Collaborative Professionals Northern Beaches
Collaborative Professionals Northern Beaches
A successful dispute resolution method which is out of court and under your control
Lawyers
Ioanita Gentles
Ioanita Gentles is the firm’s Principal Solicitor and Director. With over 29 years as a Solicitor and Barrister, Ioanita has spent her career helping clients to get the best results with their family law issues, minimising legal costs and giving sound advice.
Ioanita is naturally approachable, compassionate and discreet. She will identify your rights and possible strategies to enable you to make decisions for you and your family’s future.
Ioanita is a founding member of the practice group and served as the President for it’s first 4 years. She is now volunteering as a board member to support Manly Mermaids women’s rugby. She much enjoys working in the collaborative family law process with people who wish to resolve property and parenting matters respecting the other party and family values.
Atkinson Vinden Lawyers
Atkinson Vinden Lawyers
Special Counsel & Accredited Mediator
Level 8, 10 Help Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
Tel: (02) 9411 4466
Email: igentles@avlawyers.com.au
Website: https://www.avlawyers.com.au/
Helen Ede, Ede Family Law
Helen is an accredited specialist in family law with more than 20 years’ experience in law. Having worked in CBD firms for most of that period, she is now the principal of Ede Family Law, based in North Sydney and servicing the Northern Beaches and the CBD. Over many years Helen has developed extensive expertise in resolving disputes for separating families, including mediation, and since 2011, collaborative law.
Helen is committed to achieving the best outcomes for her clients, combining technical excellence with pragmatism and insight, and understanding the fundamental importance of effective communication. Helen understands that, for her clients, family law is much more than a legal issue. It is about them, their lives, their children, their futures, their adjustment and their security, personal and financial.
Ede Family Law
Level 32, 101 Miller St
NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2060
Annabel Murray
Atkinson Viden Lawyers
Annabel has practiced in family law exclusively since 2006
Annabel is an accredited specialist and trained independent children's lawyer and collaborative practitioner.
Annabel is a present a member of the NSW Law Society family law committee.
Annabel is special counsel at Atkinson Vinden Lawyers.
Atkinson Vinden Lawyers
Accredited Specialist in Family Law,
Special Counsel
Level 8, 10 Help Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
Tel: (02) 9411 4466
Email: amurray@avlawyers.com.au
Website: https://www.avlawyers.com.au/
Janine De Saxe
Janine has been practicing as a solicitor for 30 years, and became an Accredited Specialist in Family Law in 1993. Janine has in-depth experience in a diverse range of areas in Family Law. Janine is highly skilled at resolving emotionally draining and contentious disputes by way of negotiation and conciliation where possible. Janine has a strong industry reputation at providing successful outcomes for her clients.
Janine undertook the Collaborative Law Training ten years ago, and has been keen to promote this alternative process to assist separating couples. Janine is also an Accredited Family Dispute Resolution practitioner. Known for being efficient and thorough, Janine is also sensitive to the distress clients may feel while dealing with the issues relating to the breakdown of their relationship. To limit the stress, Janine takes a practical and strategic approach to ensure a positive outcome for her clients.
De Saxe O'Neill Family Lawyers
6/67 Wanganella Street
BALGOWLAH NSW 2093
Celia Pitcher
Celia is an Accredited Specialist and is Family Law Principal with Coleman Greig Lawyers. She has practised exclusively in Family Law for over 15 years with both larger suburban firms and city firms, and in boutique family law practices. Celia has extensive experience in all facets of Family Law including complex parenting, financial issues, and child support.
In recommending Collaborative Practice to her clients as an alternative to litigation or traditional dispute resolution methods, Celia aims to help her clients reach negotiated settlements, without further damaging what can be fragile family relationships.
Celia’s communication style, and approach to guiding her clients through one of the most challenging periods in their lives, is one of warmth, understanding, and calm measured focus.
Coleman Greig Lawyers
Margie O’Neill
Margie has only worked in Family Law as a lawyer and her legal skills are complemented by her background of over 20 years working with families as a Social Worker. Margie has experience in all areas of Family Law and she uses interests-based negotiation and mediation skills to facilitate resolutions. Margie encourages open and effective communication and is warm and approachable.
Margie understands the complex emotional dynamics which are often present in separating families and she is focused on the best interests of the children. She appreciates how important it is for children that their parents can maintain respectful communications and be able to co parent following separation.
Margie is committed to Collaborative Practice and believes that is the best process for separating families to work together respectfully to find a future focused solution that meets their needs.
De Saxe O’Neill Family Lawyers
6/67 Wanganella Street
BALGOWLAH NSW 2093
Claire Nielsen
Claire commenced practice as a solicitor in 2008 after 9 years of working as a Family Law paralegal. Since her admission, Claire has practiced mainly in the areas of Family Law, Wills and Estates and Conveyancing. Claire brings her broader experience in estate planning and property law to the table in working out creative solutions for couples going through a property division.
Claire has obtained the Specialist Accreditation in Family Law and always aims to achieve timely, practical and positive settlements by consent. This approach has caused Claire to develop a strong interest in collaborative processes with a focus on resolving disputes without intervention of the Court. Claire’s experience in running contested parenting and property matters in the Family and Federal Circuit Courts have led her to the view that the interests of families are best served by a negotiated resolution without the need for protracted litigation.
