February 12, 2025 • 30 mins
Hey everyone, it's family mediator Scott Levin, the Chief Peacekeeper™, and I’m excited to share my recent appearance on the Divorce Doesn’t Suck podcast! In this episode, I talk about why I completely shifted my law practice away from litigation and dedicated my career to helping families navigate divorce peacefully through mediation.
I share how my personal journey, including the birth of my third child, made me realize that divorce should not be a war—and how mediation is the key to protecting families, finances, and co-parenting relationships.
🔹 In this episode, we cover:
✅ Why I left litigation behind to focus 100% on divorce mediation
✅ The biggest mistakes I see divorcing couples make—and how to avoid them
✅ How real estate, finances, and child custody are handled in mediation
✅ Why the traditional courtroom divorce model is outdated and harmful
✅ How you can divorce with dignity, clarity, and financial stability
If you’re going through a divorce, thinking about it, or just want to learn more about how mediation can save you time, money, and stress, this episode is for you.
💬 Drop a comment below—what’s your biggest question about mediation?
🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe for more insights on how to divorce peacefully and protect what matters most!
San Diego Divorce Mediation & Family Law
9820 Willow Creek Road Ste 410
San Diego, CA 92131
Contact San Diego divorce free consultation
858-255-1321
#DivorceMediation #ChiefPeacekeeper #PeacefulDivorce #ScottLevin #FamilyLaw #MediationMatters #DivorceWithDignity #DivorceDoesntSuck
Thanks for listening and I hope you'll continue to learn more about how you can peacefully divorce.
As a divorce mediation attorney in California, Scott Levin helps couples figure out the settlement terms and draft enforceable settlement agreements so they can divorce fairly without needing to go to court. Obtain closure peacefully through an amicable divorce. process that protects families and kids.
Visit San Diego Divorce Mediation for more information and to learn more about our mission to help divorcing couples make informed decisions and fair agreements through mediation or book a free virtual consultation.
Scott Levin, attorney, mediator, CDFA®
Chief PeaceKeeper
scottlevinmediation@gmail.com
858-255-1321
San Diego Divorce Mediation & Family Law
www.SanDiegoFamilyLawyer.net
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (00:00):
At Arizona State University, we're bringing
world-class education from ourglobally acclaimed faculty to
you.
Ranked number one in innovationfor 10 consecutive years and
number two among publicuniversities for employability,
asu isn't just ahead of thecurve.
It's creating new paths tosuccess.
Earn your degree from thenation's most innovative
university Online.
(00:20):
That's a degree better.
Explore more than 300undergraduate, graduate and
certificate programs atasuonlineasuedu.
Hi, I'm Wendy, and this isDivorce Doesn't Suck.
I'm talking all about the lifeyou can live after divorce.
You'll hear regular people'sstories about their divorces and
how they reinvented themselvesand grew.
You'll also get invaluableadvice from experts who serve in
(00:42):
the divorce community.
A little about me I'm a formerTV producer and mom of two.
I got divorced in 2008 whenthere were really no outlets or
platforms for me to turn to, soI'm paying it forward and have
created a platform to help menand women learn that there is
absolutely is a fresh, new andexciting life after divorce.
Come with me on this journeyand paint your brand new blank
(01:02):
canvas of happily ever afterdivorce.
This episode is brought to youin part by the Needle Kuda Law
Firm guidance that moves livesforward.
Welcome to another episode ofDivorce Doesn't Suck.
I'm your host, wendy Sloan, andmy guest today is known in San
Diego as the chief peacekeeper.
I want to hear all about that,why, how and everything else.
(01:24):
A highly regarded divorceattorney, a divorce mediator and
family law attorney based inSan Diego, california, he
specializes in helping couplesachieve amicable divorces
without the need for a courtbattle.
I am so curious to hear allabout this.
Welcome to my show, scott Levin.
Scott Levin (01:43):
Thank you.
How are you doing, Wendy?
Wendy Lowy Sloane (01:45):
I am doing well, thank you.
Happy New Year.
Scott Levin (01:48):
Yeah, it looks like you got some nice winter
weather over there, oh yeah,we're freezing a little bit here
, but it was time.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (01:56):
I mean, we did not get the winter blast
like that early on this year, sowe're getting through it.
Yeah, you got to have a littlewinter at some point in the year
, right like that early on thisyear, so we're getting through
it.
Scott Levin (02:06):
Yeah, you got to have a little winter at some
point in the year, right?
Wendy Lowy Sloane (02:10):
Yeah, we have to struggle through it.
But you know what I like thechange of season.
I'm from Miami but I think I'mmore, you know, East Coast now,
but I kind of like the change ofseasons.
Scott Levin (02:22):
How long have you been out there?
Have you been in the New YorkConnecticut area long?
Wendy Lowy Sloane (02:29):
I've been here since I graduated college.
Scott Levin (02:32):
So since.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (02:33):
I'm very, very, very young.
I mean, I can't tell you howlong.
Scott Levin (02:36):
I'm 26 myself.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (02:38):
Yeah, I know right, I've been 29 for such a
long time.
Then one day my son grew up.
You know he was, he's verygrown now but when he was like
realized, like mom, you've beenlying to me all these years.
No, no, no, no, no.
That's the one lie the mom cantell.
Scott Levin (02:56):
I still remember my mom was 42, my whole life.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (03:00):
Yeah, yeah, that's yeah.
42.
Okay, I'll take that too.
All Is it.
Yeah, yeah, that's yeah.
Forty two OK, I'll take thattoo.
All right.
Twenty years of experience.
Your innovative approach hashelped 90 percent of your
clients reach settlements withintwo months.
I am so beyond curious and I solove this.
I want to know how all thatstarted.
Scott Levin (03:23):
But first tell us a little bit about you and your
background and how you firstbecame a family in family law
and all that.
Yeah Well, thanks again forhaving me.
So I went to law school.
I graduated law school, Iworked in big law for about six
or seven years and I went outand was in the startup world for
a while.
I kind of have a financebackground for a while.
(03:43):
I kind of have a financebackground and during that point
in time I was doing family lawlitigation cases as well.
So I was kind of out on my ownand doing startup stuff and it
was a bit unfulfilled and mytherapist actually was like you
know, you would be really Ithink you have a really good
(04:07):
personality fit as a mediatorand I had never really thought
of it and you know I was makinga lot of money but I wasn't
feeling like it was.
