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Collaborative law is a process in which the
parties and their attorneys agree to resolve their legal issues through a
negotiated agreement, without resorting to the court except for approval of
their final agreement. |
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- The parties use cooperative rather than adversarial
strategies to create settlement options and find solutions.
- Collaborative law requires the parties and their attorneys to
cooperate in good faith in exchanging financial and other information
relevant to their legal issues, and to use informal discussions and
conferences to create a positive environment for settlement.
- Rather than confronting legal issues in an adversarial manner, the
lawyers use their advocacy and negotiation skills to work with the
clients to analyze problems, create options, and find solutions that
meet the needs and interests of the parties.
- Your collaborative lawyer represents only you, but the collaborative
approach allows the exploration of ways in which both parties may attain
their goals and have their legal needs met, while each still has a
lawyer to advise and help protect his or her individual interests.
- Collaborative practice helps clients communicate directly and
effectively about their goals and interests, and also helps them
prioritize their needs and concerns to find mutually acceptable
solutions to their legal problems.
- Should the parties be unable to reach agreement in the collaborative
law process, and have to go to court, the collaborative law attorneys
are required to withdraw from the case and transition the case to
litigation counsel. However, the collaborative process, by focusing on
needs, goals and interests rather than positions, creates an incentive
for both the attorneys and their clients to use collaborative rather
than adversarial techniques to resolve their differences and to remain
in and conclude the case in the collaborative process setting. Most
collaborative practice cases in fact do get resolved without resort to
litigation. Our attorneys are trained in collaborative law, and can
represent a client in the collaborative process from beginning to end.
- Our attorneys can also work with clients and other allied
professionals as part of a team approach to conflict resolution. The
concept of a team assumes that lawyers and clients sometimes require the
assistance of other professionals who are more experienced in certain
areas, to help provide information and analyses necessary to resolve
family law conflicts. These team members can include financial
professionals, child specialists, divorce coaches, and business and real
estate appraisers. The need for any of these allied professionals, and
the use of the team approach, is not appropriate for every case, but can
be a useful tool whether the client is involved in the collaborative law
process, mediation, or
litigation.
- For more information about collaborative law and practice, see our
Resource page.
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Levitt Law Group. Choices. Results.
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