Address:
17W635 Butterfield Road, Suite 318, Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, United States 60181
Description:
Theresa Beran Kulat, a pioneer in the field of Collaborative Process, works as a lawyer, mediator, and coach in the divorce space. An author and sought-after speaker, she has a gift of creating clarity in the face of confusion.
Theresa grew up with happily married parents but had a set of grandparents who never let go of the anger that precipitated their own divorce. She didn’t want her children to experience the turmoil that some families go through so she and her former husband divorced using the Collaborative approach. In October of 2002, she attended the first Collaborative training in Illinois and took on leadership roles in the newly formed Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois. While raising her two children, who were 7 and 2 at the time, she started her own law firm in 2003 so that she could offer unique legal services and balance her schedule with the well-being of her family. From the beginning, she has sought to create an environment and approach that supports her clients in reaching a settlement so that they can move on to building a healthy future.
A champion of the Collaborative Process in Illinois, Theresa has introduced it to many practitioners who now provide Collaborative services in the Chicago area and beyond. She served as President of the Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois in 2016 and 2017. She is a contributing author to Stress-Free Divorce: Conversations with Leading Professionals, and in 2018, co-authored the chapter on Collaborative Practice in Gitlin on Divorce, a premier legal treatise on Illinois family law. She serves on the Family Law Section Counsel of the Illinois Bar Association and is a member of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, Collaborative Law Institute of Illinois, and the DuPage County Bar Association.
Theresa graduated cum laude from John Carroll University with an undergraduate degree in Economics and cum laude from the University of Illinois’ School of Law. In 2015, she was inducted into the McAuley Hall of Honor at Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, her alma mater. She is a connector, bringing together a variety of wellness resources through her work with Trinity Collaboration, Inc.
