Peter Fabish

Something personal first. When I was eleven, my mother took her life. It shattered my family, and we lost contact with her extended family; my father raised me and my two brothers alone. That experience led me toward a career helping families through change more smoothly than my own did, even as divorce radically alters their structure.

I became a lawyer in 1991 and have practiced ever since. In 2003 I returned to school for my Master’s in Counseling, because I honor the lawyer’s role as counselor. I don’t practice therapy here, but clients lean on me as a trusted guide through difficult, uncertain territory.

After countless mediated settlements, I see conflict not as something to fear and avoid, but as a trustworthy compass — pointing couples to the issues they must address to lead rich, fulfilling lives. Couples in the thick of it rarely see it that way. My greatest satisfaction is helping them spin the straw of seemingly-intractable differences into the gold of a new way forward.

In the wider community, I am a past board member and President of the Boulder Interdisciplinary Committee (BIDC), which educates attorneys and mental health practitioners in family law, and a former co-chair of the Boulder Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution section. I co-authored The Collaborative Divorce Advantage with my law partner John Hoelle.

My wife founded and directs a non-profit that teaches prison inmates to build meaningful relationships — so they can truly rehabilitate inside, and succeed when they get out. She and I are avid hikers, campers, and bikers, and keep a regular meditation and grounding practice.