Carlsbad CALIFORNIA

ABOUT Alan R. Silverman

Mr. Silverman received his BA in Psychology with honors at the University of California, Berkeley. He attended graduate school at the University of Oklahoma where he received a Masters degree in Guidance and Counseling and a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology at the age of 26.

While at Oklahoma, he received three years of intensive training in group therapy, hypnosis, individual therapy, diagnostic testing, and the assessment of psychopathology.

The topic of Mr. Silverman's doctoral dissertation research was the behavioral assessment of family therapy outcomes. This research was performed at the Learning House Project sponsored by the Counseling Psychology Department of Stanford University. During this period, he provided training for Stanford psychology students. Mr. Silverman made national presentations of his research, including a presentation with Stanford faculty at the American Psychological Association Annual Meeting.

After receiving his doctorate, he developed a residential behavior therapy program for emotionally disturbed and delinquent children and adolescents in the San Francisco Bay Area. He became licensed by the state of California as a Marriage, Family and Child Therapist, which he maintained from 1977 until he entered law school in 1989.

In 1978, Mr. Silverman received a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study the causes of homicide in children, 15 to 17 years old, at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. He received a Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology from U.C. Berkeley.

Following his work at U.C. Berkeley, Mr. Silverman was employed as a clinical psychologist by the Wyoming State Hospital, the Colorado State Hospital, the Pikes Peak Mental Health Center in Colorado Springs, and was the director of children's services for the South Central portion of the state of Alabama through the South Central Mental Health Center in Andalusia, Alabama. He worked with a variety of emotionally disturbed children and adolescents.

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Silverman practiced as an individual and family therapist in San Diego and Orange Counties, California. The primary focus of his practice was the treatment of couples, children and their families.

Law

Alan R. Silverman is certified by the State Bar's Board of Legal Specialization and a Family Law Specialist. Alan R. Silverman's focus as a family law mediator and litigator has been high-conflict cases where the conflict between the parties impeded effective resolution of the case. His background in psychology provides him with the skill and insight to settle cases when parties were entrenched in bitter litigation often for many years.

Following his career as a mental health professional, Mr. Silverman attended law school at Whittier College of the Law in Los Angeles. During this time, he clerked for the nationally renowned medical malpractice firm of David M. Harney and Associates. He also served as a judicial law clerk for the Hon. Florence Bernstein in the Mental Health Division of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Mr. Silverman received mediation and alternative dispute resolution training at the Strauss Institute for Dispute Resolution at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and participated in advanced training in mediation taught by Forrest Mosten in Los Angeles. His other advanced coursework includes Collaborative Law. He serves as a Settlement Master and is on the Special Master panel of the San Francisco Unified Family Court. In 2007, he addressed the Japanese Bar Association on family law and law practice management issues. In 2008 in San Diego, he participated in training as offered by Bill Eddy of the High Conflict Institute in working with individuals with personality disorders within the context of family law cases.

Mr. Silverman serves as a private mediator and special master in cases involving child custody and visitation as well as high-asset property distributions.

If your case requires litigation, Mr. Silverman is an experienced trial attorney having tried well over 150 cases. His background in the field of psychology is an asset when coping with testimony of mental-health providers. Although the offices of Silverman & Silverman are located in San Francisco, Mr. Silverman has litigated family law cases throughout the state of California, including the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Joaquin, Solano, Napa, Sonoma, San Mateo, Alameda, Marin, Santa Clara, Sacramento and San Francisco.

From 1994 to 2000, Mr. Silverman was Of Counsel, part-time, to the law firm of Bravo & Margulies, a civil litigation firm practicing in the area of real estate law and located in San Francisco. Mr. Silverman gained expertise to resolve real estate issues that occur in many divorce cases.

Mr. Silverman is a trial and appellate attorney in the field of juvenile dependency law. Dependency proceedings frequently have issues related to drug abuse, child neglect, sexual abuse of children and domestic violence. He has secured a reversal on appeal on behalf of a client through the California First District Court of Appeal.

Experience - Law

SILVERMAN & SILVERMAN - San Francisco

Partner 1993 to present, Family Law

Certified Family Law Specialist, Board of Legal Specialization, State Bar of California 2010

SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY,

Adjunct Faculty-Family Law, American Bar Association Approved Program in Paralegal Studies 2012

BRAVO & MARGULIES (AV rated) -San Francisco

Of Counsel (part-time) 1994 to 2001 Landlord-Tenant, Real Estate, Construction, Personal Injury, Civil Litigation

LAW OFFICES OF DAVID M. HARNEY - Los Angeles

Law Clerk 1990 to 1991 Medical Malpractice, Personal Injury, Product Liability Litigation

LOS ANGELES COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT - MENTAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT

Judicial Law Clerk to Hon. Florence Bernstein 1990

Other Experience - Law

Judge Pro Tem and Settlement Attorney
San Diego County Superior Court Family Law Settlement Attorney through the Judge Pro Tem Program, 2015 to present.
San Francisco Unified Family Court, Judge Pro Tem 2011 to present.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Pro Tem Small Claims, Juvenile Dependency, Traffic and Family Law Settlement Master, 2007 to present.