You know, like I was doinganything substantive with my
life, substantive with my life,and I had my third son was born
(04:30):
that year that she mentionedthat and I was like you know
what?
I'm going to go just head firstinto mediation.
I never took.
After 10 years of litigating, Inever took another litigation
case.
I haven't been to court since2013 to represent anyone.
So I really just transitionedmy whole practice, my whole life
around mediation jumped into it, been loving it.
(04:52):
It's just a really great fitfor who I am, what I've always
been.
I've kind of always been like alittle bit of a glue guy in my
family.
Growing up I wasn't, you know,the most outgoing, I wasn't the
one with the most friends or thebest in school, but I kind of
played that middle role reallywell.
(05:15):
And you know, in mediation youcan be creative.
It's not about defeatingsomeone, which is, you know, a
really hard way to earn a living, in my opinion.
You know you can be.
You can make a lot of moneydoing family law litigation.
You just, you know tear down,you know lives in the meantime
(05:35):
and it's not like that's whatyour goal is.
Of course you're not trying to,but that's the outcome of
litigation.
I mean, if you're in a corporatelitigation or if you're a
business litigation, you know,try owning a company and having
one of your employees sue youand then doing a two year
litigation.
You'll feel destroyed at theend of that and that's just what
happens in the family lawcontext.
(05:57):
It's just you're dealing withfamilies and so I'm able to, you
know, help people get throughthe process.
What I always tell people and Italk to people every day and I
don't take, you know, a lot ofcases I don't I can foresee them
, you know be committed to it.
(06:20):
It's not like snapping yourfinger.
Mediation is a buzzword thesedays, like you know.
Almost every litigationattorney that I, that I used to
get referrals from you know formany, many years now about the
mediator, you know, so you, theprocess itself doesn't get it
(06:47):
done.
It's the two people.
They have to want to becommitted to it and then they
have to have someone that, um,you know, kind of has the, the,
the ability to bring themtogether when things get a
little iffy.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (07:00):
Pretty amazing.
So then you became called thechief peacekeeper.
Scott Levin (07:06):
In 2014, I was doing a divorce for a couple in
San Diego County and one of themwas on the tribal council,
which is like kind of thegovernment of a Native American
tribe here, and these days, whenpeople do their divorce, fight
like signings when we sign theagreement.
(07:29):
Um, you know, probably 60 ofthem are now doing it by like e
signing.
But back then almost everyonecame to my office to sign and so
they were signing together andthey were, you know, um, just
really kind of proud ofthemselves for being able to do
it, because just really kind ofproud of themselves for being
able to do it, because in thatcase, he was, you know,
basically a government celebrityin his little part of the world
(07:50):
, right, and they had a lot ofprivacy concerns and there was a
lot of money out there and youknow they wanted to keep a lot
of that private, but they alsohad some, you know, unique
issues.
So they had actually reallydone an incredible job.
And she turned to me as she wassigning and she said you know,
you'll always be my chiefpeacekeeper.
And of course, my head, rightaway, like my split reaction,
(08:14):
was like oh, can I take thatfrom you With her permission, I
took it from her yeah.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (08:21):
That's pretty amazing.
That has to make you feel good.
Scott Levin (08:24):
Yeah, it does I.
You know it feels good to beable to earn a few dollars while
, you know, playing my littlerole in the world to make it
maybe just a little bit.
A little bit of better placefor kids, a little bit of better
place for parents.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (08:40):
So when you first decided to stop litigation
, was it like?
Was it kind of like?
Scott Levin (08:49):
it just happened right away, or did it?
How did that turn?
I was in the middle of a casethat I was really struggling
with because of the like, justthe the, just like the practice
of the law.
So when I was seeing mytherapist I was really like kind
of upping the ante of like.
Like you know, at the time Iwas, I was almost 40 and, like
you know, I had three kids.
(09:11):
You know like what like is thatsuch a can you transition your,
your life like?
And I'd already, you know mywife was sick of me, like kind
of transitioning.
You know she probably wouldhave been happy if I would have
stayed in big law and not comehome till 1130 every night.
But that makes for a successfulmarriage.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (09:28):
I guess right .
Scott Levin (09:31):
But what happened in this case?
Was it just kind of highlights,like why I wasn't fulfilled?
So my client was a mom in thiscase and and she, she spent, we,
we did.
We had two hearings about um,which are like mini kind of
trials, essentially, like whereI think she sent me, like paid
(09:53):
me and my firm, like you know,25, 30 grand per trial, mini
trial to.
Basically, the first one was tomake it so that dad's new
girlfriend couldn't be aroundthe kids when he had them.
And then when she found outthat they were around the kids
not that she had any like, theperson wasn't an evil person,
(10:16):
she just didn't want them aroundher kids.
Then she went back to court torestrict custody from him having
about six, 40% to him havingtwo days a month, and the judge
granted it to her, and so thesewere like mini trials.
Remember, we're trying to getthe divorce and now we're like
going over here, right, likethis has nothing to do with,
(10:38):
like getting this settled, thisis just taking more time and all
that.
So, anyways, inevitably, likesix months later, we're still in
this divorce and guess what shedoes?
Well, thankfully, right, shemeets someone and now she has
the kids 28 days a week.
I mean a month.
She has not worked outside thehome in like six years, in like
(11:02):
six years.
She lives in San Diego, thesecond most expensive city for
living expenses in the country.
She has no time to get a job,no time to do anything but take
care of the kids Is kind of, youknow, swimming uphill right.
And she gets a boyfriend andguess what dad does F you?
(11:27):
Those kids won't be around thatboyfriend.
And so now we go to a thirdtrial about boyfriends and
girlfriends spend another ton ofmoney and, uh, the judge rules
in his favor and I'm like whydid this judge even get involved
in this?
Like what, we should havedenied my request.
You should have just kept us onthe door.
So I mean, it was just likewhat am I doing?
Like I know these are importantto people's lives in the moment
(11:50):
, but like no one said anythingabout these other people being
bad.
They were just theoreticalother people.
Um, so you know, I just waslike this just isn't for me.
So just kind of like aepitomize, like what I wasn't
trying to do, like I I justspinning my wheels, not like
fighting, a lot of fighting withother attorneys.
Um, it's just like.
(12:10):
Wasn't something I wanted to dofor the next 25 years?
Wendy Lowy Sloane (12:14):
So how did that transit?
I'm going to ask.
We're going to take a veryquick break for one of my
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(14:03):
.
I'm back talking to Scott Levin, known as the chief peacekeeper
in San Diego.
