Mental Illness and Disability in Family Law Cases

Presenters

Hon. Bonnie J. Mizdol (Ret.)

Ferro Labella & Weiss LLC, Hackensack

of the firm Ferro Labella & Weiss, L.L.C. in Hackensack, New Jersey, focuses in mediation and arbitration, and was formerly the Assignment Judge of Bergen County and sat in Hackensack, New Jersey. She was also Presiding Judge, Family Part, Bergen County, from 2008-2015, and was in private practice for 24 years prior to her appointment to the Superior Court in 2006.
n
nPrior to her appointment to the Superior Court bench, Judge Mizdol served as a municipal court judge for 15 years. She was President of the Bergen County Municipal Judges Association and the Bergen County Bar Foundation, Chair of the District IIA Ethics Committee and Co-Chair of the Bergen County Family Law Committee, and has been a member of the Bergen County Family Law Executive Committee. Judge Mizdol is Past Chair of the Supreme Court Family Practice Committee, the Conference of New Jersey Family Part Judges and the Ad Hoc Committee on Arbitration of Family Part Matters. She has been Chair of the Supreme Court Judiciary-Surrogates Liaison Committee and the Post-Pandemic Committee on Resuming Jury Trials, and a member of the Statewide Committee on Court Security. The New Jersey Designated Representative for the International Hague Network of Judges from 2017 through her retirement, she has served on the Judicial Council and the faculty of the Judicial College, and has taught for the Management Skills Training program for Presiding Judges and the New Judges’ Orientation Program (CJOP).
n
nJudge Mizdol received her B.A. from Montclair State College and her J.D. from Seton Hall Law School.
n(8/23)

Dr. Mitch Abrams

Abrams Psychological Services, Fords

is a licensed psychologist and founder of Abrams Psychological Services with offices in Tinton Falls and Fords, New Jersey. He has been serving the greater tri-state area with forensic psychology services since 2000. He is also the Chief Psychologist for Rutgers University Correctional HealthCare, where he oversees mental health services inside the state prisons in the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
n
nA sports psychologist and the nation’s expert in anger and violence in sports, Dr. Abrams has also been a pioneer in sexual assault and dating violence prevention, with a specific focus on athlete populations, and has developed the Abrams Model of Sexual Assault Prevention. He is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Rutgers/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and has held adjunct faculty positions at Brooklyn College, Long Island University/C.W. Post and Fairleigh Dickinson University. Dr. Abrams has presented on topics including the value of psychological testing in family law matters, trauma in the context of children, reunification therapy, violence risk assessment and implicit biases in family law. The author of Anger Management in Sport: Understanding and Controlling Violence in Athletes, he coordinates the forensic track of Rutgers-UBHC’s predoctoral internship program and trains forensic psychologists.
n
nDr. Abrams received his B.S. from Brooklyn College and his M.S. in Applied Psychology and his Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from C.W. Post/Long Island University.
n(8/23)

Beth C. Manes, Esq.

Manes & Weinberg, LLC, Mountainside

is a Partner in Manes & Weinberg, Special Needs Lawyers, LLC in Mountainside, New Jersey. She concentrates her practice in special education law, special needs planning, guardianships, trust advocacy and estate planning.
n
nAdmitted to practice in New Jersey and before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Ms. Manes is a member and Past Chair of the New Jersey State Bar Association’s Solo-Small Firm Section and a member of the NJSBA’s Elder and Disability Law Section and Education Law Committee, as well as the New Jersey Special Education Practitioners. She is a member of the Union County Bar Association, serves as Co-Chair of the Association’s Trusts, Estates and Elder Law Committee and is a member of the Union County Probate Early Settlement Panel. A member of the Board of Directors of Don’t Hide It, Flaunt It!, Ms. Manes is Past President of the Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of New Jersey, Inc., which provides lifetime advocacy for people with special needs. She is a member of the Special Needs Alliance, a national organization of attorneys who work with families with special needs.
n
nMs. Manes served as a hearing panel chair for the State of Delaware Department of Education, overseeing special education hearings. She has lectured on special needs children in divorce topics for CLE courses and for community groups, and has raised puppies for The Seeing Eye since 2012. She is the recipient of several honors.
n
nMs. Manes received her B.A., cum laude, from Brandeis University, where she was the recipient of several awards and inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha. She received her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was a member of the Environmental Moot Court Team, won the Best Oralist award and was the Coordinating Editor of Production of the Michigan Journal of Gender and Law.
n(8/23)

Lauren A. Miceli, Esq.

Arndt, Sutak & Miceli, LLC, Edison

is a Partner in Arndt, Sutak & Miceli, LLC in East Brunswick, New Jersey, where she concentrates her practice in divorce and family law matters, including divorce litigation, equitable distribution, alimony, child support, child custody and post-judgment modification and enforcement issues.
n
nAdmitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, Ms. Miceli is a member of the New Jersey State, Middlesex County and New Brunswick Bar Associations. She is a Trustee of the Middlesex County Bar Association and a member of the Middlesex County Early Settlement Panel and the NJSBA Family Law Section and Young Lawyers Division. She formerly worked with a Middlesex County-based family law firm and as a Special Education attorney, where she represented families in disputes involving New Jersey public school districts.
n
nMs. Miceli is co-founder, Secretary and an Associate Member of the Aldona E. Appleton Family Law Inns of Court, dedicated to advancing the knowledge, collegiality and professionalism of family law attorneys in Middlesex County. She was awarded the Martin S. Goldin Award by the Middlesex County Bar Association for her dedication to the practice of divorce and family law.
n
nMs. Miceli received her B.A., cum laude, from Douglass College, Rutgers University, and her J.D. from Rutgers School of Law-Camden. For the 2013-2014 term, Ms. Miceli served as judicial clerk for the Honorable Lisa M. Vignuolo, J.S.C., Middlesex County Courthouse.
n(8/23)

Albertina Webb, Esq.

Hill Wallack LLP, Red Bank

is an attorney at Hill Wallack, LLP in Red Bank, New Jersey. She concentrates her practice in family law issues including divorce, custody, support, domestic violence, dissolution of domestic partnerships, enforcement or modification of marital agreements, enforcement and/or modification of alimony and child support, emancipation applications, equitable distribution and post-judgment enforcement and modification.
n
nAdmitted to practice in New Jersey and New York, and before the United States District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, Ms. Webb has been a member of the Family Law Sections/Committees of the New Jersey State, New York State, Middlesex County and Ocean County Bar Associations. President of the Hispanic Bar Association of New Jersey, she has served on the Family Law Executive Committee of the New Jersey State Bar Association and several subcommittees, as well as the Monmouth Bar Association’s Family Law and Judicial Selection Committees. Ms. Webb has served as a Matrimonial Early Settlement Panelist in Middlesex and Ocean Counties and as an Intensive Settlement Panelist in Monmouth County. She has been a member of the New Jersey Association for Justice (NJAJ) Matrimonial Committee and has served on the Statewide Domestic Violence Working Group Committee.
n
nThe creator of and contributor to the Monmouth and Ocean Family Lawyers blog, Ms. Webb has a regular column in the HBA’s quarterly newsletter entitled "Querida Abby – Dear Abby." She has been published in Divorce Magazine's Frequently Asked Questions feature and has lectured for ICLE and NJAJ.
n
nMs. Webb received her J.D. from New York Law School, where she was the Section Editor of the Journal of Human Rights.
n(8/23)