What is Collaborative Law?
Collaborative Law is a non-adversarial, problem-solving approach to resolving legal disputes. In Collaborative Law, each party is represented by a specially trained lawyer whose job it is to facilitate a win/win settlement. Most of the work is done in four-way meetings with both clients and both attorneys together at one table. Collaborative Law has been practiced in divorce settings for over twenty years and has quickly expanded to other legal matters not just family law.
Collaborative lawyers often work in interdisciplinary teams with financial professionals such as CPAs, business evaluators, and financial advisors; and with therapists and social workers, who serve as divorce coaches and child specialists. These interdisciplinary teams serve not only legal needs but also the clients' emotional and financial needs.
Why is Collaborative Law a good choice for clients?
Collaborative Law is Client-Friendly & Clients are in Charge
The clients are valuable members of the Collaborative Law team. While the lawyers may have the legal knowledge, the clients have the knowledge of the facts and circumstances. The clients maintain control. They are the ones who decide the case.
Cooperative, Out of Court Approach
In Collaborative Law, the threat of going to court is removed. Everyone can focus on settlement. The clients and the lawyers are all working for the same goal: a fair resolution. Most collaborative cases are resolved in a series of four-way meetings. By agreeing to voluntarily provide all relevant information, clients save the time-intensive process of discovery.
Win/Win
The goal in Collaborative Law is that everyone's needs be addressed and included in the settlement. In many situations, this goal leads to creative solutions that would not be possible in court.
Faster - if clients want it to be
In Collaborative Law, the parties and their attorneys control their calendars. If clients need a break, the process can be stopped. If clients are in a hurry, appointments can be scheduled sooner. Generally collaborative law cases are resolved in weeks or months, not the months or years of litigated cases.
Healing & Preserving Relationships
In litigation, the win-at-all-costs approach aggravates feelings that are already hurt. Relationships that were strained break down completely. In custody cases, after waging war against each other, clients still have to figure out how to coparent. In Collaborative Law, each client is able to talk and share. The old hurts are healed, or at least not made worse. After the case is over, clients are able to move forward in their relationship. It isn't unusual for a couple to finish their collaborative case and then go out to dinner.
Less Costly
Collaborative Law generally takes considerably less attorney time than litigation. Other professionals can also use their skills to help heal emotional issues and answer financial questions at lower costs than attorneys' fees.
How is Collaborative Law different from typical out of court settlements?
The Collaborative Commitment, a contractual pledge made with the clients and attorneys, is heart of the Collaborative Process. in this contract, the attorneys promise they will not use litigation tools or an adversarial posture with each other or the clients. In the Collaborative Commitment, the attorneys agree that they will not go to court. Signing the agreement creates an environment of trust and safety for resolving the conflicts and requires the lawyers to call upon a different skill set based upon cooperation, creativity, and mutual benefit. Without the threat of court, everyone is able to "think outside the box" and create solutions that are unique to their situation, not necessarily what a judge would do. The agreements are often far more creative and flexible than what a judge could order. The agreements created in this manner are enduring and reflect the on-going needs of the clients and their children.
How is Collaborative Law different from mediation?
In mediation, one neutral facilitator works with the couple to create agreements in a Memorandum of Understanding. The client then takes that MOU to a lawyer to be incorporated into legal documents. The mediator cannot give advice to either client. In Collaborative Law, each client has an attorney as advisor, advocate, and legal coach. The Collaborative Lawyers can draft and file with the court the necessary legal documents needed once the parties reach an agreement.