Pauline H. Tesler, M.A., J.D.

Healdsburg, California

Director, Integrative Law Institute 

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As co-founder and first president of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, Pauline played a crucial role in launching the global collaborative divorce movement. Author of the field's first two foundational books—Collaborative Law: Achieving Effective Resolution in Divorce Without Litigation (American Bar Association, now in its third edition) and Collaborative Divorce (HarperCollins)—her work has shaped how practitioners worldwide understand and practice collaborative family conflict resolution.

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Pauline has taught pioneering trainings and workshops worldwide to thousands of collaborative lawyers and their colleagues which extended collaborative practice to more than twenty nations across six continents, from Israel to Brazil, Ireland to South Africa, Australia to France. Her groundbreaking course "NeuroLiteracy 101: Law and the Human Brain," developed with psychiatrist Thomas B. Lewis, M.D. (author of A General Theory of Love), has introduced hundreds of professionals to important practical applications of behavioral economics, positive psychology, adult attachment theory, and other cutting edge fields for deeper and more durable divorce conflict resolution.

 

Co-recipient of the American Bar Association's inaugural "Lawyer as Problem Solver" award and a member of the U.S. State Department’s Fulbright Specialist program, Pauline brings five decades of experience as a test case litigator, certified family law specialist, pioneering change agent, writer, thinker, leader, and visionary teacher to this advanced seminar.