I love that.
How was that transition?
Was it easy?
Was it like?
Did you all of a sudden likeannounce like I'm not litigating
anymore?
Like how did that happen?
Scott Levin (14:17):
Yeah, I mean it wasn't easy.
I mean you know I never tookanother case, you know.
So I became very popularreferral source because you know
I never took another case, youknow.
So I became a very popularreferral source because you know
I had a website that peopleused and called and and I have
been doing it for quite a whileI mean not not like as long as a
lot of people, but I haven't.
Certainly, like you know,people knew what I did.
(14:38):
You know what's interesting too, wendy.
And again, let me just say thislike I'm friends with a ton of
family law lawyers, I still amone right, but, um, I don't I'm
not saying I'm not judging themor anything like I'm not trying
to say I'm better, I'm not.
I just did something that thatfit my like.
What, what I'm more about yourheart it fit who you were, who
you are yeah, um, but I meanbasically, um, you know, I went
(15:01):
around to my friends that werelawyers and I said, hey, back
back.
You know, back then, likelawyers, litigators and
mediators really were twodifferent groups.
Now, like I said, almost everylitigation, like go online to a
family law firm and guaranteethey have a mediation session
section, you know every one ofthese firms is kind of like a
money grab at this point, sothey're all doing it.
(15:23):
Back then, like you know, I gota lot of referrals from friends
of mine that you know were inthe fight and that's just kind
of how I picked up.
And then you know, the web andall that stuff.
But it was a struggle at first.
You know, we never went like.
You know we weren't likedesperate or anything, but it
got iffy.
But I really just wanted to belike to be able to say like I
(15:45):
never you know never dipped mytoe back in there.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (15:48):
At Arizona State University, we're bringing
world-class education from ourglobally acclaimed faculty to
you.
Ranked number one in innovationfor 10 consecutive years and
number two among publicuniversities for employability,
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Earn your degree from thenation's most innovative
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(16:08):
That's a degree better.
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That's amazing.
I don't think a lot of peoplecan say that.
So a couple has to come to youtogether Like they're not, like
you're representing the spouseor you know you're not
representing it's.
They have to come together,they have to want to mediate.
(16:30):
And what happens when itdoesn't?
Does it ever not work?
Scott Levin (16:35):
Yeah, it does.
It's about 7 percent of thecases.
So you know when I was youngerthat I actually probably had a
better success rate.
You know I'm doing.
You know really complicatedcases these days.
You know I would love, you knowI look back on some of those
early cases, mm.
Yeah, 12, 13, like you know.
(16:56):
No kids, no, the assets surecome on in.
I'd love to help you.
But you know a lot of specialneeds children.
My clients have a lot of a lotof wealth, you know, and so
they're complicated cases.
But when it doesn't work out,you still have, you still have a
(17:19):
benefit of mediation if youwant it.
So when you're, when you have afailed mediation, it's not
because you couldn't agree onanything, obviously.
So let's say you agree on 75%of the case or 85%.
Let's say it's just honestly,it's either custody or spousal
support would be the two thingsthat you probably wouldn't agree
on.
I don't, there's not afinancial.
(17:41):
I don't.
Can't remember the last time Ilost a case to.
You know the division of homesor 401ks or all that Like that's
not.
That doesn't happen.
So what do you do?
Well, you could just have mewrite up your agreement and get
the judge to approve it oneverything but the one or two
things that you can't agree on,and then you can get lawyers.
(18:01):
But the lawyers are only goingto fight about those one or two
things.
If you're smart, because you'vealready, you already booked the
other things away and the judgealready approved it.
But if you really you havetheir option.
It's not you're not leadingwith your head at that point,
but you have the option of justmediation's confidential.
Nothing that nothing that wasagreed to in mediation that
(18:22):
doesn't get, uh, submitted tothe court, can be used against
either party.
So you could just start freshwow.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (18:29):
So your heart , your heart, is full when you
come home from work you know itis.
Scott Levin (18:34):
I mean it's still a grind, you know it's uh you're
doing, but like, yeah, you know,like I look back on the you
know the conversations like I, Idon't think I live like a very
extraordinary.
Like you know, I don't viewmyself as that interesting, but
when you know we go out, like todinner or something with people
and also not be thinking aboutlike what happened that week and
there's all these littlestories that I have, you know
(18:56):
that, like that or that, when Ilook back I'm like, oh yeah,
that was really interesting.
How you know when that personsaid this thing, it totally
changed the mindset.
And you know, in litigationwhat changes mindsets is, the is
eventually one or both people.
Well, either you run out ofmoney or one person is just gets
(19:18):
exhausted by the process andjust says F it.
You know they're not giving upbut like they'll give in to be
done.
That's like you know, I'd say75% of the cases In mediation.
You know people that work withme.
They're committing to meetingme, meeting with me like every
10 days at the latest,oftentimes quicker.
(19:39):
So we're meeting, we're meetingagain, we're meeting again,
we're sticking with it.
So it's a very expedited timeperiod of a kind of an intense,
expedited time period.
So you're committing to likestaying with it for a short
period of time and and, and then, and.
Then you know the goal is, youknow, six weeks later, four, six
(20:01):
, eight weeks later, we're goingto be wrapped up.
And it happens naturally whenyou stick with it at that point,
and it's not because someonegets exhausted, it's because
they kind of are collaboratingto agreement and it just kind of
cascades into that.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (20:17):
So it's about two months, would you say, on
the average mediation takes.
Scott Levin (20:21):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, like I said, it depends on the
complexity, but yeah.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (20:27):
Can you share like one or two success stories
?
I mean, I know you have a lotof success stories, but I think
the audience would really liketo hear that.
Scott Levin (20:33):
Yeah, you know, one that comes to mind was it's a
virtual case with a couple inNorthern California.
One of them was a physician,the other one was kind of in a
(20:54):
nursing or another medical kindof field and she actually walked
in on a cheating situation andit was a real shock.
They had a lot of kids.
Their kids were, um, uh, middleaged in terms of their being
youth, so like 10 to 20 um andthey had a bunch of them and
they had a house in in northerncalifornia in a very expensive
city, um and um, just completelydevastated a situation that
(21:20):
easily could have been like a250, $350,000, you know divorce
situation.
Um, uh, and it was interesting,uh, it was, uh, it was.
One of the reasons I'm proud ofis it was really creative
settlement, uh, because they,they make a lot of money but in
reality, at the end of likeevery month, there was no money
(21:40):
to be had, right?
