Comments for The World of Collaborative Practice

Comment on Shifting back into “Litigation” mindset? by Ruth Angaran

Ruth Angaran — Sun, 13 May 2012 13:15:04 +0000

The terms I used here were too general. The Other Side is the position I make the strongest reference to: if we have begun to see things in black/white, good/bad, or my side/your side, this is a critical CLUE that we are in Liitigation, or adversarial mode.

I was attempting, albeit unsuccessfully, to set up what some of our attorneys get into at the end of sessions within clients included. They begin to offer proposals from their office with their client’s presence in the room as they speak FOR the client.

Comment on Shifting back into “Litigation” mindset? by Kevin Scudder

Kevin Scudder — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:35:56 +0000

I feel “inside” a hot emotion about the other party who is just not being cooperative, is not listening well, is impacting the process by focusing on a position and a need to convince everyone else about the righteousness of his / her position and it slowly . . . . slowly .. . . . starts to boil. Creativity and compassion start to fly out the window . . . .

Comment on Divorce – Easing the Children’s Transition from Living in One Home to Two Homes by Jody

Jody — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:41:33 +0000

If parents would only put their children’s needs before their own. Thanks for this advice.

Comment on Are You Facilitating the Creation of a Post-Divorce Functional or Dysfunctional Family? by Lisa C. Decker

Lisa C. Decker — Sun, 06 May 2012 18:11:10 +0000

Mark, thank you for this engaging and informative article. As an advocate of alternative dispute resolution methods I applaud you for continuing to be a champion of putting clients needs first and foremost.

In Georgia, all litigants are required to complete mediation first, however, I find too many clients go into it not understanding the process and therefore, not hopeful that they will reach an agreement, but rather they just go thru the required motions on their way to court thinking a judge will give them “justice.”

Quality attorneys that I have worked with strongly encourage the client to consider all possibilities and the pros and cons of each method with a strong emphasis on ADR methods.

As their Divorce Financial Planner, I seek to supplement the attorney’s strategies and bring some common sense into the situation by advising clients to make the most of mediation or collaborative divorce when possible.

There will always be a need for litigation as ADR methods only work when both sides are willing to be forthcoming with information and documentation otherwise, it leaves the other side no alternative but to go into litigation mode in most cases.

Educating the public at large I believe will lead to changes overall as we empower them with knowledge that leads to informed decisions. Your article here is a wonderful step in that direction.

Lisa C. Decker, CDFA
http://www.DivorceMoneyMatters.com

Comment on Shifting back into “Litigation” mindset? by Aaron Welt, Ph.D.

Aaron Welt, Ph.D. — Sun, 06 May 2012 04:53:20 +0000

“I pick up the phone to talk to the “other side” about the current negotiations. This is a conversation reserved for the collaborative negotiation table. Attorneys do not proffer proposals on behalf of their clients—clients proffer them.”

What about when the attorneys first talk to consider using a coach or financial? What about team conversations to recap and plan strategy? Am I misunderstanding the author’s statement, or does she think attorneys should never talk except in the presence of both clients?

Comment on Are You Facilitating the Creation of a Post-Divorce Functional or Dysfunctional Family? by Raymond P. Bilodeau

Raymond P. Bilodeau — Thu, 03 May 2012 20:35:29 +0000

Whenever someone seeks a divorce, the family is dysfunctional and probably has been for some time. A divorce action continues the divisiveness. Divorce lawyers (or any lawyers, for that matter) make more money in divorce cases that continue the anger, threats and character assassination, and where clients use the children as weapons. After 40 years of practice, I have probably been happiest when I was able to mediate a divorce case, sometimes taking a while to bring my client to understand the anger and desire to get even would never work.

It works best when both lawyers are open to mediation or collaboration, but that is not always the case, even with a statute and rule of court that requires lawyers to sign that they have discussed ADR possibilities. It would be interesting if the courts actually questioned the parties as to what ADR possibilities were actually discussed by the attorneys.

Comment on Divorce – Easing the Children’s Transition from Living in One Home to Two Homes by Michele

Michele — Thu, 03 May 2012 19:09:30 +0000

A good article, with good, concrete examples.

Comment on Collaborative Practice in Law Schools by Sherrie Abney

Sherrie Abney — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 00:38:35 +0000

Hi Pam
I am not sure what you would like to know about the course. I think that the syllabus may be posted on SMU’s website, or if you would like me to send it to you, I will. The text book has exercises at the end of each chapter. The book was written because I could not find a text that addressed “civil” collaborative law. I am guessing that you have been teaching “family” CL. The skills for family and other types of civil cases are much the same, but the approach varies. I am not familiar with what collaborative lawyers are doing in Florida. Many different areas of the country have particular models employed by the family folks, but I do not recommend a particular “model.” I believe that you should develop a team specific to each situation according to the needs of the participants. Many cases need only the laywers and their clients. I acknowledge that some of the professionals used in family cases provide “added value;” however, most business people are not very receptive to MHPs and outside financial people develving around in their disputes. They just want to get disputes settled and get on with their business.
Rather than trying to fit every dispute in to the collaborative process, I try to show the students how they can create an interest based dispute resolution process for the situations that their clients bring them. Many business disputes are not suited to nor do they require a formal collaborative approach, but they can still be settled using an interest based approach.
The collaborative law subcommittee of the Dispute Resolution Section of the ABA is collecting syllabi of collaborative law courses. I hope you will send yours to Woody Mosten, David Hoffman, or Larry Maxwell here in Dallas– or to me and I can forward it.
Hope this helps.
Sherrie

Comment on Collaborative Practice in Law Schools by admin

admin — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:54:37 +0000

Hi, Pam!
I believe Sherrie is currently out of the country, but I will make sure she is aware of your inquiry. Meantime, you can check out her books on Amazon, including a ‘look inside’ using the widget in the original post above.
InJoy!
cMr

Comment on Collaborative Practice in Law Schools by Pam Schneider

Pam Schneider — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:41:23 +0000

I’d like to learn more about this course and the book. For the last several years I have taught Collaborative Law as an adjunct professor at the Univ. of Fla. Levin College of Law. It is a 2 hour “skills” course, capped at 20 upper level students. Most participants are 3rd year but I have had a few 2nd year students, as well. Thus far I have used Pauline Tessler’s Collaborative Law, Achieving Effective Resolution in
Divorce without Litigation as the text.