Board of Directors

President

Lisa Ward

Lisa Ward is a family law attorney and mediator with over a decade of experience, including partnership at one of the largest family law firms in the Pacific Northwest. She now offers a fully remote, exclusively out-of-court practice serving clients throughout Washington and Oregon.

Lisa focuses on helping families resolve legal issues with clarity, creativity, and purpose. She believes the best outcomes happen when people are empowered with the right information—and the right process. Her services include Collaborative Divorce, mediation, legal consulting, unbundled representation, and strategic support for clients involved in litigation who do not require full-scope representation.

Rather than following a one-size-fits-all model, Lisa takes time to understand the underlying dynamics at play in each client’s situation—legal, emotional, and financial. She supports clients in identifying their priorities and shaping an approach that honors their unique situation. Whether someone needs step-by-step guidance, targeted legal advice, or help assembling a supportive team, Lisa offers a thoughtful, flexible path forward tailored to each individual's specific needs and goals.

Lisa integrates strong legal acumen with training in trauma-informed methods and somatic awareness, offering steady, skilled guidance through even the most complex matters. As a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers (AAML), she is recognized nationally for her excellence, ethics, and experience in resolving family law matters with professionalism and care.

Education: B.A. Reed College, J.D. William S. Boyd Law School, LL.M Brussels School of International Studies

Admissions: Washington State Bar, Oregon State Bar, Federal District Court Western District of Washington

Phone: (541) 241-2828

Address: P.O. Box 94 Sisters, OR 97759

Vice President

Patrick Ward

Patrick is a Mediator and Attorney committed to helping families in crisis and conflict find emotionally healthy and peaceful resolutions. Patrick is committed to recognizing each participant’s or client’s humanity and need for respect and dignity. Patrick has extensive experience with families in the court system, as a mediator, and collaborative attorney.

Profession Mediator and Lawyer - Family Law

Phone 503-957-7491

Company Clarity Law LLC

Business Address 1012 SW King Ave., Suite 105, Portland, OR 97205

Website www.claritylawllc.com

Treasurer

Heather Cary

Heather Cary Coaching

Heather is an experienced Divorce and Co-Parenting Coach and Mediator who works with clients to minimize the negative impact of divorce on families.

She supports individuals to better understand divorce process and options, learn what causes conflict and understand what helps and harms children during family transitions to create the smoothest transition possible. She helps individuals and co-parents make informed and intentional decisions to protect the well-being of all and save money by avoiding unnecessary conflict.

She is dually certified as a DCA® Certified ADR Divorce Coach and a CDC® Certified Divorce Coach. She holds a Masters of Education, is certified as a New Ways For Families Co-Parent Coach, is trained as a Family Law Mediator, serves as a Parent Educator with Multnomah and Clackamas Counties, and is Treasurer for the Oregon Association of Collaborative Professionals.

Board Secretary

Christine C. Bacon

Alderwood Legal, PC

Christine is the mother of three incredible children who challenge her daily and provide numerous opportunities for her to practice being the best version of herself. Two of her children experience disabilities and challenges. One has diagnoses of Angelman Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorder and another works on managing ADHD symptoms. When Christine is not practicing law, she spends as much time as possible outdoors adventuring with her children and partner; running, biking, skiing, hiking, fly fishing, and golfing (mediocre at best). 

Christine has a calm, but self-assured demeanor along with a quick-wit, strategic mindset coupled with a tremendous amount of patience. Her passion for her family, friends, and clients is evident in all that she does.

Profession: Mediator; Collaborative Lawyer; Lawyer - Family Law, Guardianships/Conservatorships, and Special Education

Phone: (503) 683-3224 and (541) 550-1333

Company: Alderwood Legal, PC

Business Address: 2900 NW Clearwater Drive, Suite 100-22, Bend, Oregon 97703 and 710 E Foothills Drive, Suite 106, Newberg, Oregon 97132

Website Alderwood Legal, PC | Family Law attorney | Special Education attorney | Bend, Oregon

Board Secretary

Adrienne H. Garcia

Align Family Law and Mediation, LLC

Adrienne Garcia is a passionate advocate. She understands the difficulties and struggles her clients face when going through a family law or other legal matter. Adrienne works diligently for her clients to ensure their legal rights are protected and strives to obtain the best possible outcome for each case. Recognizing that each case is different, resolving cases through mediation and settlement negotiations is often a better solution in family law matters, especially when children are involved. However, if litigation is necessary, Adrienne will passionately advocate for her client's interests in the courtroom. 

