CDSOC - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Vice President
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Trainer
- Co - Founder of CultureCounts.Net
- Member of Committee
Diana L. Martinez is a Family Lawyer practicing in the counties of San Bernardino, Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside, working with both English and Spanish speaking participants. Since 2007, her practice has been devoted 100% to out-of-court dispute resolution through consulting, collaborative, and mediation processes.
Beyond her private practice, Ms. Martinez is also a trainer and educator for legal, financial, and mental health professionals, locally and nationwide, on the topics of family law mediation, collaborative law, confidentiality, cultural competency, and ethics and best practices. She has presented for the California State Bar, Continuing Education of the Bar, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Collaborative Practice California, Southern California Mediation Association, University of Southern California Gould School of Law, Western State Law School, and various local bar associations and practice groups. She is also a frequent guest lecturer for community Divorce Options and Divorce Recovery programs.
As a past president and current board member of Collaborative Divorce Solutions of Orange County, and former board member and newsletter editor for the Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association, Ms. Martinez has facilitated education and enhancement of best practices in professional communities with markedly different demographics and practice philosophies.
Ms. Martinez is a co-founder of CultureCounts.net, a program dedicated to bringing awareness of cultural complexities and competency in family law matters. She also volunteers as a California State Bar and San Bernardino County Bar Association Mandatory Fee Arbitrator, and as a mediator for Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and Inyo/Mono County Superior Courts.
PRACTICE FOCUS: As a mother, Ms. Martinez places a premium on family. This is the driving force behind her professional services: to maintain and promote the welfare of the family through difficult changes. Divorce may be inevitable. How you handle it is not. The question is "What do you want for your family?"
Education:
University of Southern California, Gould School of Law
University of California at Riverside
Marvin L. Chapman has been divorce coaching for over 35 years, commencing when he co-founded a nonprofit organization emphasizing responsible fatherhood. He is currently the President of this multiple award-winning nonprofit organization. Marvin learned that empowering individuals with information about family court and the affect it has on family members significantly reduced the anxiety, frustration, and confusion inherently present when entering the family court system.
In the early 1980's Marvin was fortunate to be mentored by some of the innovative pioneers of court-mandated mediation. He is a strong advocate for out of court options and non-adversarial alternatives, a product of his witnessing first-hand the pervasive abusiveness of the adversarial family court process on individuals and families.
In 1986, Marvin was appointed to the California Senate Task Force on Family Equity, a task force set up by the California legislature to make recommendations relating to family law. He was appointed to this task force to represent the issues and concerns confronting fathers in family court.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Treasurer
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Member of the Executive Committee
- President
- Member of Committee
Job Titles:
- Attorney
- Co - Chair
- Member of the Executive Committee
- Secretary
- Member of the Family Law Section of the Orange County Bar
Paula Swensen graduated from the University of New Hampshire (B.S., Behavioral Science, highest honors, 1996) and Franklin Pierce Law Center (J.D., 1999; M.A., Intellectual Property). Between her second and third years of law school, Ms. Swensen completed a summer internship with the Honorable Joseph F. Weis, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The legal analysis and persuasive writing skills garnered through this extraordinary experience redound to the benefit of each one of Ms. Swensen's family law clients.
Ms. Swensen was admitted to the Massachusetts Bar (2000), the California Bar (2003), and the U.S. District Court, Central District of California (2003). Ms. Swensen has been Certified as a Specialist in Family Law by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization.
Ms. Swensen is a member of the Family Law Section of the Orange County Bar and member of the State Bar of California. She has also served as an arbitrator on the Orange County Bar Association Mandatory Fee Arbitration Committee, and in that capacity has adjudicated numerous proceedings as the sole arbitrator.
In addition to her litigation practice, Ms. Swensen maintains a growing mediation practice, which brings her expertise as a family law specialist to bear in an arena designed to facilitate a mutually-satisfying resolution to parties engaged in all manner of family law disputes. Ms. Swensen has been trained as a mediator as prescribed by the California Dispute Resolution Programs Act (DRPA). She has participated in the Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University, and has completed more than 80 hours of advanced training in mediation.
Above all, Ms. Swensen's practice reflects her strong-held belief that families experiencing divorce are not well-served by "scorched-earth," costly litigation. Assisting divorcing parties with their transition to the next chapter of their lives with dignity and respect has been the hallmark of Ms. Swensen's law practice.
Paula Swensen, a native of New Jersey, has been an Orange County resident since 2000. Ms. Swensen lives in Trabuco Canyon and has three children. She is an avid sports fan, supporting any and all teams from the Boston area.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Committee