The Mid-Hudson Divorce and Family Mediation Center, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation that has provided mediation services for separating, divorcing and divorced couples since 1981. Divorce mediation offers a non-adversarial alternative to the traditional legal process.
The center's mediators are lawyers or legal professionals with specialized training in divorce mediation.
Kathryn Lazar
Kathryn graduated from Reed College in 1971, and Cornell Law School in 1976. She has been practicing law in Dutchess County since 1975, with a focus on family law since 1980. She founded the Mid-hudson Divorce and Family Mediation Center, Inc. in 1982. She has served as a divorce mediator in hundreds of cases, and has presented numerous community education programs to lawyers and mental health professionals in the Hudson Valley and at national conferences over the last three decades. Kathryn is an Advanced Practitioner Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution.
Betsy Shequine
Betsy graduated from Pembroke College in Brown University and attended Villanova University Law School. She holds her law degree from the Albany Law School in Union University. She has been Town Justice for the Town of Washington for over 25 years. She completed the Harvard Negotiation Workshop at Harvard Law School and has been a family mediator with the Mid-Hudson Divorce and Family Mediation Center since 1990. She is an Advanced Practitioner Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and has mediated several hundred cases.
Bonnie Nicholson
Bonnie graduated from Mount Holyoke College and pursued graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin. She has a paralegal certificate from Marist College and has worked as a paralegal in the matrimonial field at Lazaar & Schwartz since 1989. She received her mediation training from the Academy of Family Mediators. She has served successfully as a mediator with the Mid-Hudson Divorce and Family Mediation Center since 1995 and has been its Executive Director since 1998. She is a Practitioner Member of the Association for Conflict Resolution.
Robert M. Schwartz
Robert graduated from Cornell University in 1972 where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa society. He graduated from Cornell Law School in 1976, and was admitted to the New York State bar in 1977. Early in his career he served as law clerk in the Putnam County Family, County and Surrogate courts and as a Hearing Examiner in the White Plains Family Court. He served as a Deputy County Attorney in Putnam County, specifically responsible for the establishment and the enforcement of child support and maintenance on behalf of the county. He has been in private practice for many years; his practice has encompassed family law, personal injury law, and criminal law in both the trial and appellate courts. Over the years he has lectured on various legal topics, including matrimonial law. He has been a mediator since 2002.