Adrienne is a member of Oregon Association of Collaborative Professionals, Clackamas Collaborative Divorce, the Multnomah Bar Association, Clackaman Bar Association, Oregon Women Lawyers, and the Family Law Section of the Oregon State Bar. In her free time, Adrienne can likely be found cooking, gardening, and spending time with her husband and sons. 

Board Member

Patricia Arjun

DBMA Family Law Group

Patty has practiced family law since 2004. Over the years she has supported hundreds of individuals navigate their family law cases in both Oregon and Washington states. 

Patty has embraced collaborative law and mediation as each process provides a private, efficient, respectful, transparent and non-combative way of moving families through their transitions. Through accessible counsel and careful guidance, she strives to ensure that clients are well informed and supported, and are given the opportunity to use the process to achieve a positive and peaceful future.  Her strengths lie in her ability to work with clients and parties and in presenting information to them in a way that they are empowered to make informed choices.

Patty began her Collaborative trainings in 2009 and has continued with advanced and in-depth training in the following years and became a trained mediator in 2020.  She is a board member of the Oregon Academy of Collaborative Professionals and a member of the Portland Collaborative Divorce practice group. 

Board Member

Sarah Denner

Gearing, Rackner & McGrath, LLP

Thank you for exploring collaborative divorce, a process dedicated to resolving all issues outside of court. Sarah looks forward to working with you to form a professional team, identify your goals, and implement creative solutions for your family.

Sarah has practiced family law since 2010 and began training in collaborative practice in 2017. She practices all areas of family law, with an emphasis on complex financial and high asset divorces, challenging custody and parenting time cases, and premarital agreement drafting. Her clients appreciate her attention to detail, empathy, and creativity.

Sarah is inspired by challenge and loves to learn. She enjoys the variety of legal and interpersonal issues in family law and collaborative practice. Sarah’s colleagues at Portland Collaborative Divorce and Gearing, Rackner & McGrath, LLP are among the best in the area. They promote continual professional growth in each other, and will help your collaborative team develop the best possible resolutions. 

When not practicing law, Sarah can be found hiking, taking in a Thorns or Trail Blazers game, baking, or spending time with family. It gives her great joy to watch her young son learn, laugh, and be kind to others.

[email protected]
Gearing, Rackner & McGrath, LLP
121 SW Morrison St, Ste 850
Portland, Oregon 97204
Tel:  (503) 222-9116
Fax: (503) 222-9118

Board Member

Diana Fedoroff

Portland Cooperative Divorce

I specialize in cooperative, out-of-court (non-litigation) divorce processes--Collaborative Law, Mediation, and Self-Guided divorces--because these methods have the potential to help all parties, including children, journey through the divorce transition with integrity and respect, with their immediate needs met, and their long term goals on track.

One of the biggest differences between the traditional litigation model and one of the cooperative approaches, is that litigation usually escalates the level of conflict, while the cooperative approaches seek to deal with conflict constructively.

This allows greater ease, authenticity and creativity, which helps couples more easily and frankly discuss difficult issues, have productive problem-solving experiences, and create a divorce settlement that feels right to everyone.

Board Member

Kate Hall

Kate Hall, Collaborative Attorney & Mediator Website

Every family is different. Each person in a family system has unique goals, needs and interests. I seek to understand each person’s perspective so I can help identify goals and create a durable outcome that's responsive to each individual.

I believe that when families are able to work together to navigate transitions they can continue to relate to each other (or to separate peacefully) as their roles change. My work helps people move through and beyond the conflict that keeps others returning to court over and over again.

I am an experienced family law attorney, with an IACP certification in Collaborative Divorce, and a seasoned mediator. I teach Mediation and Mediation Advocacy at Willamette University College of Law. I serve as the Mediation Co-Chair and Chair-Elect for the Oregon State Bar Alternative Dispute Resolution Executive Committee, as a member of the Local Family Law Advisory Committee for the Marion County Court. I am a current board member and past two-term president of the Oregon Association of Collaborative Professionals, a member of the Oregon Mediation Association (and serve on Standards and Practices Committee), a member of the International Association of Collaborative Professionals, and the Clackamas Collaborative Divorce practice group. I have previously worked as a law clerk serving all of the Judges and Trial Court Administrator the Marion County Circuit Court (2014-2016), as an extern at the Oregon Court of Appeals (2012), and as law clerk at the Child Advocacy Section of the Oregon Department of Justice (2012-2013). I also have significant experience in custody and parenting time mediation and have held multiple county contracts, as well as a state contract for post-adoption and guardianship communication mediation. 

I look forward to connecting with you. You can call me at 971-599-7217 or set a time here: https://calendly.com/katehalllaw

Board Member

Lee Hamilton

Bridges Collaborative

Lee is an expert at helping with emotions that are often roadblocks to agreement.

