Sometimes even the best intentioned professionals’ Collaborative efforts can deteriorate into basic negotiations.  From building an agreement together, things lapse into exchanging proposals.  How can we avoid that and what can we do to return if it happens?  This is the question that guest Billie Grissom brings as we continue our conversation with Woody. Deferral to the needs of the client, our own personal growth, the indispensable value of our CP ‘group’…. are among the topics embraced in connection with her question.  We even meet Woody’s “Dispute Resolution Assistant” Rebecca. Guest:     ...

Sherrie Abney and Lawrence Maxwell share what’s been going on and where it can go. Over twenty years ago a Minnesota family attorney, Stu Webb, created the collaborative dispute resolution process. Collaborative Law continues to progress nicely in the family arena. Collaborative law is an exciting tool in the alternative dispute resolution tool box. The process enables individuals, families, businesses and organizations to maintain control over their relationships with others by empowering them with the ability to resolve their disputes peaceably. Why don’t more people use the collaborative process to resolve civil disputes? For the...

Woody and carl Michael talk about Collaborative Practice as a Consumer Service Product, the value of client involvement in designing the support they need from the CP process, the role, if any, sharing personal details and ‘war stories’ by the professionals and more….. We’ll touch on even more topics as he and I continue our conversation.  Please add your comments and questions and we’ll try to integrate them into a future chat. ************* “Talking with…” is an ongoing set of videotaped discussions between carl Michael rossi and others who train, practice and/or have an interest in...

In which Sherrie R. Abney, Esq. shares her experience of bringing the principles of Collaborative Practice to Pakistan. “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his  point of view –until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” –Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mocking bird The American View            Everyone was a little apprehensive.  It was May 7, 2011, and we were preparing to meet ten visitors from Pakistan that the U.S. State Department had brought to Dallas, Texas, to learn about peace keeping and conflict resolution.  Five days earlier the United States Navy Seals had killed Osama Bin Laden...