Sherrie Abney shares information about the class she is teaching to upper class law students at Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law. This spring is the second time a three hour credit class on civil collaborative law is being taught at Southern Methodist University...
Talking with…. Woody Mosten
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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...
Be Careful About How You Choose to Divorce: Part 2
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In my previous article I introduced an exciting and much needed approach to divorce called Collaborative Divorce. I discussed how the process of Collaborative divorce empowers the divorcing couple by allowing them to structure their own divorce with the assistance of trained professionals (Financial, Mental Health, and Attorneys) whose sole job is to settle the case without having to go to court. I pointed out that this process is faster, cheaper and much less traumatic on the divorcing couple and their children by providing a ‘safe’ environment where everyone maintains respect, honesty and dignity. I also asked the rhetorical question as...
Collaborative Divorce: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
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According to a survey which can be found on the web site of the National Center for Health Statistics, 43% of all marriages will end before 15 years. (First Marriage Dissolution, Divorce, and Remarriage: United States. Advance Data No. 323. 19 pp. (PHS) 2001-1250.) What this means is that most people in this country are or will be living under a court order before they die or their children are grown. Looked at in this stark light, our current approach to divorce is shocking, unworkable and even pathological. Looked at from any distance, we can see that families do not truly survive the adversarial arena, and that traditional court...
Tell me about Collab...
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These people were chosen by their peers at a training to share their ‘on an elevator’ descriptions of Collaborative Practice as it can be applied to several different types of disputes.
Images from the Foru...
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Every year hundreds of Collaborative Practice professionals gather. Here are just a few pictures from four days of work, study, and fun in San Francisco. String could not be parsed as XML
Be Careful About How You Choose to Divorce: Part 1...
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When two people marry, the feeling is one of pleasant thoughts and a lifetime of hope for the future….as it rightfully should be. A simple marriage contract is signed by both parties without ever a real thought about the possibility of divorcing. Statistically speaking, divorce occurs in 50% of first marriages and 60% of second marriages.1 What is even more unfortunate is that the emotional, financial, and legal process of divorce that the (once in love) couple can find themselves in, is anything but pleasant or hopeful. “On its best day the family law system in this country is ‘inefficient’; on its average day it is ‘uncaring’; and on...
Divorce, Clergy, and the Collaborative Process
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Members of the clergy are a significant segment of society often called upon by, and indirectly involved with divorcing parties and their families. The authors assembled an article to inform both the clergy and their members about the collaborative divorce process. Since none of us are members of the clergy, we conducted a small focus group survey to gain a better understanding of their perspective and concerns. The survey was conducted to obtain direct input on clerical concerns surrounding the divorce process, not for the purpose of statistical relevance. We interviewed six individuals from varying denominations and religious...
Opportunities for Peace Making in Pakistan
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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...
Are There Disadvanta...
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We at The World of Collaborative Practice are unabashed supporters of CP. That does not mean we pretend that people don’t see disadvantages in that approach. Or that we believe there never are any. Here’s a conversation that took place among several Collaborative Practice...
Lessons from when CP won’t work…
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What Can We Learn About Making Collaborative Law Work By Thinking About When It Won’t? William A. Wilson, Esq. INTRODUCTION Practitioners of collaborative law, whether lawyers, financial experts or mental health professionals, have an emotional and psychological bias toward the ideology, process and types of outcomes associated with collaborative practice. But not every dispute, and not every party in a dispute, is appropriate for collaborative practice. This article will discuss some examples of situations where collaborative practice will not work- and in so doing, attempt to shed light on when it will. As a preliminary matter, let’s...
Inside the Minds: Un...
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BOOK REVIEW Inside the Minds: Understanding Collaborative Family Law Inside the Minds is a book series published by Aspatore for companies and law firms as a definitive look at particular areas of the law that impact decision making. The series enables the corporate level executive,...
From “Me” to “We” Professional Transformation thro...
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by: Kimberly Fauss, Esq. As Collaborative professionals become more adept through mastery of interest-based skills, we seek to expand our understanding of the underlying reasons clients respond (or not) to the challenges of self-determination. The centrality of relationship founded in trust, both between a professional and client as well as between and among teams of Collaborative colleagues, reveals a key to durable solutions we can craft together. The real challenge of Collaborative work ultimately rests with the personal commitment of the Collaborative professional. The internal change we undergo as professionals working together is the...
Hello world!
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The World of Collaborative Practice is an online magazine where professionals may submit scholarly articles for publication, practitioners may comment and communicate with each other about topics in Collaborative Practice, where the latest books can be reviewed, where you can see and hear leading experts, where laypeople may learn about this new way of approaching divorce and civil disputes and where people around the globe will be connected with ideas, trainings, services and others of similar mind. The World of Collaborative Practice invites you to be a part of a new venture and to connect with professionals and laypeople around the globe...
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