So, um, we did a settlementwhere the kids, uh, really were
put first.
Um, they, they continued toco-own this home, uh in the in
this really big city, um, reallyvaluable, so that home, uh, I
looked up this was like probablyfive years ago.
That home has gone up by 2.5million since then, so they were
(22:02):
able to hold that asset Insteadof renting something for $8,500
each.
They were able to hold thatasset.
Now they're going to both beable to benefit from that, as
will their kids.
They had a really creativeparenting plan where dad would
come into the house and cookdinner and mom would not be
(22:24):
there during those times, and itwas really sensitive, though,
like these people basically likereally hard for them to be in
the same space at all, and itjust was a very explosive
situation, pardon.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (22:37):
They put the kids first.
Scott Levin (22:39):
They put the kids first.
Absolutely that doesn't happenoften enough.
It doesn't.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (22:44):
It destroys me to this day.
I mean that people just don'tput the kids first and they
don't realize what this does tothe kids.
Scott Levin (22:53):
Yeah, I mean I see a lot of people trying to talk
about putting kids first, but itdoesn't always happen kids
first, but it doesn't alwayshappen.
Recently I had a case whereabout 10% of my business, or 15%
, is people coming out oflitigation and so I had a case
(23:13):
where they were in litigationfor like two and a half years.
Mom in this case makes about$30,000 a year.
Her legal fees were 160,000.
I called my friend who was herlawyer not a bad person, like I
said, I'm not a judge.
I said how could you bill160,000 for someone that makes
30K a year?
Like I'm sorry.
(23:35):
Well, I came to realize what hadhappened.
I mean, she was in distress,complete distress, and I don't
get a lot of cases like this waslike a truly high conflict case
, like high conflict, reallyhigh conflict.
It took me back to the dayswhere I this is kind of like
surrounding me and but we wereable to settle it.
It took about three months ofmeeting.
(23:57):
Every week we meet.
My normal meetings are 90minutes.
We made it two hours for thiscouple because about the first
45 to 60 minutes we're blowingoff every week, blowing off the
same steam though, like newstories would come up, but it
was really the same distressover and, over and over again.
(24:18):
And the thing about litigationis like she had that wasn't
getting out and it wasn'tgetting out of him.
Like when they were talking totheir lawyers but they were
being billed $600 an hour whenthey would do it.
And these lawyers you know whatare they going to do?
Listen to an hour and thenthey're not going to be there
for two hours with the personevery week.
And so we were able to settle.
(24:39):
They had a really young child.
It was a really, reallydifficult situation.
I can't really describe all thedetails, but just to say, like
it was probably 20 years fromnow, I'll remember being able to
help them in this case, it wasthat intense.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (24:56):
That's nice.
So your life when you come homemust be a lot calmer.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
It's a lot.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (25:06):
I mean it's still not easy until you get to
the end, until you get to thefinal, but a lot different than
litigating.
I'm sure people are coming toyou and saying, how did you make
the transition?
And hopefully more people wantto do this.
Scott Levin (25:17):
Yeah, I mean, I'm a big believer in staying in your
lane.
So, like you know, the onething I don't believe in with my
friends that are litigators andthey always tease me you just
take care of the easy cases.
Like I said, I'll go back tothe days of doing no assets, no
kids.
But no, I don't get those casesthat much anymore, you know.
So I'm a big believer instaying in your lane and that's
(25:41):
something that's not happeningin family lives.
Totally going the other way.
Uh, every firm is now amediation firm.
That, uh, in San Diego there'sa lot of firms that do billboard
advertising, like personalinjury attorneys, but for
divorce, uh, and they're doingmediation.
It's a joke, it's an absolutejoke.
You can't battle with disdainall day long and then, when that
(26:05):
couple comes in at four o'clock, go okay, guys, come on in,
let's mediate.
It's a mindset.
So I believe that you justchoose one or the other, and I
know that that's a reallyunpopular thing, because when I
look back at some of mylitigation years on my tax
return they were bigger thanthey are now.
So, yeah, I'm leaving money onthe table, but I think you
(26:27):
should litigate, you shouldmediate, you should be a
collaborative attorney andmediate.
You should be a consultingattorney and mediate.
You could do a lot of prenupsand mediate, but you shouldn't
be actively in the fight andthen mediating on the side.
And so how do you do it?
You have to be willing to losea lot of money if you're going
(26:49):
to choose mediation overlitigation, but eventually
you'll have a nice littlebusiness.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (26:55):
Wow, that says a lot about you.
Scott Levin (26:58):
I mean my wife's over there.
I think she's going to.
She's looks like she put downthe knife.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:04):
She's like go back to making them real money.
Does she want to say anything?
Scott Levin (27:12):
She's in her.
It's 7am here.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:14):
So she's probably not even had her coffee
yet.
Okay, I understand.
Scott Levin (27:17):
I don't think she wants to come on camera.
She doesn't look as good as me.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:21):
No one's going to.
It's all audio, so it's okay.
Scott Levin (27:24):
Oh Mary, you want to say anything, it's audio.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:27):
I just want to know what she would think.
What she thought when you said,when, when you went to her and
you said, I'm, I'm not going tolitigate anymore, what did I say
?
Yes, hi.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
Nice to meet you.
I said thank God, oh, becausehe's.
He was miserable.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:47):
Wow, it says a lot about your husband, yeah.
Scott Levin (27:52):
I was miserable.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:54):
You're a lot happier now?
Yeah, Because he's not.
He's not in that battle everyday.
That's like the tough place tobe from someone that was
divorced and went throughseveral trials.
That's the tough place to befrom someone that was divorced
and went through several trials.
It's a tough place to be.
And not every attorney has theheart and you know, and has the
care and you know, has that deepsoul that, like, actually
(28:16):
really cares about people.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
I think it's a lot easier to fight than it is to be
peaceful.
At the end of the day, I thinkit takes a lot of internal work
to do things peacefully.
It's a lot easier to just go inthat fight or flight and just
want to stick it to them.
Scott Levin (28:38):
That's what Hall of Fame teaches us, you just call
a lawyer and then all of asudden, two years later, you
don't even know what's happened.
But you're just kind of in itand you don't even know how you
got there yeah, you're kind oflike there.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (28:49):
So what do you think about him being called
the chief peacekeeper?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
so, um, his name, you know it's funny because there
there might be a greater plan ora greater path for us that
we're completely unaware of.
