The Zeytoonian Center Partners with Aurora Financial Advisors to Provide Integrated Approach to Dispute Resolution

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--Interdisciplinary approach to business and family dispute resolution helps clients determine and implement optimal outcomes—

Wellesley Hills and Westborough, Mass. – March 1, 2010 – The Zeytoonian Center for Dispute Resolution LLC, a center that offers alternatives to resolving disputes in court, and Aurora Financial Advisors, LLC, an independent financial, investment and economic advisory firm, have formed a strategic partnership to offer an integrated legal and financial advisory approach to resolving business and family disputes.

Susan Miller and Frederick Baird, both Principals with Aurora Financial Advisors, the Wellesley, Mass.-based firm, lead the initiative as affiliated experts/consultants with the Zeytoonian Center. In those roles, they will lend their expertise to various dispute resolution processes and join lawyers and mediators working with clients to resolve their disputes—as neutral financial experts. Disputes, whether family or business, almost always involve financial issues, and almost all settlements are financial in nature. As a result, a neutral financial expert has an important role in the dispute resolution process, listening to the parties views regarding the financial aspects of the dispute, analyzing options, and helping the parties in the dispute move toward a shared understanding and narrow the differences in their positions.

“Our strategic partnership with Aurora Financial Advisors is a commitment on behalf of both firms to meet an important need for clients who seek more efficient alternatives to resolving their disputes,” said Zeytoonian Center founder and director Michael Zeytoonian. “Having specialists of Fred’s and Susan’s caliber present as neutral experts in the settlement negotiations gives clients tremendous added value. The clients have the benefit and asset of having trained, experienced independent professional resources at their side as they work collaboratively to develop good settlement options.”

Susan Miller, Aurora Financial Advisors’ founder, has been providing financial advisory services to individuals, small business owners and non-profit organizations for over 25 years. She has extensive experience in the resolution and settlement of family law disputes, particularly those relating to divorce and estates, as well as small business advisory, and regularly advises clients with complex financial ownership and disposition issues.

Susan often works as part of a collaborative team with lawyers, mediators, other collaborative professionals and clients to address financial issues arising from business and marital disputes. She is also a trained mediator and frequently provides financial mediation services in these situations. She has also presented seminars on Financial Issues in Divorce, Financial Planning for Women, Charitable and Planned Giving Strategies, and Stock Option Strategies for Individuals. She serves on the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Collaborative Professions (IACP) and as Treasurer of the Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council. Susan holds a BA and MA in economics, and has earned CPA, CFP and CDFA designations.

Fred Baird is a former professor of economics whose 20-year career, post academia, has been in the area of dispute resolution, largely as an expert witness in litigated and arbitrated matters, both in the US and internationally. He specializes in the areas of liability, damage estimation and damage mitigation, and has had extensive involvement with disputes in the areas of contractual breach, land-use, construction, network industries, and natural resources. He holds degrees in engineering, mathematics, operations research and economics.

“Our philosophical approach—to tailor our dispute resolution process to each client’s specific needs and enable them to retain control of the process—is in complete alignment with that of the Zeytoonian Center’s,” said Susan Miller. “The Center’s commitment to integrated dispute resolution, the quality of the Zeytoonian Center’s team and their demonstrated professionalism make them an excellent partner for those disputes where the parties have opted for a non-litigation approach.”

About the Zeytoonian Center for Dispute Resolution, LLC

The Zeytoonian Center for Dispute Resolution provides legal and dispute resolution services that are preventive, proactive, efficient and collaborative. Our early intervention services work proactively to help clients anticipate problems that arise in organizations and put policies, procedures and training programs in place to engage, manage and diffuse problems and prevent them from escalating into disputes or claims. Utilizing the talents of lawyers, mediators, expert consultants and coaches, our dispute resolution services are designed to efficiently offer the kind of advocacy that protects clients’ rights, educates them on the best approach to their dispute, and helps them achieve a resolution that satisfies their interests. The Center has offices in Wellesley Hills and Westborough, Mass.

For more information, please visit http://www.zeytooniancenter.com or contact the Zeytoonian Center at (781) 489-2270.

About Aurora Financial Advisors, LLC

Aurora Financial Advisors is an independent, fee-only financial advisory firm, which assists individuals, families, closely-held family businesses, and small-to-medium size businesses with financial issues that involve the melding of finance, economics and accounting. We provide sound, impartial advice to help you achieve your life’s goals through our offering of a wide range of wealth management, financial planning, investment advisory, financial dispute resolution and tax services. Our hallmark is building relationships based on individual client needs, professional expertise and personal service. Our guiding principle is our commitment to fulfilling each client’s specific objectives. Aurora Financial Advisors is located in Wellesley, Mass.

For more information, please visit http://www.aurorafa.com or contact

Aurora Financial Advisors at (781) 239-9996.

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