Families experience stress and conflict in preparing for and sorting out the transfer of assets when one member passes away.  There are legal influences, financial considerations and emotional elements.  Just as there are in divorce.   Can they benefit from the principles an application of Collaborative Practice? In September, 2012, a group of professionals, sponsored by Collaborative Practice Silicon Valley,  offered a training tailored to using CP in Trusts and Estates matters.  I had a chance to speak with two of the attendees to get their thoughts on this cutting edge expansion of CP.  Their excitement is pretty contagious, check it out...

There is an expectation to be transparent, honest, and candid during the collaborative process. It is also an opportunity, due to the safe and secure environment that is created,  to ‘drop bombs’ that might not ordinarily be communicated by the clients one-on-one. In this manner, the safety of the team can become a double edged sword as it can lead to sudden disclosures that rattle the structure and foundation of the process and challenge the team. Using real life situations, the Back from the Brink Workshop will explore the form and content of sudden disclosures and the strategies that can be employed by the collaborative team...

Dr. Gloria Vanderhorst, PhD, in this interview discusses some of the costs of divorce that are not always considered.   She includes references to how Collaborative Practice can help in reducing those costs, both financial AND secondary.   With thanks to the online radio program: Insurance Matters with Mindy Guisewite by Perfect World Network Radio Listen to internet radio with Perfect World Network Radio on Blog Talk Radio qw Gloria Vanderhorst, Ph.D. is a Licensed Psychologist with over 35 years of experi-ence. She is a trained mediator and Collaborative Divorce professional active in a number of professional organizations. She is...

The Ohio Rules of Professional Conduct remind us, that as attorneys we function not only as advocates in adversarial situations, but also as negotiators, evaluators and advisors.[1]  The Rules outline our affirmative duty to provide information reasonably necessary to inform clients or other persons seeking our advice of the advantages and disadvantages of proposed courses of conduct which includes discussion of the client’s or other person’s options and alternatives.[2]  The Rules also provide that it is our clients who determine the scope of our representation and that we must respect our clients’ decisions concerning the objectives...

Sometimes lawyers and other professionals get into legal disputes. How do they handle those disputes?  What is it like to have them as clients?  What can we learn about ourselves as practitioners and what can we take from those experiences to make us better practitioners when we are working with other clients? Don’t forget to add your thoughts and questions in the comment section below. This is “Talking With….” Woody Mosten, 9 (Would you like to join us for a future conversation? We occasionally invite up to four people. Sign up here for our email list. We send out notices and details of when and how you can join in...

Think about an athlete.  To excel in any sport, whether individual or team, an athlete does not simply walk out on the playing field and compete.  There is an incredible amount of work that goes into being a top-notched athlete: the training; the nutrition; the psychological work; and the support of those around the athlete.  By the time the athlete’s event takes place the idea of “winning” the event is absent from the athlete’s mind.  Instead, the athlete’s focus is on breathing, on form, on the mechanics of how their body moves.  If the athlete does all the little things well, while not everyone can win, the athlete will realize success....