But his name in Hebrew actuallymeans peacemaker.
Oh wow, in Hebrew that hisparents named him.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (29:18):
So your journey.
It was meant to be Meant to be.
Scott Levin (29:22):
It was meant to be, well to be, it was meant to be.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (29:23):
Well, thank you, it was nice to meet you.
Thank you for coming on Ofcourse.
Oh, she's lovely and you'resmiling when she was talking
about you, so that was verysweet moment.
Scott Levin (29:35):
That was nice.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (29:37):
Yeah, see that she's so proud of you.
So Scott Levin, a highlyregarded divorce mediator and
family law attorney based in SanDiego.
They call him the chiefpeacekeeper and I love that and
I love that you share that andcome back anytime and share some
more like really good storiesabout not litigating and
mediating and making it morepeaceful place to be.
Scott Levin (29:58):
Thank you, wendy, I appreciate you.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (30:00):
Yeah, I appreciate you and all you're
doing so.
Thank you so much.
All right, thank you, wendy, Iappreciate you.
Yeah, I appreciate you and allyou're doing, so thank you so
much.
Scott Levin (30:03):
All right, thank you.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (30:04):
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Hi, I'm Wendy, and this isDivorce Doesn't Suck.
I'm talking all about the lifeyou can live after divorce.
You'll hear regular people'sstories about their divorces and
how they reinvented themselvesand grew.
You'll also get invaluableadvice from experts who serve in
(00:42):
the divorce community.
A little about me I'm a formerTV producer and mom of two.
I got divorced in 2008 whenthere were really no outlets or
platforms for me to turn to, soI'm paying it forward and have
created a platform to help menand women learn that there is
absolutely is a fresh, new andexciting life after divorce.
Come with me on this journeyand paint your brand new blank
(01:02):
canvas of happily ever afterdivorce.
This episode is brought to youin part by the Needle Kuda Law
Firm guidance that moves livesforward.
Welcome to another episode ofDivorce Doesn't Suck.
I'm your host, wendy Sloan, andmy guest today is known in San
Diego as the chief peacekeeper.
I want to hear all about that,why, how and everything else.
(01:24):
A highly regarded divorceattorney, a divorce mediator and
family law attorney based inSan Diego, california, he
specializes in helping couplesachieve amicable divorces
without the need for a courtbattle.
I am so curious to hear allabout this.
Welcome to my show, scott Levin.
Scott Levin (01:43):
Thank you.
How are you doing, Wendy?
Wendy Lowy Sloane (01:45):
I am doing well, thank you.
Happy New Year.
Scott Levin (01:48):
Yeah, it looks like you got some nice winter
weather over there, oh yeah,we're freezing a little bit here
, but it was time.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (01:56):
I mean, we did not get the winter blast
like that early on this year, sowe're getting through it.
Yeah, you got to have a littlewinter at some point in the year
, right like that early on thisyear, so we're getting through
it.
Scott Levin (02:06):
Yeah, you got to have a little winter at some
point in the year, right?
Wendy Lowy Sloane (02:10):
Yeah, we have to struggle through it.
But you know what I like thechange of season.
I'm from Miami but I think I'mmore, you know, East Coast now,
but I kind of like the change ofseasons.
Scott Levin (02:22):
How long have you been out there?
Have you been in the New YorkConnecticut area long?
Wendy Lowy Sloane (02:29):
I've been here since I graduated college.
Scott Levin (02:32):
So since.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (02:33):
I'm very, very, very young.
I mean, I can't tell you howlong.
Scott Levin (02:36):
I'm 26 myself.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (02:38):
Yeah, I know right, I've been 29 for such a
long time.
Then one day my son grew up.
You know he was, he's verygrown now but when he was like
realized, like mom, you've beenlying to me all these years.
No, no, no, no, no.
That's the one lie the mom cantell.
Scott Levin (02:56):
I still remember my mom was 42, my whole life.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (03:00):
Yeah, yeah, that's yeah.
42.
Okay, I'll take that too.
All Is it.
Yeah, yeah, that's yeah.
Forty two OK, I'll take thattoo.
All right.
Twenty years of experience.
Your innovative approach hashelped 90 percent of your
clients reach settlements withintwo months.
I am so beyond curious and I solove this.
I want to know how all thatstarted.
Scott Levin (03:23):
But first tell us a little bit about you and your
background and how you firstbecame a family in family law
and all that.
Yeah Well, thanks again forhaving me.
So I went to law school.
I graduated law school, Iworked in big law for about six
or seven years and I went outand was in the startup world for
a while.
I kind of have a financebackground for a while.
(03:43):
I kind of have a financebackground and during that point
in time I was doing family lawlitigation cases as well.
So I was kind of out on my ownand doing startup stuff and it
was a bit unfulfilled and mytherapist actually was like you
know, you would be really Ithink you have a really good
(04:07):
personality fit as a mediatorand I had never really thought
of it and you know I was makinga lot of money but I wasn't
feeling like it was.
You know, like I was doinganything substantive with my
life, substantive with my life,and I had my third son was born
(04:30):
that year that she mentionedthat and I was like you know
what?
I'm going to go just head firstinto mediation.
I never took.
After 10 years of litigating, Inever took another litigation
case.
I haven't been to court since2013 to represent anyone.
So I really just transitionedmy whole practice, my whole life
around mediation jumped into it, been loving it.
(04:52):
It's just a really great fitfor who I am, what I've always
been.
I've kind of always been like alittle bit of a glue guy in my
family.
Growing up I wasn't, you know,the most outgoing, I wasn't the
one with the most friends or thebest in school, but I kind of
played that middle role reallywell.
(05:15):
And you know, in mediation youcan be creative.
It's not about defeatingsomeone, which is, you know, a
really hard way to earn a living, in my opinion.
You know you can be.
You can make a lot of moneydoing family law litigation.
You just, you know tear down,you know lives in the meantime
(05:35):
and it's not like that's whatyour goal is.
Of course you're not trying to,but that's the outcome of
litigation.
I mean, if you're in a corporatelitigation or if you're a
business litigation, you know,try owning a company and having
one of your employees sue youand then doing a two year
litigation.
You'll feel destroyed at theend of that and that's just what
happens in the family lawcontext.
(05:57):
It's just you're dealing withfamilies and so I'm able to, you
know, help people get throughthe process.
What I always tell people and Italk to people every day and I
don't take, you know, a lot ofcases I don't I can foresee them
, you know be committed to it.
