Family Mediation, an approach that challenges you to
see all sides of the conflict and
create solutions that work for everyone
Addressing the conflicts that arise in our lives, such as separation and divorce, can be some of the most challenging times of our lives. If you’re family law mediators instead of heading straight to court, the JMS Law team has the tools and experience to help diffuse and minimize these conflicts. If your goal is to become empowered and self-reliant and to move towards a more independent life, free of your conflict, we would like to help you envision yourself there.
It is our goal to help you see a world where not long from now, you and those you love are thriving and not simply surviving.
The mediation process itself allows people to address the conflicts that arise in our lives in a way that challenges them to become more mindful of themselves. In mediation you can choose to make decisions based on what is best for your family, taking all sides into account. It is not always easy, but that is where mediation can help by shifting the approach from focusing on each other to awareness of the problem.
Joanna and her team will challenge you to think in a much bigger way than most people ever do. They will push you to look through doors you may never have considered before. Compassion, understanding, and empathy between both sides will keep children at the forefront.
The style of mediation used at JMS Law is what one would characterize as Transformative Mediation, a form of mediation that allows parties to shift from a sense of powerlessness to seeing their own personal strength, they begin to create new understandings of themselves and their situation and get to a place where they can more critically examine possibilities and make decisions that will work best for themselves and their family as a whole.
Mediation challenges you to see all sides of the conflict and to create solutions that work for everyone. The Court System is reserved as an absolute last resort.
This results in long lasting, cost-effective resolutions that benefit the whole family, in particular children whose parents are involved in the conflict.
Joanna M. Shaw
Hons., BA, LLB, MES, LLM, ACC. MEDIATOR, NOTARY
Joanna Shaw is the principle Lawyer of JMS Law and has completed an advanced Family Mediation Training program and internship at the Mediation Center in Barrie, Ontario, where she now serves as a very respected mediator while also doing private mediations at JMS Law. Joanna also completed her Master’s Degree at Osgoode Hall Law School where she focused on and wrote about conflict resolution and its transformative effects.
Joanna’s approach to her law practice, and indeed her life, is greatly informed by her Yoga and Meditation philosophy and other practices that engender compassion and mindfulness.
In addition to being a Mediator, Joanna has a passion for her work as an agent of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer where she represents children in family disputes. Both as a mediator and a children’s lawyer, Joanna encourages clients and lawyers on the opposing side to foster compassion for themselves and the other, and to see possibilities where there might not otherwise be any.
At JMS Law, Joanna and her associates encourage people to negotiate from a place of mindfulness and compassion with their future, and that of their children, at the fore. The well-being of both her clients and their families are of the utmost importance. Joanna believes healthier families lead to healthier communities, which, in turn, lead to a healthier world.
