For over 33 years, Sandra has dedicated her legal and mediation practices to educating and leading clients to the clearest path toward peaceful resolution of their unique concerns.  She helps people move out of conflict using the most appropriate dispute resolution model for their individual needs – be that Collaborative Process, mediation, limited scope representation or settlement advocacy.  As legal disputes and status adjustments (such as:  formation of or dissolution of marriages and partnerships) can be costly in terms of money, time lost, and emotional stress, it is critical for people facing such life changing events to be educated about and understand clearly their process options and available paths to resolution of legal issue, preferably before proceeding.

Sandra has been licensed to practice law in the State of Illinois since 1990 and was admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court in 2005.  She received her mediation training from the Center for Conflict Resolution in 1993; her training in Collaborative Practice in 2002 from the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois (nka Collaborative Divorce Institute of Illinois).  Sandra areas of concentration are family law, Collaborative Process and mediation.

Sandra served as the president of the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois (CLII) from 2009-2010 and was on CLII’s Board of Directors for many years.  She is a member of the International Academy of Collaborative (IACP) Professionals and was one of the drafters of the IACP’s Training Manual for Collaborative Law Trainers.

Sandra is a past-Chair of Illinois State Bar Association’s (ISBA) Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Section Council and a past-Chair of the ISBA’s Delivery of Legal Service Committee.   Sandra is the President of the Illinois Bar Foundation, which is the philanthropic arm of the ISBA.  She has been nominated and chosen by her peers since 2010 as an Illinois Super Lawyers and in 2023 was named one of the top 50 Women Lawyers in Illinois by Super Lawyers.   In 2018 and 2019 was named an Illinois Leading Lawyer.  In 2018, Sandra received the Matthew Maloney Tradition of Excellence Award from the ISBA.

Sandra lectures and writes frequently on the topics of Collaborative Law and ADR.  In addition to her private law and mediation practices, Sandra serves as an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies where she trains post-graduate professionals in the 40-hour Divorce Mediation Program.   She has also taught conflict resolution and mediation at the Undergraduate and Masters level.