(06:20):
It's not like snapping yourfinger.
Mediation is a buzzword thesedays, like you know.
Almost every litigationattorney that I, that I used to
get referrals from you know formany, many years now about the
mediator, you know, so you, theprocess itself doesn't get it
(06:47):
done.
It's the two people.
They have to want to becommitted to it and then they
have to have someone that, um,you know, kind of has the, the,
the ability to bring themtogether when things get a
little iffy.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (07:00):
Pretty amazing.
So then you became called thechief peacekeeper.
Scott Levin (07:06):
In 2014, I was doing a divorce for a couple in
San Diego County and one of themwas on the tribal council,
which is like kind of thegovernment of a Native American
tribe here, and these days, whenpeople do their divorce, fight
like signings when we sign theagreement.
(07:29):
Um, you know, probably 60 ofthem are now doing it by like e
signing.
But back then almost everyonecame to my office to sign and so
they were signing together andthey were, you know, um, just
really kind of proud ofthemselves for being able to do
it, because just really kind ofproud of themselves for being
able to do it, because in thatcase, he was, you know,
basically a government celebrityin his little part of the world
(07:50):
, right, and they had a lot ofprivacy concerns and there was a
lot of money out there and youknow they wanted to keep a lot
of that private, but they alsohad some, you know, unique
issues.
So they had actually reallydone an incredible job.
And she turned to me as she wassigning and she said you know,
you'll always be my chiefpeacekeeper.
And of course, my head, rightaway, like my split reaction,
(08:14):
was like oh, can I take thatfrom you With her permission, I
took it from her yeah.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (08:21):
That's pretty amazing.
That has to make you feel good.
Scott Levin (08:24):
Yeah, it does I.
You know it feels good to beable to earn a few dollars while
, you know, playing my littlerole in the world to make it
maybe just a little bit.
A little bit of better placefor kids, a little bit of better
place for parents.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (08:40):
So when you first decided to stop litigation
, was it like?
Was it kind of like?
Scott Levin (08:49):
it just happened right away, or did it?
How did that turn?
I was in the middle of a casethat I was really struggling
with because of the like, justthe the, just like the practice
of the law.
So when I was seeing mytherapist I was really like kind
of upping the ante of like.
Like you know, at the time Iwas, I was almost 40 and, like
you know, I had three kids.
(09:11):
You know like what like is thatsuch a can you transition your,
your life like?
And I'd already, you know mywife was sick of me, like kind
of transitioning.
You know she probably wouldhave been happy if I would have
stayed in big law and not comehome till 1130 every night.
But that makes for a successfulmarriage.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (09:28):
I guess right .
Scott Levin (09:31):
But what happened in this case?
Was it just kind of highlights,like why I wasn't fulfilled?
So my client was a mom in thiscase and and she, she spent, we,
we did.
We had two hearings about um,which are like mini kind of
trials, essentially, like whereI think she sent me, like paid
(09:53):
me and my firm, like you know,25, 30 grand per trial, mini
trial to.
Basically, the first one was tomake it so that dad's new
girlfriend couldn't be aroundthe kids when he had them.
And then when she found outthat they were around the kids
not that she had any like, theperson wasn't an evil person,
(10:16):
she just didn't want them aroundher kids.
Then she went back to court torestrict custody from him having
about six, 40% to him havingtwo days a month, and the judge
granted it to her, and so thesewere like mini trials.
Remember, we're trying to getthe divorce and now we're like
going over here, right, likethis has nothing to do with,
(10:38):
like getting this settled, thisis just taking more time and all
that.
So, anyways, inevitably, likesix months later, we're still in
this divorce and guess what shedoes?
Well, thankfully, right, shemeets someone and now she has
the kids 28 days a week.
I mean a month.
She has not worked outside thehome in like six years, in like
(11:02):
six years.
She lives in San Diego, thesecond most expensive city for
living expenses in the country.
She has no time to get a job,no time to do anything but take
care of the kids Is kind of, youknow, swimming uphill right.
And she gets a boyfriend andguess what dad does F you?
(11:27):
Those kids won't be around thatboyfriend.
And so now we go to a thirdtrial about boyfriends and
girlfriends spend another ton ofmoney and, uh, the judge rules
in his favor and I'm like whydid this judge even get involved
in this?
Like what, we should havedenied my request.
You should have just kept us onthe door.
So I mean, it was just likewhat am I doing?
Like I know these are importantto people's lives in the moment
(11:50):
, but like no one said anythingabout these other people being
bad.
They were just theoreticalother people.
Um, so you know, I just waslike this just isn't for me.
So just kind of like aepitomize, like what I wasn't
trying to do, like I I justspinning my wheels, not like
fighting, a lot of fighting withother attorneys.
Um, it's just like.
(12:10):
Wasn't something I wanted to dofor the next 25 years?
Wendy Lowy Sloane (12:14):
So how did that transit?
I'm going to ask.
We're going to take a veryquick break for one of my
sponsors and we'll be right back.
Um, and I'm going to ask youhow did that transition?
How smooth was it?
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(14:03):
.
I'm back talking to Scott Levin, known as the chief peacekeeper
in San Diego.
I love that.
How was that transition?
Was it easy?
Was it like?
Did you all of a sudden likeannounce like I'm not litigating
anymore?
Like how did that happen?
Scott Levin (14:17):
Yeah, I mean it wasn't easy.
I mean you know I never tookanother case, you know.
So I became very popularreferral source because you know
I never took another case, youknow.
So I became a very popularreferral source because you know
I had a website that peopleused and called and and I have
been doing it for quite a whileI mean not not like as long as a
lot of people, but I haven't.
Certainly, like you know,people knew what I did.
(14:38):
You know what's interesting too, wendy.
And again, let me just say thislike I'm friends with a ton of
family law lawyers, I still amone right, but, um, I don't I'm
not saying I'm not judging themor anything like I'm not trying
to say I'm better, I'm not.
I just did something that thatfit my like.
What, what I'm more about yourheart it fit who you were, who
you are yeah, um, but I meanbasically, um, you know, I went
(15:01):
around to my friends that werelawyers and I said, hey, back
back.
You know, back then, likelawyers, litigators and
mediators really were twodifferent groups.
Now, like I said, almost everylitigation, like go online to a
family law firm and guaranteethey have a mediation session
section, you know every one ofthese firms is kind of like a
money grab at this point, sothey're all doing it.
