Child-centered divorce promotes the well-being of the child. Mediation provides a good process. Waugh Law & Mediation provides these services in Virginia and West Virginia

We help small businesses resolve conflicts without incurring significant expenses and spending a lot of time in court. As a mediation attorney and mediator, we provide for mediation in the workplace. Whether you are interested in evaluative mediation or a more facilitative model, we have the skill to meet your needs.

Whether I am working as a lawyer or as a mediator, clients should expect that all of our communications are confidential. This expectation applies to meetings over the telephone, in the office, or via video conference.

When I first began using video conferencing about ten years ago, we usually used Skype. However, I found it to be full of bugs and often impossible to sustain any long conversations without interruptions. We tried Adobe Connect and Google Hang-Out to help with courses I was teaching at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peace. By 2015, I was working with the Virginia Mediation Network to organize regular webinars. Fortunately, the colleague that I was working with, Brian Gumm, taught me about zoom.us, and I’ve been a devoted user.

Zoom is much easier than the other platforms I explored. I’ve found it to be a great way to have online meetings with clients and colleagues as well as to conduct mediations. To preserve the privacy of the meeting, we follow specific procedures.

With the economy changing so quickly, many readers find themselves in a situation when they need legal or mediation services, but cannot afford them. What can be done? In today’s post, I’ll cover three ways that legal services and mediation services may be provided in Virginia and West Virginia, pro bono, low bono, and on a sliding fee.

Last Friday, I attended a webinar produced by the American Bar Association on ODR, Online Dispute Resolution. The participants included Colin Rule of Tyler Technologies, Amy Schmitz a Professor of the University of Missouri, and Professor David Larson of Mitchell Hamline School of Law. Speakers addressed several important topics about Online Dispute Resolution that help me in moving much of my mediation practice online in the coming weeks.

The training brings together groups of experienced lawyer-mediators, faculty from West Virginia University, and new mediators, interested in learning the skills and methods to be able to help litigants find common ground. This year, the program will be in Flatwoods, West Virginia, over two days: June 17 and 18. I’m excited to be working with Professor Will Rhee of WVU to assist him in creating the morning session that will provide introductory concepts to the attendees.

While our office does not offer free consultations in family law matters, we work to provide information about divorce, custody, parenting plans, and support in our offices in Leesburg and Charles Town. Sign up for a free session to have questions answered, for free, by lawyer and mediator, Brenda Waugh.

Many of the attorney-mediators in civil legal cases trained in an evaluative style of mediation.  Bush and Folger in The Promise of Mediation sum it up as mediation that requires mediators to “steer them towards outcomes in substantive conformity with legal rights.” Kate Shonk, in Choose the Right Mediation for You observes, “Mediators are more likely to make recommendations and suggestions and to express opinions. Instead of focusing primarily on the underlying interests of the parties involved, evaluative mediators may be more likely to help parties assess the legal merits of their arguments and make fairness determinations. “

Legal conflicts run the gamut between a single contract that is entered into for one transaction between strangers to a family will contest and it is not surprising that different forms of ADR are suitable for different people, different kinds of conflicts and at different stages in both the legal and emotional part of the battle.  Today I am going to begin a ten part series of posts that will explore the alternatives in ADR. I’ll begin with processes that depend on a neutral facilitator such as mediation (including evaluative, facilitative, and transformative mediation), neutral evaluation, and arbitration.  I'll then turn to some processes that have components of ADR but do not require a neutral.  Finally will look at a few methods that don't fit neatly into any category.

Brenda Waugh will participate in a full day training sponsored by the West Virginia State Bar on July 24, 2019 in Bridgeport, West Virginia, “Resolution Beyond Trial.” Her topic will be “ADR is not Alternative Anymore—What Every Lawyer Should Know About ADR.” During her session, she will outline the practical and ethical requirements for lawyers to be familiar with ADR form so as to present them to clients. She will also lead the group in an interactive session to describe the various forms of ADR such as restorative justice, mediation and collaborative divorce.

This week I've been working with Marshall Yoder to prepare for a workshop where we will share our experience with mediators throughout the region.  The conference is scheduled for October 9, 2018, in Front Royal, Virginia. Front Royal is a wonderful town to visit in October, the location of the start of the Skyline Drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains!

January is a popular month to file for divorce.  Why?  For many people, the new year is a time that they reevaluate their lives and decide to make changes.  Perhaps they have waited or tried to make a marriage work for some time and the new year seems like a good opportunity to go ahead and pursue divorce.  Others may want to wait until after Christmas to plan for their a divorce. Some people postpone divorce into the new year for economic or tax reasons.  Whatever the basis, if you have decided to divorce in 2017, should you file?

Over the past few months on this blog, I’ve covered many of the issues that we consider in mediation when a couple is planning to file for divorce.  My posts in this series have examined everything from how to divide marital property, how to calculate child support, and how to make schedules for holidays for the children.  Along with resources such as the free forms from the West Virginia Supreme Court, these posts may help you decide whether or not you want to retain a lawyer, reach an agreement before you select a lawyer or file for divorce, or if you want to consider collaborative law.

The Virginia Mediation Network is planning a series of spring mini-conferences that focus on the issues involving children and mediation.  The spring series will include both a two hour regional meeting and two one hour webinars.  The regional meetings will be held in many locations including Virginia Beach, Richmond, Winchester, Leesburg, Warrenton, Fairfax and Roanoke.

An important step in filing for divorce without a lawyer, is working to reach the agreement before you file.  An agreement can provide greater security and can expedite the process.  Agreements can be reached between the parties informally, through mediation and through collaborative divorce.

This post is part of a three part series addressing how divorcing parents might address higher education costs.  Yesterday, we addressed the question:   “How long is a parent required to pay support?”   Today, we’ll consider whether divorcing parents should agree to share the costs of their children’s college. The laws in the states where I practice do not require parents to pay college costs, but parents can agree in their divorce agreement to share in the costs.   Consider several questions before entering into an agreement to be sure your agreement is in the best interest of your child and your family.

When you are planning for a divorce and money is tight, there are a number of things you can do to save money. Both mediation and collaborative divorce are often a less expensive option. This blog post also provides some free materials that can help you file for divorce when you cannot afford an attorney in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.