Brigitte Bell Mediation - Taking into account clients' specific needs and goals.

OUR MEDIATION TEAM There are currently two mediators on staff at Brigitte Bell Mediation, Ltd.: Brigitte Bell and Rita Mookerjee Ghose. Brigitte is also a Fellow of the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois. Thus, in both areas of practice--law and mediation--we emphasize client self-determination and problem solving. Brigitte Bell, the principal and founder of the firm, has been mediating since 1985, when she was first trained as a volunteer by the Center For Conflict Resolution (back then, it was still called Neighborhood Justice of Chicago). At the time, she was doing antitrust and other big case litigation at one of Chicago's large, eminent law firms (Jenner & Block), but she found that the mediation practice, with its emphasis on clients and solutions, was much more appealing. This led her then to becoming a practitioner of family law, doing that first at a different large Chicago firm (McDermott Will & Emery), but eventually starting her own practice in 1993 so she could have more control over the cases and the way she practiced. She has successfully litigated contested custody cases in unusual circumstances, obtaining custody of a son for a father in another state that had originally let the son move here with his mother, an aunt for her niece and nephew whose mother had been murdered and whose fathers (each had a different one) each wanted custody for different reasons, a stepfather who had a much longer and better relationship with the boys than their biological father. Whether she's mediating or litigating, she has always looked on each case and situation as unique, respecting the differences between clients and the fact that no one wants to be treated like a category rather than anindividual. Over time, she has become less and less satisfied with the litigation side of the practice, finding it unacceptable in too many ways--cost, length of time, focus, level of animosity, and time spent on ultimately unproductive tasks. As a result, she is focussing her practice more and more on mediation and Collaborative Law, both of which give clients more control over the process, the costs, the outcome, and the timing. Presentations. Since Bell began her own practice, she has attended and been a presenter at numerous national and local mediation conferences, focussing on topics such as mediator ethics, the best interests of children, mediating financial issues, and dealing with difficult cases and issues. She also continues to speak about family law issues such as custody and financial issues and Collaborative Practice. Her audience includes not only mediators, lawyers, judges, and students but also people going through divorce or contemplating it who want some help understanding how it all happens (e.g., "Divorce University" at the Lilac Tree). Teaching. Bell taught Consensual Dispute Resolution at Loyola Law School of Chicago for ten years, taught mediation to adult learners at DePaul's School for New Learning for five years, and now co-teaches and Advanced Mediation internship through the Chicago Center for Family Health, which is affiliated with the University of Chicago. The Center for Conflict Resolution. Bell continues to be active for The Center for Conflict Resolution (ccrchicago.org), which provides free mediation services to individuals and through the court system. She is a volunteer, senior trainer, member of the Board of Directors, and its legal counsel. She was recently honored as one of the 25 most influential people affiliated with CCR. Educational Background. Bell got her law degree from the University of Chicago in 1979, working there for two years in the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic doing employment law. Before 1988, when she began concentrating in family law and related areas such as adoption, she was a litigator and also did significant work in the ERISA area (the law regarding retirement plans and employee benefits), which gives her a deeper understanding of how retirement benefits can be allocated in the context of a divorce. Bell got her undergraduate degree from Swarthmore College (Pennsylvania) in 1970 with High Honors in religion and German. Before going to law school at the University of Chicago (from 1976 to 1979), she spent several years working first for Educational Testing Service (ETS) and then American College Testing (ACT), writing and constructing college admissions tests. During this period she did work on a Masters in Educational Measurement and Statistics, which she never finished because law school called. She continues to use this background, however, as she provides mediation services to the Illinois State Board of Education as one of its 16 contract mediators mediating disputes between parents and schools or school districts regarding educational plans for children. Other Areas of Practice. Bell currently serves as an Arbitrator for the National Arbitration Forum, as a mediator for the Illinois State Board of Education, as a Child's Representative or Guardian ad Litem or Attorney in Cook County for children who parents are in the legal system around issues of parenting, as a volunteer for the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, serving mostly in the Guardianship area as a Guardian ad Litem for children.

Rita Mookerjee Ghose: Rita was licensed as an Illinois attorney in November 2002. However, Rita’s interest in family law developed much earlier than that and therefore she has gained extensive experience and knowledge in this area. Rita earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Originally, she intended to pursue a career in social work and therefore, during undergrad, worked at the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Catholic Social Services (CSS) Foster Care Agency. In these two positions she gained a deep understanding of the legal term "best interests of the child", the standard on which most of child and family law is based. Through these work experiences, she also realized that her true calling was law since she wanted to advocate on behalf of families and children. Therefore, she decide to enroll in the Child and Family Law program at Loyola University School of Law in Chicago. At Loyola University, Rita took many classes to enhance her understanding of Child and Family Law, including classes on Mediation, Domestic Violence Law, Child and Family Law Trial Advocacy and Adoption. She was a senior editor of the Children’s Legal Rights Journal and did an externship with the Family Law section of the Chicago Volunteer Legal Services. Rita also obtained a Certificate in Child and Family Law from the Civitas Child Law Center. During law school, she also clerked with two well known boutique law firms, one that did primarily school law and the other that did various types of litigation.

After graduation from law school, Rita began her career as a lawyer working for an experienced family lawyer in DuPage County. After she was licensed in November of 2002, she gained a position on the legal team of a Chicago company named ComPsych that provides legal benefits to employees of various companies around the nation as part of their benefit packages. At ComPsych, she provided legal counseling on mostly family law and related issues to employees of various Fortune 500 companies, including JP Morgan Chase and General Electric, and governmental agencies, such as the IRS and the Department of Treasury. She gained extensive experience interacting with clients and many times helping them solve their own problems through alternative dispute resolution methods such as arbitration and mediation, since they did not have the financial resources pursue more litigous avenues. She would often counsel clients about the many benefits to mediation and provide them with detailed information on the mediation process.

In October of 2004, Rita finally found her way to Brigitte Bell Mediation, Ltd. Since that time, she has been assisting Brigitte with her litigation practice, including divorce, custody, visitation, and adoption cases. She was certified by the Center for Conflict Resolution as a mediator after completing their training and in fact met their higher standard which qualified her as a volunter for the Center. She is also a Fellow in the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois. Rita now settles and mediates family law cases and cases in other related areas. She is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association and the Indian Bar Association as well as a member of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.

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