Collaborative Law
This is a method of practicing law where the parties and the lawyers representing them agree to work towards settlement. If the parties are unable to settle and it is imminent that adversarial proceedings will be filed, the lawyers are required to withdraw. New lawyers must be obtained for trial. In this method, the attorneys must focus on settlement and are free to use their creative problem solving skills. It works best if several lawyers in the community are trained in collaborative law so there are options for the clients and lawyers to work together.
In one community, Medicine Hat, AB, collaborative law has replaced the adversarial family law system. (More information on Medicine Hat) For more information about collaborative law, contact the innovative attorney who designed this method of conflict resolution, Stu Webb at stuwbb@aol.com . He maintains a list of collaborative law contacts in many states and regions of the country and provides trainings. The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals is a network of collaborative professionals [www.collaborativepractice.com ] and they have an annual conference.
Collaborative Law is suitable for many types of law but most often occurs in the domestic area. There is also a team approach using a counseling team and financial advisor to work with a family in a collaborative process. You can get more information about that approach at www.collaborativedivorce.com . There is a site at www.divorcechoice.com and it looks like a great model for organizing a community of lawyers who want to do collaborative law.
Collaborative Attorney Victor Tousignant has written a helpful article regarding Collaborative Law including information regarding use of the approach in other practice areas. It includes examples of Collaborative Law Forms.
Other sites to check out include: www.nocourtdivorce.com, the Coalition for Collaborative Divorce, and www.collaborativedivorce.org .
There is also an active and informative YahooGroup where members can discuss issues relating to Collaborative Law. See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollabLaw
Other sites to check out, of regional significance:
www.collablaw.org
www.collaborativelawsf.com
www.collaborativelawga.com
