Introduction to the Siben & Siben Lecture and Commentary: Interdisciplinary Teamwork in the Family Practice

• Author: Andrew Schepard
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12359
• Published date: 01 July 2018
• Date: 01 July 2018

SIBEN & SIBEN SYMPOSIUM

INTRODUCTION TO THE SIBEN & SIBEN LECTURE AND

COMMENTARY: INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAMWORK IN THE

FAMILY PRACTICE

Andrew Schepard

Sometimes academic life is simultaneously fun and productive for the common good. This mini

symposium arising from the Siben & Siben lecture in family law at the Maurice A. Deane School

of Law at Hofstra University is one of those times.

A bit of background: I have the honor of being designated the Siben & Siben Distinguished Pro-

fessor of Family Law at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University. The Siben

Chair was established in 1984 and I became its occupant on September 1, 2017. The generosity of

the Siben firm also gives the Siben & Siben Professor the ability to choose a lecturer each year to

engage the Hofstra Law community in serious discussion of family law issues.

My choice for the first Siben & Siben lecturer of my term was Forrest (Woody) Mosten. I have

known Woody for many years. He is a force of nature in shaping modern divorce practice to the

needs of families and children. For starters, Woody created a model of divorce practice in which he

counsels clients, represents them in collaborative law, mediates their disputes, but never goes to

court. He has inspired generations of law students to consider alternatives to a litigation practice as

an adjunct professor at University of California–Los Angeles Law School teaching courses in fam-

ily law practice and the lawyer as peacemaker. He originated the term “unbundled, legal services,”a

concept which has done so much to help low- and middle-income clients achieve access to justice.

He has professionalized and diversified the practice of mediation and collaborative law. He is the

author of six books and too many articles to mention. He is a mediation and collaborative law

trainer of great renown and an inspiring speaker. Woody is active in many bar associations and law

reform activities. He is the guiding spirit of the American Bar Association’s Louis Brown Client

Counseling Competition. And, most importantly, he is a wonderful human being. He brings people

along by optimism, persuasion, and example.

I invited Woody to be the Siben lecturer for 2017. He then bought tickets to see Hamilton on

Broadway (his wife and partner Jody is an avid theater goer) and firmed up plans to come to

New York to deliver the lecture.

Simultaneously, Hofstra Law School’s Center for Children, Families and the Courts (of which I

am Executive Director) was planning a conference with the New York Chapter of the Association

of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC–NY) and FamilyKind, a New York City–based not-for-

profit organization whose mission is to help parents, children, and, couples cope with separation

and divorce. When I told the organizing committee that Woody was coming to New York to give

the Siben lecture, it decided to make it the keynote speech for the conference we were planning.

Thus, the Siben lecture became the centerpiece of a jointly sponsored conference entitled Inter-

disciplinary Collaboration in Family Law: The Real and the Ideal held at Hofstra Law School on

November 10, 2017.

1

The conference was dedicated to J. Herbie DiFonzo, who was scheduled to

Correspondence: Andrew.I.Schepard@hofstra.edu

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 56 No. 3, July 2018 434–436

© 2018 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts