Founder

Coaching Counsel was founded by Timothy Tosta, one of California’s leading land use and environmental lawyers. In his thirty fifth year of law practice, Tim is a partner with Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps, where he continues to secure entitlements for some of the State’s largest and most controversial land use developments.

Tim’s path to coaching and the creation of Coaching Counsel began some 18 years ago when he first was diagnosed with a malignant melanoma, which then was considered metastatic. Although subsequent surgery lead to an improved prognosis, the many weeks Tim spent believing that he was about to die, led him to reexamine his career, his life and his potential contributions to the world.

In a quest to find his life’s purpose, Tim first immersed himself in the study of psychology, philosophy and comparative religions. Eventually, he added introspective and meditative practices. Finally, beginning in 2004, he became a hospice volunteer, trained by the Zen Hospice Project, at San Francisco’s Laguna Honda Hospital. In the course of his work with the dying, Tim gradually became aware of his capacity for caring for others. As he “grew his heart”, he began to write about his hospice experiences, which he began publishing in 2006.

About that time, Tim decided that his work with the dying was founded on certain principles which could be extended to those whose lives were not in imminent peril. He began giving talks to the legal and business communities about the “life lessons” learned from the hospice experience. In short, Tim learned that, for years, he had been informally coaching others to improve and invigorate their lives. In 2007, Tim enrolled with New Ventures West and was certified as an Integral Coach in 2008. Tim is a graduate of Princeton University (A.B., 1971) and the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (J.D., 1974). Tim welcomes your inquiries about Coaching Counsel and its programs.