Marson & Associates was founded in 1978 as a result of reading the stirring prologue in Herbert Strean’s book, Clinical Social Work: Theory and Practice. I wish I could quote the excerpt here, but I fear that it would be a violation of copyright. Thus, I will summarize it, but recommend that you read it. Strean writes with a distressed theme. He fears that the quality of social work education will decline because social work professors no longer practice. He makes and impassioned plea to social work educators to continue to practice social work. That theme gave birth to Marson & Associates. Marson & Associates was not founded as a money making venture, but rather a mechanism for social work professors to maintain contact with changes in social work practice.

Back in the ‘70, most of my experience was in the area of health care (i.e., hospital work, substance abuse, vocational rehabilitation). The first contract for Marson & Associates was with the North Carolina Department of Corrections. Here, I provided group therapy for inmates who were heroin addicts and alcoholics. The "Associates" emerged when I realized one person could not handle the workload. I became a liaison and hired co-group therapists and independent group therapists.

Soon thereafter, I became involved in nursing home consultation. Marson & Associates has had a contract with the following nursing homes:

• Wesley Pines Retirement Center

• Kingsdale Manor Care Center

• North Carolina Cancer Institute

• Carolton of Lumberton

• Autumn Care of Reaford

• Elizabethtown Care Center

Pro Bono consultation has been provided to the following:

• Woodhaven Nursing Center

• Pemberton Place Nursing Center

• Bio-Medical Applications [Kidney Dialysis]

While involved in consultation with nursing homes, I pursued a Ph.D. in Sociology with a specialty concentration in Aging at North Carolina State University.

Marson & Associates expanded into forensic research when I was asked to join the board of the Rural Advancement Fund Justice Project (Robeson County, NC). The Justice Project monitored the court system and spearheaded the successful appointment of the Office of the Public Defender. A beloved community figure, Julian Pierce, was murdered. Much notoriety came from this lawsuit. Sandy Jorden Chavis was accused. Because of my background, the lawyers representing Mr. Chavis contracted with me to conducted a scientific survey to determine if a change of venue was in order.

Using standard random sampling strategies I completed a study which suggest that 69% (give or take 3 percentage points) of Robeson County residents agreed that Mr. Chavis could not receive a fair trial. Since that time, I completed other social science research projects to determine the appropriateness of a change of venue motion. These include:

• Marson, S. M. (1996). Confidential Report: Can Daniel Green (aka Lord D. As-Saddiq Al-Amin Sallam U'Allah) Receive A Fair Trial In Robeson County? submitted to Angus Thompson, Public Defender of Robeson County, Lumberton, NC.

• Marson, S. M. (1995). CONFIDENTIAL REPORT: Can Joe Wesley Hunt Receive a Fair Trial in Robeson County. submitted to Christopher Byerly, of Bowen & Byerly and Angus Thompson, Public Defender of Robeson County, Lumberton, NC.

• Marson, S. M. (1992). A CONFIDENTIAL REPORT: An investigation of a change of venue motion in the William Earl McNatt charges. Submitted to Robert E. Price, Attorney and Counselor at Law; July, 23.

• Marson, S. M. & Hedgpeth, W. (1991). A CONFIDENTIAL REPORT: An investigation of a change of venue motion in the Harold Godwin changes. Submitted to Robert E. Price, Attorney and Counselor at Law; April, 23.

• Marson, S. M. (1990). A CONFIDENTIAL REPORT: A Manson Evaluation for Unemployment Benefits. Submitted to Sally H. Scherer, Attorney at Law (Raleigh, NC).; April, 8.

• Marson, S. M. (1989). A CONFIDENTIAL REPORT: The probability of a change of venue motion in the Daniel McKinnon charges. Submitted to Robert E. Price, Attorney and Counselor at Law; March, 30.

• Marson, S. M. (1988). A proposal for a change of venue motion in the Daniel McKinnon charges. Submitted to Robeson County Superior Court; October 23.

• Marson, S. M. (1988). The murder of Julian Pierce: Can Sandy Jordan Chavis receive a fair trial? Submitted to Evander M. Britt, III Attorney at Law; used by Wade E. Byrd (Fayetteville). & Ramsey Clark (New York). for the successful change of venue motion; August, 13.

The experience of working on change of venue research led me to compose a manuscript entitle, Social work research and the courts. It was published in The Journal of Law and Social Work. Immediately following the acceptance for publication, I was invited to join the editorial board. I became the Book Review Editor for The Journal of Law and Social Work in 1991.

Since that time, I have been working on various legal and health care research projects. However, most of my recent time has been devoted to studying the utility of the Internet for social work practice. Recently, most of the nursing home consultation is completed through Southeastern Psychological Services in Fairmont North Carolina.

Today, the hallmark of Marson & Associates remains the goal of staying on the cutting edge of social work practice.

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