COLLABORATIVE CENTER OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Attorney and Mediator
- Member of a Better Divorce
Colin has been assisting clients with family law cases since 1991. He is a third generation lawyer in Redondo Beach. Colin has maintained an AV Preeminent rating with Martindale-Hubbell throughout his legal career, and has been named as a Southern California Top Lawyer as published in the Los Angeles Times.
Colin has been a member of A Better Divorce, a pioneering collaborative practice group in the South Bay, since the groups inception in 2002. He has helped countless clients navigate the collaborative process with efficiency, knowledge, experience, and compassion.
Colin has acted as a volunteer mediator for the Los Angeles County Superior Court for over 20 years. He has also been hired by family law attorneys to act as a mediator in difficult, high conflict cases. Colin also provides mediation services to private clients.
Job Titles:
- Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and Financial Life Planner
- Financial
Jaye-Jo Portanova, M.D. is an experienced adult and child psychiatrist specializing in mediation, co-parenting counseling, collaborative law, attorney/client consultation, and family therapy. She received her undergraduate and medical degree at University of California, Los Angeles. She is board certified in both adult and child psychiatry.
Dr. Portanova was selected by Los Angeles Superior Court Judges to serve on the Downtown Los Angeles Psychiatric Custody Evaluation Panel, and has performed numerous child custody evaluations. She practices collaborative law as a divorce and child specialist coach with A Better Divorce, the Center for Conflict Resolution and Peace Talks. Also, she mediates divorce cases privately and is a parent plan coordinator for high-conflict custody issues.
Dr. Portanova has been practicing in the Los Angeles area for over 30 years. Her extensive training and experience with parents and children provide her with unique skills to facilitate families through this difficult and stressful time.
Job Titles:
- Mediator & Collaborative Attorney
- President of the Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association
Jeffery has been practicing family law since 1996 and is certified as a Specialist in Family Law by The State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization. His family law practice focuses exclusively on consensual dispute resolution, including mediation, collaborative divorce and non-litigation consulting.
Los Angeles Magazine recognized him as a Super Lawyer for 2011 - 2021 and a Super Lawyers Rising Star for 2005 - 2010. Jeffery received a Eureka Award in 2019 from Collaborative Practice California, in recognition of his contributions to the field of collaborative divorce in the state of California. Jeffery co-authored Los Angeles County Local Rule 5.26, the most comprehensive collaborative practice rule in the state of California.
Prior to founding Jacobson Family Law and Mediation, Jeffery was a partner at Jacobson Scully, LLP, with offices in the South Bay and West Los Angeles. He also serves as of counsel to the West Los Angeles family law firm of Shebby Hirashima LLP. Prior to going into private practice in 2003, he served as Executive Director of Levitt & Quinn Family Law Center, a nonprofit law firm which provides family law services to low-income individuals in Los Angeles. He began his legal career at the family law and mediation firm of Mosten & Tuffias.
Jeffery is the current president of the Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association. He is the past chair of the Family Law Section of the Beverly Hills Bar Association and previously served on the Executive Committee of the Family Law Section of the Los Angeles County Bar Association. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Levitt & Quinn. He is a member of A Better Divorce and Los Angeles Westside Collaborative Divorce Professionals, interdisciplinary groups of professionals in Los Angeles and the South Bay committed to non-court solutions for family law matters.
Jeffery has delivered numerous presentations and served as a panelist in programs related to a variety of substantive family law issues, in addition to programs related to family law mediation and collaborative divorce, for the Los Angeles County Bar Association, Beverly Hills Bar Association, State Bar of California, Association for Family and Conciliation Courts, Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association, UCLA School of Law, USC School of Law, Loyola Law School and many other entities.
Job Titles:
- Attorney and Mediator
- Creative Problem Solver and No - Nonsense Strategist
Jennifer Winestone is a creative problem solver and no-nonsense strategist, who works to broker practical, long-lasting solutions for families in transition/crisis. After almost a decade in high conflict high stakes litigation, Jennifer spent two years training with the industry's top mediation professionals and earned her Master of Laws in Dispute Resolution from the highly acclaimed Straus Institute at Pepperdine University. Having practiced law in both Canada and the U.S., Jennifer brings a unique perspective to resolving family legal disputes, helping to broaden parties' understanding of the issues and achieve fair and final resolution. Jennifer artfully tackles complexities, pays meticulous attention to detail, and gives thoughtful consideration to "the big picture." She has quickly earned a reputation for professional integrity and innovation among her clients and peers. In addition to her private mediation practice, Jennifer now serves as Adjunct Lecturer for the Divorce and Family Mediation at USC Gould Law School. She has also proudly served as a Dispute Settlement Officer for the LA Superior Court, Certified Provider for the New Ways for Families Program, Negotiation Coach for the Women's Negotiation Academy, and Executive Committee Member and Past Chair of the Beverly Hills Bar Association's Mediation Section. Jennifer has presented at the LA County Bar Association, Beverly Hills Bar Association, Pepperdine Law School, Levitt & Quinn Family Law Center, and other community schools and organizations. She serves on the Board of Governors for the LA Collaborative Family Law Association. In addition to her involvement at the Collaborative Center of Southern California, Jennifer is a member of MFLA, FLAMES, ABD and LAWCDP, exclusive associations of local family attorney-mediators and collaborative professionals seeking to better the divorce process through education and collaboration.