(15:23):
Back then, like you know, I gota lot of referrals from friends
of mine that you know were inthe fight and that's just kind
of how I picked up.
And then you know, the web andall that stuff.
But it was a struggle at first.
You know, we never went like.
You know we weren't likedesperate or anything, but it
got iffy.
But I really just wanted to belike to be able to say like I
(15:45):
never you know never dipped mytoe back in there.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (15:48):
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That's amazing.
I don't think a lot of peoplecan say that.
So a couple has to come to youtogether Like they're not, like
you're representing the spouseor you know you're not
representing it's.
They have to come together,they have to want to mediate.
(16:30):
And what happens when itdoesn't?
Does it ever not work?
Scott Levin (16:35):
Yeah, it does.
It's about 7 percent of thecases.
So you know when I was youngerthat I actually probably had a
better success rate.
You know I'm doing.
You know really complicatedcases these days.
You know I would love, you knowI look back on some of those
early cases, mm.
Yeah, 12, 13, like you know.
(16:56):
No kids, no, the assets surecome on in.
I'd love to help you.
But you know a lot of specialneeds children.
My clients have a lot of a lotof wealth, you know, and so
they're complicated cases.
But when it doesn't work out,you still have, you still have a
(17:19):
benefit of mediation if youwant it.
So when you're, when you have afailed mediation, it's not
because you couldn't agree onanything, obviously.
So let's say you agree on 75%of the case or 85%.
Let's say it's just honestly,it's either custody or spousal
support would be the two thingsthat you probably wouldn't agree
on.
I don't, there's not afinancial.
(17:41):
I don't.
Can't remember the last time Ilost a case to.
You know the division of homesor 401ks or all that Like that's
not.
That doesn't happen.
So what do you do?
Well, you could just have mewrite up your agreement and get
the judge to approve it oneverything but the one or two
things that you can't agree on,and then you can get lawyers.
(18:01):
But the lawyers are only goingto fight about those one or two
things.
If you're smart, because you'vealready, you already booked the
other things away and the judgealready approved it.
But if you really you havetheir option.
It's not you're not leadingwith your head at that point,
but you have the option of justmediation's confidential.
Nothing that nothing that wasagreed to in mediation that
(18:22):
doesn't get, uh, submitted tothe court, can be used against
either party.
So you could just start freshwow.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (18:29):
So your heart , your heart, is full when you
come home from work you know itis.
Scott Levin (18:34):
I mean it's still a grind, you know it's uh you're
doing, but like, yeah, you know,like I look back on the you
know the conversations like I, Idon't think I live like a very
extraordinary.
Like you know, I don't viewmyself as that interesting, but
when you know we go out, like todinner or something with people
and also not be thinking aboutlike what happened that week and
there's all these littlestories that I have, you know
(18:56):
that, like that or that, when Ilook back I'm like, oh yeah,
that was really interesting.
How you know when that personsaid this thing, it totally
changed the mindset.
And you know, in litigationwhat changes mindsets is, the is
eventually one or both people.
Well, either you run out ofmoney or one person is just gets
(19:18):
exhausted by the process andjust says F it.
You know they're not giving upbut like they'll give in to be
done.
That's like you know, I'd say75% of the cases In mediation.
You know people that work withme.
They're committing to meetingme, meeting with me like every
10 days at the latest,oftentimes quicker.
(19:39):
So we're meeting, we're meetingagain, we're meeting again,
we're sticking with it.
So it's a very expedited timeperiod of a kind of an intense,
expedited time period.
So you're committing to likestaying with it for a short
period of time and and, and then, and.
Then you know the goal is, youknow, six weeks later, four, six
(20:01):
, eight weeks later, we're goingto be wrapped up.
And it happens naturally whenyou stick with it at that point,
and it's not because someonegets exhausted, it's because
they kind of are collaboratingto agreement and it just kind of
cascades into that.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (20:17):
So it's about two months, would you say, on
the average mediation takes.
Scott Levin (20:21):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, like I said, it depends on the
complexity, but yeah.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (20:27):
Can you share like one or two success stories
?
I mean, I know you have a lotof success stories, but I think
the audience would really liketo hear that.
Scott Levin (20:33):
Yeah, you know, one that comes to mind was it's a
virtual case with a couple inNorthern California.
One of them was a physician,the other one was kind of in a
(20:54):
nursing or another medical kindof field and she actually walked
in on a cheating situation andit was a real shock.
They had a lot of kids.
Their kids were, um, uh, middleaged in terms of their being
youth, so like 10 to 20 um andthey had a bunch of them and
they had a house in in northerncalifornia in a very expensive
city, um and um, just completelydevastated a situation that
(21:20):
easily could have been like a250, $350,000, you know divorce
situation.
Um, uh, and it was interesting,uh, it was, uh, it was.
One of the reasons I'm proud ofis it was really creative
settlement, uh, because they,they make a lot of money but in
reality, at the end of likeevery month, there was no money
(21:40):
to be had, right?
So, um, we did a settlementwhere the kids, uh, really were
put first.
Um, they, they continued toco-own this home, uh in the in
this really big city, um, reallyvaluable, so that home, uh, I
looked up this was like probablyfive years ago.
That home has gone up by 2.5million since then, so they were
(22:02):
able to hold that asset Insteadof renting something for $8,500
each.
They were able to hold thatasset.
Now they're going to both beable to benefit from that, as
will their kids.
They had a really creativeparenting plan where dad would
come into the house and cookdinner and mom would not be
(22:24):
there during those times, and itwas really sensitive, though,
like these people basically likereally hard for them to be in
the same space at all, and itjust was a very explosive
situation, pardon.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (22:37):
They put the kids first.
Scott Levin (22:39):
They put the kids first.
Absolutely that doesn't happenoften enough.
It doesn't.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (22:44):
It destroys me to this day.
I mean that people just don'tput the kids first and they
don't realize what this does tothe kids.
Scott Levin (22:53):
Yeah, I mean I see a lot of people trying to talk
about putting kids first, but itdoesn't always happen kids
first, but it doesn't alwayshappen.
Recently I had a case whereabout 10% of my business, or 15%
, is people coming out oflitigation and so I had a case
(23:13):
where they were in litigationfor like two and a half years.
Mom in this case makes about$30,000 a year.
Her legal fees were 160,000.
I called my friend who was herlawyer not a bad person, like I
said, I'm not a judge.
I said how could you bill160,000 for someone that makes
30K a year?
Like I'm sorry.
