The Collaborative Practice Team of Professionals as your “crew” when the sailing gets rough.  ed.  People are becoming increasingly vocal about the fact that lawyers and the legal system are not equipped to properly address the emotional issues involved in family law matters. Judge Michele Lowrance, a domestic relations judge in the Circuit Court of Illinois, wrote in her book titled The Good Karma Divorce (Lowrance, 2010), “The court system was not built to house these emotions, and attorneys are not trained to reduce this kind of suffering.  Divorcing people expect relief far beyond what the legal realm can provide from their...

What skills and attitudes are involved in being a Collaborative Practice professional?  In being a ‘peacemaker’?  How do we work with others who might have ‘slipped’ from their best attitudes and skills? Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comment section below. Today’s Guest:   Mark B. Baer, JD  Pasadena, CA www.markbaeresq.com  Here’s a piece by Mark that we’ve published. (Would you like to join us for a future conversation? We’ll have room for 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 the discussion.)...

Like it or not, if there are children of the relationship (regardless of their age), the family still exists after the relationship ends.  The manner in which you end a relationship determines whether your family will be functional or dysfunctional from that day forward. Abraham Lincoln’s Notes for a Law Lecture dated July 1, 1850, provide in pertinent part as follows:  “Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser — in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will...