Alec Baldwin - ABC - Divorce Changees - Collaborative Divorce - Co-Parenting Counseling & Classes

• ABC's Good Morning America featured Alec Baldwin talking about his seven-year custody battle with Kim Basinger. http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=5855885
• Baldwin's new book suggests changes in divorce law. Family Law Specialist, Peter Walzer, suggests Collaborative Divorce as a better way of getting divorced. He described the importance of mental health professionals as coaches and child specialists.
• The greater use of co-parenting counseling and classes was urged by Jane Shatz, Ph.D. to help parents learn to work together. The courts are beginning to order more parents to utilize these programs, and increasingly, with professionals in the community. This will lessen the burden on the overworked Family Court Services staff.
• Judge Marjorie Steinberg, supervising judge of the family law departments, spoke at the Beverly Hills Bar Association Dinner last week. She announced the departure of two of the most experienced judges, Robert Schnider and Kenneth Black, by the end of the year. The courts will be hurt by the state's budget problems, but she was pleased to announce Judge Lee Edmon will be the next assistant presiding judge. Virtually assured to be the next presiding judge of the Superior Court, Judge Edmon will be the first woman selected for the prestigious and powerful position, and a judge with family law experience.