Family Mediation Training Course Fall 2026

Presenters

Adam J. Berner, Esq.

Berner Law & Mediation Group, Hackensack

Jeffrey Fiorello, Esq.

Cohn Lifland Pearlman Herrmann Knopf LLP, Saddle Brook

Anju D. Jessani, MBA, APM

Divorce With Dignity Mediation Services, Hoboken

is an Accredited Professional Mediator by the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators (NJAPM) and an Advanced Practitioner Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution. Her firm, Divorce with Dignity Mediation Services, has offices in Hoboken and Clinton, New Jersey. Her practice consists of family/divorce mediation, securities mediation and arbitration, and civil/business mediation.

Prior to establishing her mediation practice in 1997, Ms. Jessani served as Vice President for JP Morgan and Chase Manhattan Bank. She is on the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Court’s roster of Family/Divorce, Foreclosure and Business/Civil Mediators, and serves as a mentor to mediators applying to qualify for the Business/Civil roster. She has been a member of the multi-disciplinary Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, and is Past President of the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators (NJPAM).

The primary author of Parenting Time: A Child’s Right, Ms. Jessani has written several articles on mediation topics which have appeared in the American Journal of Family Law, CPA Journal, the New Jersey Law Journal and other publications. She is an instructor for ICLE and NJAPM’s divorce mediation training programs, editor of the NJAPM publication Mediation News and has received special recognition from the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Board of Trustees and NJAPM.

Ms. Jessani received her B.A. from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and her M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She received her formal training in mediation from the Center for Family and Divorce Mediation in New York, and her practical training in mediation through the Hudson County Court Mediation Program.

Phyllis S. Klein, Esq.

Phyllis Klein Mediation, LLC, Chatham

is a founding Member of Donahue, Hagan, Klein & Weisberg, LLC in Morristown, New Jersey. She limits her practice to family law matters and focuses in alternative dispute resolution, primarily mediation and parent coordination. She has also been involved in several reported decisions.

Admitted to practice in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, Ms. Klein is a Court-Approved Mediator and a member of the Family Law Sections of the New Jersey State, Essex County and Morris County Bar Associations, as well as the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators (NJAPM). She is former Co-Chair of the Executive Committee of the ECBA Family Law Section, a former member of the District VB Ethics Committee and a former member and Chair of the District VC Fee Arbitration Committee.

A member of the Justice Garibaldi American Inn of Court, Ms. Klein is a member and Past President of the Barry I. Croland Family Law American Inn of Court and has lectured for ICLE, the American Trial Lawyers Association and several bar associations and family law American Inns of Court. She is a contributing author to the custody chapter of New Jersey Family Law Practice and was the 2003 recipient of the Essex County Bar Association Family Law Section’s Family Law Achievement Award and several other honors.

Ms. Klein received her B.A.A.S. from the University of Delaware and her J.D. from New YorkLaw School. She was Law Clerk to the Honorable Carmen A. Ferrante, J.S.C.

Robert E. Margulies, Esq.

Past Chair, Dispute Resolution Section, New Jersey State Bar Association
Schumann Hanlon Margulies LLC, Jersey City

Bruce P. Matez, Esq., APM

Weir, LLP, Mt. Laurel

Bruce P. Matez, Esq., APM is a partner at with Weir LLP in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. After practicing divorce and family law as a litigator for 30 years, Bruce now focuses his practice in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including mediation, arbitration, parenting coordination, and out-of-court settlement negotiations. He is an approved R.1:40 Post MESP Economic Mediator. He has mediated approximately 2000 divorce and family law matters. A former member of the Family Law Executive Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association, Mr. Matez has also served on the Family Law Committees of the Camden, Burlington, and Gloucester County Bar Associations and continues to serve as a Matrimonial Early Settlement Panelist in some counties. He is a past president of the New Jersey Association of Professional Mediators (NJAPM), a member of the Justice Marie Garibaldi American Inn of Court for Alternative Dispute Resolution, and a member of several other professional and community organizations. Mr. Matez was a founding member of the Thomas S. Forkin Family Law American Inn of Court and served on the organization’s Executive Committee from 1997-2009 and was most recently a Master Emeritus. In 2018 Bruce was the recipient of the Honorable Joseph M. Nardi, Jr. Award from the Thomas S. Forkin Family Law AIC which recognized him for his commitment to the practice of law, encouraging and exemplifying civility, humility, compassion, and a moral/ethical obligation to the welfare of children and families. He lectures and teaches courses on Family Law topics, mediation, and parenting coordination for NJICLE, the NJAPM, county bar associations, and teaches Divorce and Family Law Mediation at Rutgers Law School in Camden. In 2022 he was the recipient of the Richard Jeydel Award bestowed by the Justice Marie Garibaldi American Inn of Court for ADR for excellence in the field of ADR. Mr. Matez is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, and received his J.D. from Villanova University School of Law.

Dr. Sharon Ryan Montgomery

Office of Dr. Sharon Montgomery, Morristown

Dr. Marcy A. Pasternak

Overcoming Barriers, Watchung

is a clinical and forensic psychologist with a practice in Watchung, New Jersey. While her practice serves individuals of all ages in both the clinical and forensic arena, Dr. Pasternak’s special interests include marital and family therapy, divorce therapy, forensic evaluations concerning custody and parenting time, removal, grandparent visitation, risk assessment and personal injury. She often serves as a parenting coordinator and is a certified divorce mediator, conducting both divorce mediation and therapeutic mediation. She conducts Intensive Family Interventions through “Building Family Resilience,” an outgrowth of her practice.

A licensed psychologist in New Jersey, New York and Vermont, Dr. Pasternak has been a member of the American, New Jersey and Somerset Hunterdon Psychological Associations, and has an APA Certificate of Proficiency in the Treatment of Alcohol or Other Psychoactive Substance Use Disorders and an NCC AP Master Addiction Counselor Credential. She has been a member of the New Jersey Psychological Association’s Forensic Committee and is Past President of the New Jersey Chapter of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (NJ-AFCC).

Dr. Pasternak has served as a psychological expert in eleven New Jersey counties and as an adjunct staff member at Muhlenberg Regional Medical Center, and has been a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New Jersey Medical School, UMDNJ. She has given workshops and presentations to the mental health and legal communities.

Dr. Pasternak received her B.A., magna cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Duke University.

Tamsen Thorpe, PhD

Psychologist, Directions CLS, LLC, Morristown