Partner Biographies

MICKY FORBES

Services: Mediation, Training, Consulting

Profile: Micky Forbes is a mediator with experience in the fields of family law, estates, labor, business, multiparty mediation, and in mediation consulting and training. Raised in London, she moved to Seattle in 2001 from the Chicago area, where she practiced law for ten years. She did civil rights and criminal law in private practice and with The People’s Law Office for five years. She was then a staff attorney for another five years with the Chicago Federal Defender Program. She has considerable experience in litigation both at the trial court and appellate level. She is an expert in sentencing mitigation and an experienced negotiator.

Prior to her career in mediation and the law she taught and pursued graduate studies in philosophy, writing on areas of philosophical psychology involving the explanation of human behavior. She also developed technical skills relating to environmental engineering (she holds a certificate in environmental law). She did creative editorial and organizational work for JAMA (the Journal of the American Medical Association) and has an interest in the history of medicine. For a decade she organized and edited the annual Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association. During this period she held a fellowship and organized interdisciplinary collaborations for a program in science and technology at Northwestern's School of Engineering and Applied Science. She also worked with the Center for New Schools in research on primary education.

University College, London University (B.A., Hon.,1974); Northwestern University (M.A., 1977); Kent Law School (J.D. with Certificate in Environmental Law, 1992)

Licenses and Certification: Washington State Bar, Illinois State Bar, member of the Federal Trial Bar and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Bar.

Teaching Experience: In addition to educational research, editorial and organizational work, Micky has taught a wide range philosophy courses. They include logic, critical thinking, ethics, the philosophy of mind, and personal identity. She has also taught a diverse array of students: pre-professional students at Northwestern, returning adults in Northwestern's Division of Continuing Education and at the University of Wisconsin at Parkside, and inner city students at Chicago's YMCA Community College. The experience and skills gained from this teaching inform her mediation training workshops and her handling of the mediation process itself.

Publications:

• Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association . E. Lansing, MI: Philosophy of Science Association, 1986 through 1995 (co-editor).
• Translation of "La Participation du Parlement a l'Elaboration et a l' Application des Traites" (The Participation of Parliament in the Elaboration and Application of Treaties) by François Luchaire, President of the French Constitutional Council, 15 pp. Chicago-Kent Law Review, Fall, 1992.
• "Grünbaum on Freud: Three Grounds for Dissent." The Behavioral and Brain Sciences 9:237-38 (1986). Reprinted in A. Grünbaum, Kritische Betrachtungen zur Psychoanalyse. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 1991 (jointly with A. Fine).
• AMA’s Family Medical Guide, New York: Random House, 1982 (assistant editor).

Community Services: Volunteer mediator: Port Townsend Dispute Resolution Board and ILCRG (King County's Inter Local Conflict Resolution Group). Judge at University of Washington's Law School Mediation Moot Courts.

Language Skills: Micky grew up bilingual in French and English, and has some Spanish conversation as well.