Representative Case-Trial Counsel

Rand v. Board of Psychology (2012) 205 Cal.App.4th 1209, 140 Cal.Rptr.3d 837, discussed in California Family Law Report July 2012. Client prevailed on complaint to Board of Psychology for unethical conduct and coercive practices against a psychologist acting as special master in high conflict custody case

Judge Pro Tem 2007 to present, San Francisco Superior Court, Family Law, Juvenile Dependency, Traffic, Small Claims- Certificates of Appreciation received for contributions to Temporary Judge Program 5/3/10, 7/19/12

Settlement Master 2007 to present, San Francisco Unified Family Court, Family Law Settlement Conferences

Television Interview, The Psychological Effects of the Economic Downturn On Divorcing Couples, KPIX/CBS San Francisco (April 2011) Presentation to Japanese Federation of Bar Associations on Family Law and Law Practice Management (May 2007) Panelist, Televised debate on grandparent visitation rights, Take Issue, Bay TV, San Francisco (January 17, 2000) Your Legal Rights: Call a Lawyer, KALW Radio, San Francisco (2000-2006) Golden Gate University, Appellate Advocacy Program, Oral Argument Judge (2005-2006)

Approved by University of San Francisco School of Law to sponsor clinical internships and the firm has sponsored clinical internships since 2005 Approved by Golden Gate University School of Law to sponsor clinical internships and the firm has sponsored clinical internships since 2007. Approved by San Francisco State University, Paralegal Studies to sponsor internships and the firm has sponsored an internships since 2010. Trained Interns from England, Wales, France and Germany 2000 to 2006.

Dependency Appellate Practice. First District Appellate Project (1998-1999), Central California Appellate Program (1999-2000)

Experience - Psychology

PRIVATE PRACTICE - Orange and San Diego Counties Family therapy, individual therapy with children adolescents and adults, marriage counseling, group therapy, hypnosis 1984- 1988

CASA DE AMPARO - Oceanside, California - Executive Director 1983 Child abuse residential treatment facility, funded by San Diego County DSS, wrote and administered child abuse treatment grant for Camp Pendleton

COLORADO STATE HOSPITAL - Pueblo, Colorado 1980 - 1982 Clinical Psychologist - adolescent treatment unit, forensic testing

PIKES PEAK MENTAL HEALTH CENTER - Colorado Springs 1980-1982 Clinical Psychologist- Psychotherapy with adults and children

WYOMING STATE HOSPITAL - Evanston, Wyoming 1979 -1980 Clinical Psychologist - adolescent and geriatric units, forensic testing

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA YOUTH TREATMENT & EVALUATION CENTER

Palo Alto/ Santa Cruz 1976-1978 Co-Director - Residential treatment for children and adolescents adjudicated dependant or delinquent. Wrote and administered funding grant

STANFORD UNIVERSITY, Counseling Psychology Dept. - Palo Alto 1975- 1976

Pre-doctoral Intern/Teaching Parent-Learning House-Residential treatment program for dependent children, conducted research for doctoral dissertation

Professional Licenses

State Bar of California #167996, 1993

Marriage Child & Family Counselor - California #9531 1977-1989

Grants Funded

Casa de Amparo - San Diego County Department of Social Services - funding grant for treatment of physically and sexually abused children, 1983

United States Marine Corp - Camp Pendleton, residential and outpatient treatment of abused Marine Corp dependent children, 1983

Seiden, R & Silverman, A. "Deadly Violence Among California's Youth, An Epidemiological Study," School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. Funding by California Commission on Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, 1979

Northern California Youth Treatment and Evaluation Center. Budget approved by Bay Area Placement Committee, funding by social services agencies of Bay Area counties, 1977-1979

Publications

Harney, David M. Medical Malpractice, Michie Press, 2nd Edition, 1991 Supplement; contributed to case note on desecration of remains

Blattler, A. and Silverman, A. "Contingency Management Program Policies" Dept. of Institutions Policies and Procedures Manual, State of Colorado 1981

Silverman, A . "Evaluating Goal Attainment Scaling by Independent Observation in Parent Behavior Management Counseling." Dissertation Abstracts, Ann Arbor Michigan 1976

Newspaper Articles

McKee, Mike The Recorder San Francisco, California 4/28/97 "Shrink-Turned- Lawyer Offers a Different Kind of Counsel" Biography

Zemper, Melinda Morning Press Oceanside, California 6/2/83 "Expansion of Child Abuse Center Possible" Biography, commentary

Paper Presentations

"Behavioral Approaches to Family Counseling"-Symposium sponsored by University of Colorado Medical Center, Dept. of Psychiatry 1982

"Non-Participant Observation Systems in Family Therapy" - Symposium with Carl Thoreson (Stanford University), Amer. Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C 1976.

"Learning House, An Overview" - with Montrose Wolf and Carl Thoreson, symposium presented at American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles 1976

Teaching Experience

California School of Professional Psychology- San Diego, directed counseling practicum for graduate students 1983

University of Southern Colorado, Dept. of Psychology, Adjunct Professor, lectured on behavior modification with children 1981-1982

Stanford University, Dept of Psychology-directed counseling practicum for upper division undergraduates 1977-1978

University of Oklahoma, Dept. of Counseling Psychology- directed counseling practicum for master's degree candidates 1973-74; Dept. of Psychology- instructor in statistics and learning theory 1971-72

Other

Volunteer Group Cycling Instructor, Stonestown YMCA, San Francisco, since 2007

Awards

Selected in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 as a “Northern California Super Lawyer” which annually honors the top 5% of attorneys according to peer reviews.

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Areas of LAW

  • Child Custody
  • Child Support
  • Divorce
  • Domestic Violence
  • Family
  • Mediation
  • Paternity
  • Restraining Orders

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