Past Presidents

The dissolution of a marriage is one of the most difficult events in a person's life. The legal process of divorce ideally should not contribute to conflict between partners, but instead should enable partners to restructure their families with dignity, respect and integrity. The Collaborative Practice model was borne out of this perspective. I was trained in the model in 2000, have had the privilege of representing many clients in this process and assisting them with a healthier restructuring of their families, and have served in a variety of leadership positions in the Collaborative movement.

My practice is devoted to collaborative practice, mediation, private judging and other appropriate dispute resolution as I believe that most people wish to resolve conflict amicably. My goal is to provide compassionate and knowledgeable guidance to assist people in reaching a well-informed and mutually acceptable agreement. My commitment to Collaborative Practice is reflected in my leadership roles in our local community and the co-authorship of a practice manual for collaborative practitioners. I was on the Board of Directors of IACP for 6 years and the 2013 President.

As a past president of IACP, I am delighted to continue to work to establish consistently excellent Collaborative Practice worldwide. I served as a member of the Ethical Standards Rewrite Task Force, and currently am a co-chair of the Ethics and Standards Committee and the Bylaws Rewrite Task Force.

I was one of the co-founders (in 1999) of the Vancouver interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice group. I served 6 years on the IACP Board of Directors, from 1995 though 2010, and was President of IACP in 2009. I have written a book on Collaborative Practice, 'Collaborative Practice: Deepening the Dialogue'. I have written and trained extensively in the Collaborative Practice model. A list of the trainings I have given can be accessed through the training directory. I confine my practice to mediation and Collaborative Practice.

I have served on the Board of IACP as Secretary, President-elect, President and am now Past-President. I was Co-chair of the Civil Practice Committee. I have been Chair of the Advisory Board. I was Co-chair of the IACP FORUM in Boston in 2004. I have presented at every FORUM since 2003 from the first Vancouver Forum to the most recent Washington, DC Forum in 2015. I have also participated as Faculty at the IACP Institute, as part of the training team that presented the 2-day introductory interdisciplinary collaborative practice training in 2012, with Donna Smalldon and Yuval Berger. I offered an Introduction to Facilitation skills at the IACP Institute and at the Forum in San Antonio with
co-trainer Catherine Tornbom, and also gave 2 advanced workshops at the Institute in Milan, Italy in 2014. I co-created and presented the 2-day introductory interdisciplinary training again on the Gold Coast in Australia in 2015 with Anne Purcell and Lonnie Brossard.

Norma Levine Trusch, Past President of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals 2004 and 2005, is a founding board member of the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas, Inc. (CLI-Tx), and a frequent lecturer on Collaborative Law. She currently is the chair of the Training Committee of CLI-Tx, and an active trainer in the Texas model of Interdisciplinary Collaborative Law.

I have been committed to providing collaborative legal services to family law clients since the early 1990's and have been instrumental in bringing awareness of this model to lawyers, mental health and financial professionals through trainings and workshops I have offered across the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Switzerland, Australia, Israel, South Africa, Brazil, and elsewhere since 1999. My practice has been limited to collaborative law and related services (second opinions, consultations) since 1999. In 2000, the American Bar Association published my book on collaborative law, the first in the field, and also conferred on me and Stu Webb the first 'Lawyer as Problem Solver' award for our work in developing and promoting awareness of collaborative family law. I helped found IACP, and served as founding co-chair and then first President. As chair of the Standards Project Committee I guided work that led to IACP's adoption in 2004 of comprehensive standards for practitioners, trainers, and trainings. I am certified as a family law specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, and am a fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Being able to provide superior collaborative divorce services for my clients, and helping colleagues learn to practice more effectively in this remarkable mode, give me enormous professional satisfaction.