Susan V. Edwards earned her law degree in 1979 from Villanova University on the Main Line in southeastern Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. in sociology from Beaver College in 1969. Prior to law school, Ms. Edwards worked in drug and alcohol evaluation and counseling, counseling delinquent teenage girls and their families, and management and organizational assistance on the corporate level.
Ms. Edwards’ background in counseling , along with her extensive legal experience and her current work in conflict resolution and mediation make her particularly effective in the Collaborative Process. A particular strength is an ability to evaluate a case to determine an expected and reasonable result. She has a special interest in finding creative ways to help divorcing parties negotiate amicable settlements.
In addition to being a member of the Collaborative Family Law Affiliates, Ms. Edwards is a charter member of MediationWorks (www.mediationworks.ws, 610-725-8061). As a mediator, she provides private mediation services to resolve disputes of any sort and particularly in traditional family law issues, step-family and elder-care matters. MediationWorks has been appointed by the Chester County Courts to certify the court's custody mediators
She is Membership Chair and sits on the Advisory Council of the Family Section of the Association for Conflict Resolution. (www.acrnet..org) She is an Advanced Practitioner/Educator Member of that international organization. Ms. Edwards is a member of the Family Law and Alternative Dispute Resolution and Mediation sections of the Chester and Philadelphia County and the Pennsylvania Bar Associations.
Ms. Edwards has been an ethics panelist for the Pennsylvania Bar Association Family Law Section and has been a frequent presenter for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute continuing legal education programs. She has conducted seminars for Hahnemann University’s Family Therapy post-graduate degree program She has presented at Pennsylvania Psychological Association-approved continuing education programs. She teaches negotiation and mediation skills to other professionals.
Ms. Edwards was a consultant to Gayle Rosenwald Smith in her Divorce and Money: Everything You Need to Know, (Penguin Group, 2004). She has been a columnist for both the Suburban and Wayne Times and the Route 202 Review in southeastern Pennsylvania.
In addition to her private law practice, Ms. Edwards has provided voluntary legal services to the Community High School in Philadelphia. Ms. Edwards was honored to be selected as an attorney-partner in Pennsylvania's Project PEACE - a program co-sponsored by Pennsylvania's Attorney General's office and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. Project PEACE is designed to reduce conflict by establishing peer mediation in elementary schools throughout the Commonwealth.