(23:35):
Well, I came to realize what hadhappened.
I mean, she was in distress,complete distress, and I don't
get a lot of cases like this waslike a truly high conflict case
, like high conflict, reallyhigh conflict.
It took me back to the dayswhere I this is kind of like
surrounding me and but we wereable to settle it.
It took about three months ofmeeting.
(23:57):
Every week we meet.
My normal meetings are 90minutes.
We made it two hours for thiscouple because about the first
45 to 60 minutes we're blowingoff every week, blowing off the
same steam though, like newstories would come up, but it
was really the same distressover and, over and over again.
(24:18):
And the thing about litigationis like she had that wasn't
getting out and it wasn'tgetting out of him.
Like when they were talking totheir lawyers but they were
being billed $600 an hour whenthey would do it.
And these lawyers you know whatare they going to do?
Listen to an hour and thenthey're not going to be there
for two hours with the personevery week.
And so we were able to settle.
(24:39):
They had a really young child.
It was a really, reallydifficult situation.
I can't really describe all thedetails, but just to say, like
it was probably 20 years fromnow, I'll remember being able to
help them in this case, it wasthat intense.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (24:56):
That's nice.
So your life when you come homemust be a lot calmer.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
It's a lot.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (25:06):
I mean it's still not easy until you get to
the end, until you get to thefinal, but a lot different than
litigating.
I'm sure people are coming toyou and saying, how did you make
the transition?
And hopefully more people wantto do this.
Scott Levin (25:17):
Yeah, I mean, I'm a big believer in staying in your
lane.
So, like you know, the onething I don't believe in with my
friends that are litigators andthey always tease me you just
take care of the easy cases.
Like I said, I'll go back tothe days of doing no assets, no
kids.
But no, I don't get those casesthat much anymore, you know.
So I'm a big believer instaying in your lane and that's
(25:41):
something that's not happeningin family lives.
Totally going the other way.
Uh, every firm is now amediation firm.
That, uh, in San Diego there'sa lot of firms that do billboard
advertising, like personalinjury attorneys, but for
divorce, uh, and they're doingmediation.
It's a joke, it's an absolutejoke.
You can't battle with disdainall day long and then, when that
(26:05):
couple comes in at four o'clock, go okay, guys, come on in,
let's mediate.
It's a mindset.
So I believe that you justchoose one or the other, and I
know that that's a reallyunpopular thing, because when I
look back at some of mylitigation years on my tax
return they were bigger thanthey are now.
So, yeah, I'm leaving money onthe table, but I think you
(26:27):
should litigate, you shouldmediate, you should be a
collaborative attorney andmediate.
You should be a consultingattorney and mediate.
You could do a lot of prenupsand mediate, but you shouldn't
be actively in the fight andthen mediating on the side.
And so how do you do it?
You have to be willing to losea lot of money if you're going
(26:49):
to choose mediation overlitigation, but eventually
you'll have a nice littlebusiness.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (26:55):
Wow, that says a lot about you.
Scott Levin (26:58):
I mean my wife's over there.
I think she's going to.
She's looks like she put downthe knife.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:04):
She's like go back to making them real money.
Does she want to say anything?
Scott Levin (27:12):
She's in her.
It's 7am here.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:14):
So she's probably not even had her coffee
yet.
Okay, I understand.
Scott Levin (27:17):
I don't think she wants to come on camera.
She doesn't look as good as me.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:21):
No one's going to.
It's all audio, so it's okay.
Scott Levin (27:24):
Oh Mary, you want to say anything, it's audio.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:27):
I just want to know what she would think.
What she thought when you said,when, when you went to her and
you said, I'm, I'm not going tolitigate anymore, what did I say
?
Yes, hi.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
Nice to meet you.
I said thank God, oh, becausehe's.
He was miserable.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:47):
Wow, it says a lot about your husband, yeah.
Scott Levin (27:52):
I was miserable.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (27:54):
You're a lot happier now?
Yeah, Because he's not.
He's not in that battle everyday.
That's like the tough place tobe from someone that was
divorced and went throughseveral trials.
That's the tough place to befrom someone that was divorced
and went through several trials.
It's a tough place to be.
And not every attorney has theheart and you know, and has the
care and you know, has that deepsoul that, like, actually
(28:16):
really cares about people.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
I think it's a lot easier to fight than it is to be
peaceful.
At the end of the day, I thinkit takes a lot of internal work
to do things peacefully.
It's a lot easier to just go inthat fight or flight and just
want to stick it to them.
Scott Levin (28:38):
That's what Hall of Fame teaches us, you just call
a lawyer and then all of asudden, two years later, you
don't even know what's happened.
But you're just kind of in itand you don't even know how you
got there yeah, you're kind oflike there.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (28:49):
So what do you think about him being called
the chief peacekeeper?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
so, um, his name, you know it's funny because there
there might be a greater plan ora greater path for us that
we're completely unaware of.
But his name in Hebrew actuallymeans peacemaker.
Oh wow, in Hebrew that hisparents named him.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (29:18):
So your journey.
It was meant to be Meant to be.
Scott Levin (29:22):
It was meant to be, well to be, it was meant to be.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (29:23):
Well, thank you, it was nice to meet you.
Thank you for coming on Ofcourse.
Oh, she's lovely and you'resmiling when she was talking
about you, so that was verysweet moment.
Scott Levin (29:35):
That was nice.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (29:37):
Yeah, see that she's so proud of you.
So Scott Levin, a highlyregarded divorce mediator and
family law attorney based in SanDiego.
They call him the chiefpeacekeeper and I love that and
I love that you share that andcome back anytime and share some
more like really good storiesabout not litigating and
mediating and making it morepeaceful place to be.
Scott Levin (29:58):
Thank you, wendy, I appreciate you.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (30:00):
Yeah, I appreciate you and all you're
doing so.
Thank you so much.
All right, thank you, wendy, Iappreciate you.
Yeah, I appreciate you and allyou're doing, so thank you so
much.
Scott Levin (30:03):
All right, thank you.
Wendy Lowy Sloane (30:04):
Nito Kuda divorce and family laws
attorneys have guidedConnecticut and New York
families through complex divorceactions, contested child
custody and alimony disputes forover 30 years.
Their Connecticut and New Yorkattorneys have extensive
experience in family mattersinvolving substance abuse,
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Their attorneys adeptly manageprivacy and reputation concerns
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Find your new path forward,define your post-divorce family
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(30:47):
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