also teach family law at the CUNY School of Law.

I studied basic and family mediation at the Community Mediation Center in Jamaica, Queens, and at the Center for Mediation in Law (now the Center for Understanding in Conflict) with Jack Himmelstein and Gary Friedman. I am certified through the New York State Office of Court Administration. I studied Elder mediation at Elder Decisions, Inc. in Newton, MA. JD - CUNY School of Law, 1996 BA - Univ of Massachusetts/Amherst, 1980 in Women's Studies Also studied at NYU School of Social Work, NYU Graduate School of Arts & Science (psychology), Harvard Divinity School (world religion), Smith College

You are the experts on your family situation. By mediating, you and your ex- can be the ones to continue to make important decisions for yourselves and your family.

My job as a mediator is to help you know what issues need to be decided, and help structure the conversation to guide you through the process of making those important decisions together. I do this by helping you define your values and priorities, and by helping you listen to each other. My goal is to help you ease the transition your family is experiencing with a minimum of pain to all involved by drawing on the your strengths and values.

My customary fee is $400 per hour for mediation. Most mediation sessions are 2 hours, and it often takes 4-6 sessions to get through all of the issues that need to be worked on. I offer a free 1/2 hour with the parties to discuss our expectations and the mediation process. I do not take a retainer for mediation.

Other expenses to consider are the costs of review attorneys (STRONGLY recommended!), and hiring a child or financial specialist, if needed.

I charge a separate fee for drafting agreements and divorce documents, and for filing in court.

We work with New York families in all of their diversity.