ADR Services

Mediation; Special Master.

Additional Services

Estate planning for individuals and families, drafting revocable trusts and wills; life insurance trusts, grantor-retained annuity trusts, grantor-retained uni-trusts, charitable remainder trusts; Family limited partnerships; Estate-related litigation; Mediation of probate, trust and conservatorship disputes.

Specialty Areas

Trusts and Estates; Probate; Conservatorship; Guardianship; Will Contests; Trust Contests; Trust Accountings; Actions to Remove or Surcharge Trustee; Removal Actions; Elder Abuse; Early Neautral Evaluation

ADR Experience/Training

Successfully mediated over 70 trust and estate matters since 2005; Judge pro tem (Alameda, Contra Costa Counties).Past Chair, Trust Committee of the Alameda County Bar Association Estate Planning Trust and Probate Law Section
Admitted in 1993 to practice before the California Supreme Court, the Northern California District of the United States District Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

Education

Boalt Hall School of Law (J.D., 1993) University of California, San Diego (B.A. with honors, 1989)

Licenses/Certification

Certified Specialist in Estate Planning, Trust and Probate Law, State Bar of California, Board of Legal Specialization
Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC)

Affiliations

Fellow, American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC)
Member (2004 through 2010), Executive Committee, Trusts and Estates Section, State Bar of California: Chair, Trust and Estate Administration sub-committee; Past Editor and Executive Editor, California Trusts and Estates Quarterly
Member: Alameda County, Contra Costa County and American Bar Associations; State Bar of California
Past Chair, Estate Planning, Trust & Probate Law Advisory Commission to the Board of Specialization, California State Bar

Honors/Awards

San Francisco Magazine, Top 50 Female Super Lawyers, Northern California, 2012, 2013, 2016 San Francisco Magazine, Top 100 Super Lawyers, Northern California, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 San Francisco Magazine, Top 50 Female Super Lawyers, Northern California, 2008 San Francisco Magazine, Top 50 Female Super Lawyers, Northern California, 2007 San Francisco Magazine, Super Lawyers, Northern California, 2006 San Francisco Magazine, Top 50 Female Super Lawyers, Northern California, 2005

Articles/Publications

Fiduciary Accounting Handbook (CEB, 2015)
Author, Chapter 8, "Fiduciary Accounting," California Trust Practice (Matthew Bender, 2012 edition)
Consultant, Crossover Issues, (Continuing Education of the Bar, 2012)
Author, Chapter 14, "Creditor's Claims," Decedent Estate Practice (Continuing Education of the Bar, 2012 edition)
Author, Chapter 10, "Creditor's Rights Against the Trust," and Chapter lOA, "Creditor's Rights Against Trust Beneficiary's Interest," California Trust Administration (Continuing Education of the Bar 2012 edition)
Author, Chapter 15, "Paying, Defending, and Objecting to Trustee's Attorneys' Fees and Fee Shifting in Trust Litigation," The Matthew Bender? Practice Guide: California Trust Litigation (LexisNexis Matthew Bender 2012)
Author, Chapter 1, "Is a Conservatorship Needed?" and Chapter 5, "Starting Conservatorship Proceedings," California Conservatorship Practice (Continuing Education of the Bar, 2008 edition)
Author, "Making the Other Guys Pay: Attorney Fees and the Common Fund Theory," Winter 2005, California Trusts and Estates Quarterly, Vol. 11, Issue 4 (State Bar of California)
Author, "The Basics of Estate Planning," California Bar Journal, October 2005, (State Bar of California)
Author, "A Mechanism to Empty the Bypass Trust," Spring 2003, California Trusts and Estates Quarterly, Vol. 9, Issue 1 (State Bar of California)
Author, "The States' Right-to-Die Laws and Active Euthanasia," Legal Reference Services Quarterly, Vol. 12(2/3) 1992