Attorney Profile — Laurie Israel
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Email: lisrael@socialaw.com
Practice Areas: Collaborative
Divorce, Collaborative Law,
Divorce Mediation, Marital Mediation (Mediation
to Stay Married), Estate Planning and Administration,
Probate of Estates, Divorce Law,
Tax Law, Bankruptcy,
Prenuptial Agreements, Postnuptial Agreements,
Real Estate.
LAURIE ISRAEL began her practice of law in 1987 as a tax lawyer in the Boston firm
Foley, Hoag and Eliot (now Foley Hoag). In January, 1991, she commenced her independent
practice in Coolidge Corner as the Law Offices of Laurie Israel. She and her associates
Karen Van Kooy and Laura Days have now reorganized as Israel, Van Kooy & Days, LLC.
Ronny Sydney has joined the firm as a member/partner.
LAURIE ISRAEL focuses her practice on family law and estate planning and administration.
She is an original member of Massachusetts
Collaborative Law Council and is currently on the Board of Directors. Laurie
actively works in the fields of Collaborative Divorce and Collaborative Practice.
She strongly believes that Collaborative Law is the premier method to resolve many
types of disputes with the highest integrity and dignity, and is working hard to
educate people about Collaborative Law.
LAURIE is one of the pioneers in Mediation to Stay
Married (also known as Marital Mediation and Marriage Mediation) and is a Board Member of the Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation. Her interest
in marital mediation came as a natural corollary to the divorce work Laurie has
been doing. She asked herself, "What could I have done as a lawyer-mediator if I
could have worked with the divorcing couple a year or two before the couples decided
on divorce and met with divorce attorneys ...?" People who wish to stay in their
marriages but are having significant problems have started to meet with her both
as couples in mediation, and as individuals. These people are working to try to
get their marriages back on track. Read what Laurie has to say about Mediation to
Stay Married on the Articles page.
As regular parts of her practice, LAURIE drafts and negotiates
Prenuptial Agreements and Postnuptial Agreements.
She believes that these are agreements that must be carefully drawn and considered
with much thought, as they affect one of the major underpinnings (financial) of
a very important relationship — marriage. When done without sufficient thought
and sensitivity, they can work to hurt a marriage.
LAURIE had an income tax and estate tax concentration in law school, and afterwards
worked several years as a tax lawyer. She spends a significant portion of her time
at work doing estate plans (simple and complex) and handling the probates of decedents'
estates. She finds this work a very fulfilling part of her practice.
Laurie's articles on various topics appear in Our Town Magazine, Massachusetts Council
on Family Mediation Quarterly, Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council Journal,
Lawyers Weekly, International Association of Collaborative Professional Collaborative
Review, mediate.com, lifetwo.com and can be found on the Articles
page.
Laurie has presented on various topics at conferences throughout the United States.
Her topics are Mediation to Stay Married, Mediating Pre Nuptial Agreements and Mediating
Alimony issues. She has presented at the Family Section of the
Association for Conflict Resolution, the annual Association for Conflict
Resolution Conference and the Massachusetts Council on
Family Mediation.
Laurie graduated from Barnard College in 1967 cum laude, and from The Dickinson
School of Law (now part of Pennsylvania State University) magna cum laude in 1987.
She was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1946.
She is a member of the Association for
Conflict Resolution, New England
Association for Conflict Resolution,
Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council,
Massachusetts Council on Family Mediation, and the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.
Laurie's interests include reading (but not the daily newspapers), art, music, and
the instituion of marriage. She has started to study yoga and reduce her carbon
footprint.
Others in Israel, Van Kooy & Days, LLC.
KAREN VAN KOOY joined the Law Offices
of Laurie Israel in October, 2007 to practice in the area of Domestic Relations,
and now is a member/partner of the new firm. .
RONNY SYDNEY has a significant practice dealing with state and local zoning, permitting
and licensing issues. She also works with all issues faced by small businesses,
including representation in court litigation.
LAURA DAYS has been a full-time associate
since she joined the firm in 2005, and works in the fields of real estate, estate
planning, tax and probate of estates. She is now a member/partner of the new firm.
HEATHER HOFFMAN is an of-counsel attorney
since 1998. She concentrates her practice on title work and real estate matters,
and provides ongoing advice on all legal topics to assist the firm. Heather employs
her husband, MARK JAQUITH, to assist
her as a title examiner. As part of the real estate practice in our firm, we are
engaged in doing real estate titles, real estate conveyancing, and purchase and
sale agreements.
VICTORIA ELLSWORTH, a recent addition
to the firm since 2007, is a certified paralegal. In addition, Tori has significant
business experience, which is extremely helpful to the firm in its marketing and
administrative functions. She is the law firm administrator.
PHILIPPINA LOH is the firm's diligent and accurate
secretary/bookkeeper and has been a wonderful presence in the firm since 2001.
ELAINE SIDNEY provides off-site administration,
office space consulting, and storage file control to the law firm. She has been
associated with the firm since 1998.
Although he is not officially part of the firm, MARK ANDERSON, of Tapestry Data Systems has been providing
capable computer support for all of us since 1999. He has built most of our computers,
and has consulted in other computer and peripheral purchases, and capably and quickly
assists us when we're having computer problems.
MARVIN KANE, of Kaneworks, is a new vendor for our firm. He created this
web site and our Mediation
to Stay Married web site.
He is serving as our webmaster.
PEG O' CONNELL, of Peg
O?Connell and Associates, an independent contractor, provides bookkeeping and accounting
services for our firm and probate accounting for our clients.
We are all very fortunate to have a stable firm with people who each provide significant
contributions to the firm. We work hard, but also enjoy extremely harmonious work
relationships with mutual respect and appreciation for each other's efforts.
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