The DSM IV Personality Disorders (...according to Joe Walsh!) CLE

The DSM IV Personality Disorders (...according to Joe Walsh!)

July 2011

The DSM IV Personality Disorders (…According to Joe Walsh!): Understanding and Managing Difficult Clients in Family Law Cases - LIVE IN DENVER

Program Description:

Family Law attorneys often work with clients who can be very difficult. These “high conflict” personalities seem unable or unwilling to find workable solutions and appear stuck in patterns of thinking and behaving that create high levels of drama and acrimony. And, of course, their problems are always someone else's fault.

Joe Walsh's 1978 song, Life's Been Good to Me So Far, about life as a rock star, aptly describes the dramatic, outrageous, and sometimes weird personalities often seen by family law attorneys, CFIs and CLRs. Join us for an informative and entertaining two-hour program that looks at the role of personality disorders in high conflict cases.

This program will cover:

When to consider that your client may have a personality disorder: What to bear in mind
A short history of the DSM and Axis II Personality Disorders: What does it all mean?
What is a normal versus a “disordered” personality?
Five commonly seen “high conflict” personalities in legal disputes
How different personalities function and what you can expect
Key points for dealing with difficult personalities in legal disputes

Presented by Kathleen McNamara, PhD PLLC and Robert Smith, Esq.

Agenda:

11:30 am - 12:00 pm Registration

12:00 pm - 2:00 pm Program (Lunch Provided)

Faculty:

Kathleen McNamara, PhD PLLC

Fort Collins, CO

Kathleen McNamara is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Fort Collins, Colorado. She specializes in evaluation and intervention services for adults, children, and families who are dealing with conflict, loss, and adjustment to life changes. Dr. McNamara received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University in 1984. Prior to receiving her doctorate she earned her bachelor and master degrees at The Ohio State University. Her doctoral internship was completed at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. McNamara has conducted over 500 parenting evaluations since 1986. She has testified as an expert in parenting disputes and related cases on numerous occasions in several Colorado counties. Before devoting herself to full-time private practice in 1998, she was a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Colorado State University, where she worked for fourteen years. While at CSU she taught numerous courses at the undergraduate and graduate level and published or presented dozens of papers on various clinical problems.

Dr. McNamara is a member of the American Psychological Association, the Colorado Psychological Association, The Colorado Council of Mediators and Mediation Organizations, and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. Presently, she serves on the board of the Colorado chapter of AFCC.

Dr. McNamara provides psychological and parenting evaluations, psychotherapy, mediation, consultation, and parent coordination/decision-maker services.

Robert M. Smith, Esq.

Windsor, CO

Robert Smith is an attorney and Child and Family Investigator who practices in Northern Colorado and the Denver metro area. He is licensed to practice law in both Colorado and Oregon, but now limits his practice to CFI investigations and representing children as a Child Legal Representative or Guardian ad Litem. He is the 2010-2011 President of the international Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC), and is a past member of the CBA Family Law Section's Executive Council. He is currently a member of the Denver MDIC, Boulder's IDC, the Colorado Chapter of AFCC, the National Association of Counsel for Children, the ABA, and the Larimer, Denver and Boulder Bar Associations.

He was on the committee that drafted MDIC's Special Advocate Guidelines in 2001; and has served on the Other Professionals Subcommittee of the Standing Committee on Family Issues, which originally drafted the CFI Standards in CJD 04-08, the model appointment order, and legislation that has resulted in the statutory authority for CFIs, CLRs, Parenting Coordinators and Decision-Makers. He has also coauthored “The Roles of the Guardian ad Litem, Child's Legal Representative and Child and Family Investigator” (Chapter 18 of The Practitioner's Guide to Colorado Domestic Relations Law); and continues to serve as the Managing Editor of The Role of the CFI and CLR in Colorado, both of which were published by the Colorado Bar Association.