Upcoming investiture dates:

Lindsay Partridge
Wednesday February 29, 2012
3:00pm
Judge Hart’s courtroom (2A)
Reception to follow

David Leith
Friday April 6, 2012
3:00pm
Judge Hart’s courtroom (2A)
Reception to follow

The MCBA and Marion County Circuit Court Family Law Advisory Committee (FLAC) have collaborated to present seven High Conflict Symposia. The first Symposium will feature renowned speaker William (“Bill”) A. Eddy who will discuss how to manage high conflict personalities in family law cases.

A Brief History and Description of the FLAC

Enacted in 1997, ORS 3.434 required each judicial district to create a local FLAC to adopt a local plan to coordinate the provision of services to families in domestic relations proceedings. Since then, the FLAC promulgated the Integrated Family Services Plan as well as the Domestic Violence Plan, the Parental Access Program, and the Young Child Case Processing Protocol. In addition to producing the High Conflict Symposia, which draws attendees from around the state, the Marion County FLAC continues to provide input to the court and serves as a forum for discussion on a multitude of family law issues. Its multi-disciplinary membership includes representatives from DHS, the Mid-Valley Women’s Crisis Service, YWCA, Marion/Polk Legal Aid, the DA’s office, the local family law bar, as well as mediators and custody evaluators.

Bill Eddy

Mr. Eddy is an attorney, therapist, mediator, and the President of the High Conflict Institute based in San Diego, California. Mr. Eddy trains professionals how to manage high conflict personalities by providing seminars to attorneys, mediators, collaborative law professionals, judges, ombudspersons, mental health professionals, hospital administrators, college administrators, law enforcement personnel, homeowners association managers and others. He has presented domestically in over 25 states and internationally in Canada, Australia, France and Sweden.

A Certified Family Law Specialist, Mr. Eddy has represented clients in family court and provided divorce mediation services for the past 18 years. Prior to practicing law, Mr. Eddy worked as a psychotherapist for 12 years, providing services to children, adults, couples and families in psychiatric hospitals and outpatient clinics.

Mr. Eddy is the author of several books, including It’s All Your Fault!: 12 Tips for Managing People Who Blame Others for Everything, High Conflict People in Legal Disputes, and Managing High Conflict People in Court. He is the developer of New Ways for Families, a short-term program for strengthening conflict skills for potentially high-conflict families and a co-developer of “HCI Pattern Analysis” a software service for presenting high conflict behavior patterns in family law settlement and litigation.

Mr. Eddy also teaches Negotiation and Mediation at the University of San Diego School of Law. He has served as a Special Master and as a Settlement Judge. He is currently the Senior Family Mediator at the National Conflict Resolution Center in San Diego, California. He is an adjunct professor at the Pepperdine University School of Law and on the faculty of the National Judicial College.

Symposium Details

High Conflict Symposium VIII: Managing High Conflict Personalities in Family Cases will be presented:

• Friday, January 6, 2012
• Paulus Lecture Hall of the Willamette University College of Law,245 Winter St. in Salem, Oregon.
• Registration begins at 8:00 a.m.
• Opening remarks by the Honorable Thomas M. Hart at 8:30 a.m.
• Bon Appétit will provide morning refreshments, lunch, and a hosted reception with Bill Eddy following the program.
• All included with the registration price of $75.
• The symposium will provide 6.5 CLE hours.

Contact David Bertram, Mediation Coordinator for the Marion County Circuit Court at 503-584-9055 for more registration details.

Judge Fred E. Avera Retires

Fred Avera was first elected as a Polk County Circuit Court judge in 1998 and subsequently re-elected in 2004 and 2010.

Before serving as judge, Avera was the Polk County District Attorney from 1987 to 1999 and a deputy DA from 1985 to 1987.  He began his legal career at a firm in Polk County in 1975 and then spent about six months working in Benton County. He quickly discovered he preferred practicing in Polk County and moved to Dallas to start a practice in 1977.

The Imprint Program is here!

Are you interested in working with youth in our community and making a difference in their lives?  Then you should sign up to be a volunteer with the Imprint Program.  The time commitment is minimal, but the rewards are huge!  

The Imprint Program pairs a high school student with an attorney and provides them with the opportunity to form a one-on-one relationship through reading a book from the student’s curriculum and exchanging 3 to 4 letters as pen-pals over approximately four months, providing the student an opportunity to interact with a positive adult role model.  The program concludes with a party where the student and volunteer attorney meet face to face.  It is a rewarding, meaningful program for both the students and volunteer attorneys, and one which is ideal for busy lawyers!

We are looking for volunteers to read an assigned book and exchange letters with a student.  To participate you must be available for the program-end party, a doughnut party, on May 24, 2012, from 7:30 am to 8:19 am.  The party is the most important part of the Imprint Program, thus, we require that all volunteers attend.

An orientation meeting for all volunteers will be held the second week in January, the date is still be finalized, from noon to 1:00.  Attendance at orientation is not required, but is strongly encouraged.  Feel free to bring your lunch!

If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the program co-coordinators, Shannon Terry at shannonaterry@gmail.com, or Heather Vogelsong at maitaly28@yahoo.com.

Co-coordinators Shannon Terry and Heather Vogelsong

October/November 2011 Bulletin

• Wednesday, December 7, 2011 |  4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
  Open House – Swanson, Lathen, Alexander, McCann & Prestwich
  3040 Commercial Street SE, Salem, OR 97302

• Thursday, December 8, 2011  |  Noon – 1 p.m.
  Courthouse Connection  Holiday Social Event
  Marion County Courthouse, Jury Assembly Room, 5th Floor

• Friday, December 9, 2011   |  Beginning at 4:00 p.m.
  Marion County Bar Association’s 2011 Holiday Party
  Mission Mill Dye House

 Come celebrate the holiday season at the

Marion County Bar Association’s 2011 Holiday Party

Friday, December 9, 2011

Beginning at 4:00 p.m.

At the Mission Mill Dye House

Join your colleagues for an evening full of great company, food and spirits!

If your membership is up for renewal, the yearly MCBA dues of $50 will be collected at the door.

For additional information, please contact Stephanie Wilson at stephanie@feiblemancase.com or (503) 399-9218.

The Partners of Swanson, Lathen, Alexander, McCann & Prestwich
cordially invite you to attend their

OPEN HOUSE
Celebrating our new location

Wednesday, December 7, 2011
4:00 – 7:00 p.m.
3040 Commercial Street SE
Salem, OR 97302

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Join us in a retirement celebration for

THE HONORABLE JOSEPH GUIMOND

After 16 years of dedication and service to the Marion County Circuit Court and
his community, the Judge is retiring.

Please join us in wishing him well on
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Marion County Courthouse
100 High Street , Salem, Oregon
Fifth Floor Jury Assembly Room

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