Advanced Collaborative Training

ROBERT J. MERLIN, ESQ. is a partner in the Law Offices of Robert J. Merlin, P.A. in Coral Gables, Florida specializing in Marital and Family Law, especially Collaborative Family Law. Bob is Florida Bar Board Certified in Marital and Family Law, is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family Mediator and has been practicing law in the State of Florida for over 35 years. He is a member of The Florida Bar, the American Bar Association, the Dade County Bar, the Coral Gables Bar, the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, the Collaborative Family Law Institute, the Collaborative Family Law Council of Florida, Collaborative Family Lawyers of South Florida and the South Palm Beach County Collaborative Law Group, the last five organizations being dedicated to the promotion of the practice of Collaborative Family Law as a means of amicably dissolving marriages and resolving family disputes. Bob has been on the Board of the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals since its creation in 2010 and he is a current member of the Board of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.</p><p>Bob lectures regularly on Collaborative Family Law at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and to various organizations of lawyers and other professionals and he meets the standards of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals as a Qualified Collaborative Trainer. He is a past President of the Collaborative Family Law Institute, he is a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts and is the immediate past President of its Florida chapter, and he is on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court Parenting Coordinators Advisory Board. He has worked extensively to pass the Uniform Collaborative Law Act and Rules in Florida. Bob graduated with honors from the University of Florida College of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1978, where he also was an associate editor of the Law Review, and he also attended Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, The Institute of Law-Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Poland and the Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Bob received his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. Bob received the 2006 Dade County Bar Pro Bono Outstanding Law Firm Award and the 1998 Florida Eleventh Judicial Circuit Ray H. Pearson Guardian-Ad-Litem Award. He is listed in the Leading Florida Attorneys in Family Law with the Network of Leading American Attorneys, is among the Florida Super Lawyers and the Florida Trend Magazine Florida Legal Elite, he is AV rated with Martindale-Hubbell and he is listed in Martindale-Hubbell’s Preeminent Family Law Attorneys.</p><p>Bob has a long history of involvement in various community organizations. He received the 2008 Gator Award from the University of Florida Hillel, he is a Past Chair of Jewish Community Services of South Florida, Inc. and he is on the Board of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He is the 2012 recipient of the Stu Webb Distinguished Service Award in Recognition of Exceptional Leadership and Devoted Service to the Collaborative Family Law Institute.
LANA M. STERN, PH.D is a Licensed Psychologist, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Parent Coordinator and Florida Supreme Court Certified Mediator. She is an active and enthusiastic proponent of the Collaborative Process and has worked extensively on Collaborative family law cases as the MHP/Facilitator. Her article, “Wolf in Sheep's Clothing”, has been published in both the Spring 2017 issue of Collaborative Review (The Journal of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals) and in The Divorce Puzzle–Connecting the Pieces Collaboratively, (2017). Additionally, she has co-authored the chapter “Collaborative Law” in The Florida Bar CLE textbook, Dissolution of Marriage.
She is a member of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) and serves on the IACP Trainers Network and Development Committee. She is a member of the International and Florida Associations of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) and member of the Collaborative Family Law Institute (CFLI) of Miami for 10 years and is a past Vice President. She serves on the CFLI Board, and also on the Education, Membership and Mentoring committees. She is the Miami-Dade delegate representing Mental Health Professionals on the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals (FACP), is presently serving on the Board of that organization and Chair of the Training Committee.
Dr. Stern has lectured statewide and nationally on the role of the neutral mental health facilitator in the Collaborative Process. In 2011, she co-founded “Florida Collaborative Trainers” an interdisciplinary training group, and has presented multiple 2-day basic and 1-day advanced trainings to attorneys, mental health professionals and financial professionals in Miami, Tampa, Gainesville, Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Panama City, Jacksonville, New Hampshire and basic trainings at the University of Miami School of Law, the University of Florida Levin College of Law in Gainesville and the Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville. She co-taught the first Collaborative Law Workshop at the University of Miami School of Law in the Spring of 2012.
Dr. Stern has been in private practice as a psychologist in the Coral Gables, Florida area for the past 30 years. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, and the Florida and Dade County Psychological Associations. She has expertise in couples and divorce counseling, and she taught the divorce education course “Positive Transitions” for divorcing parents as part of a private group. She also manages and treats depression, anxiety disorders, trauma, and child sexual abuse, counseling adults and adolescents individually or collectively. In 1993 she received the FPA “Outstanding Contribution to Psychology in the Public Interest” Award and DCPA “Certificate of Commendation” Award for her work in the area of Child Sexual Abuse. She has served as an educator, counselor, and trainer in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. She was an Adjunct Professor at Florida International University for 6 years, supervising master’s level, Mental Health and School Counselors during their Practicum and Internship. She also worked for Drake, Beam, Morin, an outplacement corporation, as a career consultant and corporate trainer.