Shipton & Associates
1/1 Raglan Street
MANLY NSW 2095
Tel: 02 9976 5222
Fax: 02 9976 5333
Email: claire@manlylaw.com.au
Website: www.shiptonandassociates.com.au/
Bron O'Loan
Bron has worked as a family lawyer since her admission and she is adept at working with families to find solutions and reach a settlement as an ‘out of Court’ specialist. Prior to studying law, Bron worked as a primary school teacher and university lecturer and has a passion and enthusiasm for helping people to get through the splits. In addition to having completed a Masters in Family Law, Bron is the best-selling author of ‘The Splits – how to help your kids navigate separation and divorce’, and also acts as an Independent Children’s Lawyer in complex parenting matters and is a trained Parenting Coordinator.
Known for her ability to inspire, energise and collaborate, Bron is a well-respected member of the legal community and has an ongoing desire to ensure that separation occurs in a respectful, dignified and collaborative process. Bron is committed to working with separated families in a way that keeps them away from the long, expensive and combative legal process of Court, as it’s rarely good for anyone.
O’Loan Family Law
Bay 6 Harbour Bridge Warehouses
Middlemiss Street
LAVENDER BAY NSW 2060
Tel: 02 9922 2230
Email: bron@oloanfamilylaw.com.au
Coaches
Coaches
Julia Brierley
A specialist in family mediation, Julia is committed to providing a confidential, compassionate and child-centred approach to resolving parenting and property disputes.
As a registered FDRP and relationship counsellor, Julia has many years experience working with families going through separation and divorce, both in private practice as the co founder of Sydney Dispute Resolution and in the community sector for Relationships Australia and Legal Aid.
As a Collaborative Coach, Julia assists parties to work through their differences, reflect on their hopes for the future and to reach practical agreements that preserve important relationships and remove the stress of conflict. She will work hard to ensure you leave with tools and strategies to communicate better and to create a strong co-parenting relationship for your children as you move into the next chapter of your lives.
Sydney Dispute Resolution
PO Box 572
NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2059
Tel: 0447 183 474
David Roberts
David brings some 20 years of experience to assisting couples facing relationship challenges. He brings calm into the room where he will listen with empathy and without judgement. His work always focusses on finding ways to minimize the stress on parents and the impact on their children.
David is a nationally accredited mediator with a Master’s degree and a registered family despite resolution practitioner with the Attorney General’s department.
In Collaborative Practice matters he works a neutral coach with both parties. He has spent more than a decade teaching Collaborative Practice to family lawyers, financial advisors, counsellors and child consultants. David also holds a post graduate degree in counselling and uses these skills with both couples who want to stay together, as well as those going through separation.
David Roberts Consulting – Mediation & Counselling
Level 21, 133 Castlereagh St
Sydney, NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9159 9000
Mob: 0421 851 866
Child Inclusive Consultant
Rebecca Burnett-Smith
As part of the collaborative process, Rebecca Burnett-Smith is specially trained to conduct one-off consultations with children, called Child Inclusive Practice (CIP).
In CIP, children and young people, aged 5 - 18 years, have the opportunity to reflect on their hopes, needs and concerns about the separation. Children’s sessions are conducted in a balanced, sensitive, and age-appropriate manner, and gives children the space to talk to an independent person about what the separation is like for them, including what they like and what they find difficult.
Feedback is then provided to the parents in the collaborative process which assists parents to develop parenting arrangements which take their children's experiences into consideration. CIP will also identify children who need further support and assistance.
Rebecca is a social worker with over 30 years of experience working therapeutically with children and families from all backgrounds and complexity. Over the course of her career, she has worked in child protection, adolescent and family counselling, early childhood intervention, and in her own family mediation business, Kids First Mediation.
Since 2015, Rebecca has also worked as a Regulation 7 Family Consultant for the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCA).
Financial Adviser
Justin Hooper
Five years before the Global Financial Crisis, Justin identified the coming problem and built a solution.
His training in the USA on Life Planning perfectly complimented his business degree, financial planning skills and exposure to scenario planning.
He developed the Seantos Process, a unique step by-step approach to integrating life and money, and wrote his first book, A Richer Life.
Being equally left and right brained, his approach has been built on gaining a deep understanding of the ‘why?’ without neglecting the rigorous analysis of the ‘how?’ He appeals as much to the highly analytical engineer as he does to the visionary artist or the more spiritual contributor. Besides his business life, Justin had a very full life in South Africa having played State level cricket for a number of years, flying light aircraft as a hobby and writing his own weekly column in the largest circulation newspaper. However after learning more about his own deep motivators, he and his wife made a life choice to give it all up and migrate to Australia. He subsequently studied life planning with George Kinder, one of the forefathers of the concept in the USA and has qualified as one of only two Registered Life Planners® in Australia.
Justin specialises in dealing with intelligent, successful people, who want to live a meaningful, congruent life and know it’s possible. Over the past 28 years, he has advised over 2000 clients most of whom are financially successful.
Sentinel Wealth
Level 24, 56 Pitt St
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: 02 8908 5300
Email: info@sentinelwealth.com.au
Website: https://sentinelwealth.com.au/