Legal Issues Affecting Pets

Stephen is a board-certified divorce attorney who has specialized in complex family law matters since 2006 in California. He has acted as the lead attorney on hundreds of divorce cases and argued before the Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura County Superior Courts. He was voted by Pasadena Magazine as one of the “Top Family Law Attorneys” in the area for 7 years in a row and named a “Rising Star” by SuperLawyers.

Retired Family Court Commissioner, Gretchen W. Taylor, employs a distinctive dispute resolution approach, combining vast professional expertise and legal knowledge in concert with an unparalleled compassion for what parties and lawyers are themselves experiencing.

Commissioner Taylor is trained in, and committed to, the understanding-based model of mediation whereby she assists parties and/or their lawyers to process the emotional, legal, and financial aspects of their dispute. This style of mediation is designed to encourage each side separately ,and together, brainstorm potential solutions to issues, with sensitive and expert guidance provided by the mediator. This allows previously unnoticed answers to reveal themselves, leading to agreement and satisfying lasting outcomes. Since mediation processes are not ‘one size fits all, Commissioner Taylor is comfortable working in a collaborative, consultative, advisory, or directive manner and may use any combination of these modalities within one mediation case.

Prior to her tenure on the Los Angeles Superior Court and the Riverside Superior Court, Hon. Gretchen W. Taylor, a Certified Family Law Specialist since 1991, was a successful Beverly Hills Family Law attorney for 18 years. As a Family Law bench officer, Commissioner Taylor presided over hundreds of matters each week. She resolved many thousands of Family Law disputes during her 12 years on the bench – mostly by settlements she supervised and managed. She is down to earth and believes in maintaining equality, integrity and dignity for each party and their lawyer. She is comfortable with complex balance sheet tracings, tax and valuation issues, support and cash available for support questions, disability concerns, domestic violence, mental health and brain disorders, alcohol and drug addiction, adolescent oppositional behavior and much more.

Commissioner Taylor is also equally skilled at providing Private Judge/Arbitrator services, serving in Special Master/Referee assignments as well as being a Parent Plan Co-Ordinator.

Hon. Jackson Lucky (Ret.) joined JAMS in 2021 following 13 years as a judge with the Riverside County Superior Court. During that time, he presided over thousands of family law and unlimited civil cases. He served as the supervising judge of the family law division for four years, where he developed multiple alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs, one of which settled 90% of its cases year after year. In his civil assignment, he was a member of the court’s ADR Committee, where he helped develop and participated in multiple settlement programs. He also settled hundreds of family and civil cases.