Job Titles:
- Founding Partner
- Family Therapist & Co - Parenting / Communication Specialist
Jon Kramer is a founding partner of the Collaborative Center of Southern California. Mr. Kramer is an experienced Family Therapist and Relationship Coach. He received his B.A. Degree from the University of Michigan and his M.S.W. postgraduate degree from The State University of New York. In addition, Jon worked in London, England on a research team at the Tavistock Clinic and the University College London and also received his postgraduate training in Family Systems Therapy at the Family Studies Training Center in New York. Jon is a member of the prestigious International Family Therapy Academy (IFTA) and he teaches on the topics of Collaborative Divorce and couples and family therapy throughout the Los Angeles area. Mr. Kramer has published articles for Collaborative Practice California, as well as the LA County Bar, and the Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association. He was honored to be nominated and to receive for 10 8-years in a row (2012-2022), the Best of Psychotherapist Award by the Hermosa Beach Award Program. Jon Kramer has been a practicing psychotherapist and Relationship Coach for the past 25+ years with a focus couples and families. on children, couples and families.
Job Titles:
- Adjunct Professor
- Founding Member and past President of a Better Divorce
- Judge Pro
- Mediator & Collaborative Attorney
Joe is also a founding member and past President of A Better Divorce, a collaborative law divorce group in the South Bay, and has handled over 200 collaborative law cases. In 2001, as Chair of the Family Law Section of the South Bay Bar Association, Joe co-initiated a program with L.A. County Supervising Family Law Judge, Aviva Bobb, utilizing her courtroom to present a program with Pauline Tesler and Nancy Ross.
Joe has served as Judge Pro-Tem and Mediator in the Los Angeles County Superior Court. He has also made several appearances as a guest commentator on KNBC Channel 4 with Colleen Williams, as well as being a guest commentator on KPCC-FM, Pasadena, California, and CBC National Television "Air Talk - The Legal Addition", and been a commentator on American Journal National Television, as well as ABC National radio.
Job Titles:
- Mediator & Collaborative Attorney
Job Titles:
- Founding Partner of the Collaborative Center of Southern
- Mediator & Collaborative Attorney
Kimberly Davidson is a founding partner of the Collaborative Center of Southern California.
Mary Elizabeth Lund, Ph.D. has a practice in West Los Angeles focused on mediation of parenting plans, co-parenting counseling to develop communication and cooperation, and coaching in collaborative divorce. She is a Past President of the California Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and has been a member of Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association since its inception. For 30 years, performed custody evaluations and served as an expert witness in court. As the custody evaluator liaison member of the Family Law Executive Committee of the L.A. County Bar for 12 years, she frequently organized and spoke at the annual interdisciplinary Los Angeles Custody Colloquium. She has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from UCLA, and received a U.S. National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral research grant to study effects of divorce on children at the Centre for Family Research, University of Cambridge, England. From 2005 through 2015 she was a frequent co-trainer with a team of experienced Family Law judicial officers in the seminar for incoming Family Law judicial officers through California Center for Judicial Education (CJER). She participated with Alicia Lieberman, Ph.D., Jeffrey Rowe, M.D., and Hon. Mark Juhas in developing the CJER video series, "Basic Child Development and Effects of Domestic Violence on Children for Juvenile and Family Court Judicial Officers." She has co-taught mediation courses with noted authors Ken Cloke, J.D. and Forrest Mosten, J.D., including courses at the Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution, Pepperdine University School of Law. Her articles include "The place for custody evaluations in family peacemaking," Family Court Review, 2015, "Assessing children's perceptions of family relationships: An interactive instrument for use in custody disputes," J. Child Custody, 2010, and other original research and clinical articles on effects of divorce on children, parental alienation, divorced fathers, custody evaluations, and mediation.
Job Titles:
- Mental Health Professional
Job Titles:
- Mental Health Professional