Whether Lee works as a communication and parenting coach in the Collaborative Law process or work as a mediator, she is committed to creating a safe environment for couples navigating the often-painful experience of divorce. She encourages individuals to understand and express their emotions and assist them to end their marriage in a respectful and honest manner. If they have children, she helps couples work together in their new relationship as co-parents. It is her belief and goal that these processes enable individuals to move to a place of hope as they transition into their new lives.

Lee is a mediator with a master’s degree in counseling psychology. She brings to a mediation and to collaborative practice the ability to listen, to empathize, and to help people focus on what is important to them.

After having counseled families and children in the public schools for 30 years, Lee witnessed the devastation and heartache a family suffers going through an adversarial divorce and other family traumas. She helped these families, and continues to help families, by assisting clients to develop healthy strategies to navigate difficult issues.

Board Member

Riley Hayes

Hayes Home Mortgage / Mortgage Advisor

For my clients involved with a divorce, I understand navigating the housing situation can be confusing and stressful.  My goal is simple – to alleviate as much as I can through education and transparency.

As a Mortgage Advisor, I’m here to help you explore all your home financing options. Together we will review these options and see what is possible as you transition into the next chapter of your life. Whether that’s preparing for future ownership, an equity buyout, or relieving specific owners of the mortgage liability.

There are specific guidelines that pertain to home financing and divorce situations that need to be planned for carefully in conjunction with the collaborative practice. It is my role to give you as much objective information for you to make the best decision moving forward.

Board Member

Marques Lang

Pacific Northwest QDRO, LLC

Marques is a QDRO attorney at Pacific Northwest QDRO, LLC where his practice focuses on reviewing, drafting, and advising on qualified domestic relations and similar orders. Prior to becoming an attorney, Marques worked in human resources management, retirement plan administration, and as a financial planner, coach, and educator. In these roles, he worked on numerous employee pay and benefits issues, drafted QDRO procedures and model QDROs, and reviewed, approved, and processed QDROs. As a financial professional, Marques worked with entrepreneurs, individuals, and families to identify and refine their financial goals and values, gain clarity about their money relationships, increase financial resiliency through various life stages, and provided comprehensive financial planning and training. He is also the author of the Amazon #1 bestselling book: Marital (un)Bliss: How to Successfully Divide Retirement Plans in Divorce. This range of professional experience gives Marques a unique perspective in handling a variety of QDRO-related matters.

In his free time, Marques enjoys kayaking, paddleboarding, hiking, snowshoeing, wine tasting, and seeing live music, particularly jazz, blues, funk, and soul.

Board Member

Meg Merrill

MEG MERRILL MEDIATION

Meg Merrill, MSW, Mediator, Coach, Family Transition Specialist

As a mediator and a coach, I specialize in helping separating couples make decisions around issues like custody, co-parent communication, parenting time, two-home transitions, and talking to children about divorce. In mediation we talk about what matters most to you. I manage the process while you make the decisions. My approach is warm, non-judgmental, and structured yet flexible. 

It is important to choose the right mediator for your changing family. I offer free consultations to help you make that decision. I also partner with financial experts, collaborative attorneys and other professionals to best meet your needs throughout the separation and divorce process. Please feel to reach out if you have any questions. 

Website: www.MegMerrillMediation.com 

Board Member

Janet Tighe

Summit Divorce Advisors LLC

Janet is a CFP® professional and CDFA® certificant, and has practiced as a financial planner/advisor for over 20 years. She is now focused solely on working with individuals and couples to help them through their divorce process. She is located in Bend, Oregon, but able to work virtually with clients thought Oregon and Washington and will coordinate with attorneys and mediators to help ensure the successful negotiation of their divorce settlement.

Janet’s goal is to help divorcing couples understand their financial picture and develop a fair and equitable financial settlement. She works as a neutral financial professional with both spouses or can advise one spouse to help with the financial negotiations.

Board Member

Nancy E Wakefield, Certified Financial Divorce Analyst

Serene Point Advisors

Nancy Wakefield is a principal at Serene Point Advisors LLC, an investment advisory firm based in the Pacific Northwest. For over 25 years she has been helping individuals and families plan and invest for the good, bad and in-between times that make up our financial journeys.

She earned the Certified Divorce Financial Analyst (CDFA®) certification in 2023. Interest in this area developed as friends and clients shared stressful experiences of struggling to understand the complexities of their finances and options while navigating divorce. Acknowledging the immense difficulty of divorce on families, Nancy works to bring thoughtful and balanced data to help spouses find fair and equitable resolutions. Nancy works most frequently as a neutral professional advising both parties via a mediation or collaborative approach.