Biography

Deborah Bennett Berecz (pronounced Be-Reece) focuses her practice primarily on family law, including collaborative divorce, mediation, adoption and alternative dispute resolution. She has offices in Grandville and St. Joseph, Michigan.

Deborah has been a trained mediator since 1995 and has more than 1,000 hours of mediation experience in family and business cases. In addition, she is one of Michigan’s most experienced collaborative professionals, representing clients in the collaborative process in a number of west and central Michigan counties. Deborah mediated cases for Michigan’s Appellate ADR program during the program’s operation.

Current Research or Professional Activities

Deborah believes in community and professional service and has served, among other things, in the following capacities:

• Chair, ADR Section of the State Bar of Michigan
• President, Collaborative Practice Institute of Michigan
• President, local Rotary Club.
• Founder and first president, Berrien Association of Mediators
• Co-founder and first president, Collaborative Divorce Professionals of W. Michigan.
• Member, Family Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan, the Kent and Berrien County Bar Associations, Collaborative Practice Institute of Michigan, and the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.
• Member of board of directors, ARC, an organization serving the developmentally disabled.

Deborah is the author of a number of publications on ADR including articles for the Michigan Bar Journal. She regularly lectures for the Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the Advanced Negotiation and Dispute Resolution Institute (ANDRI), and the Family Law Institute and is an adjunct professor at Andrews University where she has taught Family Law and Public Policy to master’s level and doctoral students. Deborah serves as a mediation training coach with nationally recognized trainers and is a member of The Prism Perspective, LLC, the training team chosen to train Michigan professionals in the Collaborative Process.