what is a collaborative lawyer

by Janet Crona Published 2 years ago Updated 1 year ago 10 min read

The collaborative lawyer’s role:

Protecting your individual legal rights and providing sound legal advice through every step of the process
Helping you to identify and effectively communicate what matters most to you.
Setting the tone for constructive negotiation
Creating an atmosphere conducive to honest discussion
Turning competition into cooperation

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Full Answer

What does a collaborative lawyer do?

What are the benefits for collaborative Law?

The process is not driven by a timetable imposed by the court. ...
The process can be more successful in the long term than using the traditional court based approach. ...
The Collaborative process can be significantly less expensive than those traditional cases that progress to final hearing.

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What is a collaborative attorney?

Collaborative attorneys, by definition, cannot resort to adversarial court proceedings. They concentrate on practicing conflict resolution and settlement. If parties need to retain a trial attorney even after working with collaborative attorneys, they benefit from engaging with the best of both approaches.

Is collaborative law the process for You?

The collaborative approach is used in family law to help people reduce the negative impacts of divorce on themselves and their families, especially children. Another benefit is saving money. Although the process does require both parties to retain attorneys trained in collaborative law, it is far less expensive than traditional litigation.

Do lawyers use technology to collaborate?

Technology is not a panacea but it is a potent collaborative tool enabling lawyers to expand legal access to an enormous swath of new consumers and to better service existing ones. Mark A. Cohen

What is a collaborative practitioner?

ABOUT COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE Collaborative Practice is a voluntary process in which participants resolve issues without resorting to litigation and it offers significant benefits in appropriate cases.

How long has collaborative divorce been around?

History. This approach to conflict resolution was created in 1990 by Minnesota family lawyer Stuart Webb, who saw that traditional litigation was not always helpful to parties and their families, and often was damaging.

What is collaborative arbitration?

Collaborative Law are both forms of alternative dispute resolution, but Collaborative Law is a process whereas arbitration is a single event. In some cases, arbitration could even be a part of the Collaborative process.

Do lawyers get along with each other?

Ultimately, it isn't uncommon for attorneys in the community to have a friendly relationship. Don't be afraid if you even see the attorneys partake in some light banter back and forth.

What are the advantages of collaborative law?

Collaborative law allows more flexibility for each party's schedule and is generally much faster than court. Cases can often be resolved in a few months, instead of several months to a year—which also results in significantly reduced legal expenses.

What is a collaborative case?

Collaborative case management involves multiple actors to bring cases to a resolved or closed state. Actors may include customers, clients, service providers, case managers, data administrators, and many others. Each actor is involved in adding information to the case and moving it closer to completion.

What is collaborative law in dispute resolution?

According to Black's Law Dictionary, collaborative law is a dispute-resolution method by which parties and their attorneys settle disputes using nonadversarial techniques to reach a binding agreement, with the understanding that if the parties cannot agree and choose to litigate instead, the attorneys involved in the ...

Is collaborative law an alternative dispute resolution?

Collaborative Law is a form of alternative dispute resolution whereby parties agree at the outset not to go to Court. A separated couple and their lawyers come together in four-way meetings and work cooperatively to reach an agreement about their legal, financial and emotional needs.

What is arbitration in court?

Arbitration—the out-of-court resolution of a dispute between parties to a contract, decided by an impartial third party (the arbitrator)—is faster and more cost effective than litigation. AAA cases are often settled prior to the arbitrator's decision—and nearly half of those cases incur no arbitrator compensation.

What should you not say to a lawyer?

Five things not to say to a lawyer (if you want them to take you..."The Judge is biased against me" Is it possible that the Judge is "biased" against you? ... "Everyone is out to get me" ... "It's the principle that counts" ... "I don't have the money to pay you" ... Waiting until after the fact.

Do lawyers lie?

In California, the Rules of Professional Conduct govern a lawyer's ethical duties. The law prohibits lawyers from engaging in dishonesty.

How often should you talk to your lawyer?

You should never be afraid or feel like an intrusion to contact your attorney every three weeks or so, or more frequently if there is a lot going on with your health or other matters related to your legal case. There is of course a limit to how much you should be contacting or sharing.

What are the advantages of collaborative divorce?

Collaborative Divorce allows spouses to control pace and timing, improves communication between spouses, keeps control of the outcome with the spouses, and promotes respect and healthier long-term communications.

What is collaborative divorce in NJ?

Collaborative divorce is a settlement process offered as an alternative to traditional courtroom divorce. In a collaborative divorce, the divorcing parties commit in writing to engage in voluntary, non-adversarial, and flexible negotiations with the goal of reaching a mutually acceptable agreement.

What is collaborative divorce Florida?

One option for couples in Florida who wish to stay out of a court is to have a collaborative divorce. In a collaborative divorce, both spouses and their respective lawyers agree to avoid litigation and come to a settlement agreement without court intervention.

How could collaborative divorce provide some solutions?

Collaborative divorce can provide nuanced solutions because everyone is working together. The attorneys are specially trained in the process, so they have extra experience with these cases. They learn what is important to each party then find creative solutions that meet everyone's needs.

What is a collaborative divorce?

What is a collaborative divorce? A collaborative divorce is a legal process allowing couples who have ended their marriage to reach a fair resolution with the assistance of a professional collaborative lawyer.

Is collaborative divorce the right decision for you?

Whether a collaborative divorce is the right decision for you depends on the reason for separating and your partner’s views about divorce. Also, a collaborative divorce largely depends on the couple’s willingness to negotiate and work together to achieve the same goal.

Benefits of a collaborative divorce

There are many advantages of choosing a collaborative divorce law over a traditional divorce. If you aren’t sure of your decision, check below for the benefits associated with a collaborative divorce.

Process of a collaborative law divorce

For a collaborative divorce process to work, the concerned individuals must set their differences aside and cooperate. Each person should be able to compromise to make it effective. If there is anything short of this, it is a waste of everyone’s time.

Collaborative divorce cost

The cost of a collaborative divorce varies from one law firm to another. The fee also depends on the agreement level of the parties and the divorce complexities. The number of professionals hired in the settlement also increases the expenses—nevertheless, an average collaborative divorce costs between $7,000 to $50,000.

Overview

Collaborative law, also known as collaborative practice, divorce or family law, is a legal process enabling couples who have decided to separate or end their marriage to work with their collaborative professionals including collaboratively trained lawyers, coaches and financial professionals in order to avoid the uncertain outcome of court and to achieve a settlement that best meets the specific needs of both parties and their children without the underlying threat of li…

History

This approach to conflict resolution was created in 1990 by Minnesota family lawyer Stuart Webb, who saw that traditional litigation was not always helpful to parties and their families, and often was damaging. Since 1990, the Collaborative Law movement has spread rapidly to most of the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia. Per the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals ("IACP"), more than 22,000 lawyers have been trained in Collaborative Law worldw…

Organizations

The primary global collaborative organisation is the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP), which was founded in the late 1990s by a group of northern California lawyers, psychotherapists, and financial planners. IACP has more than 2,400 members and there are more than 200 practice groups of collaborative practitioners worldwide. The IACP offers an opportunity for education and networking for its members as well provides a resource for resear…

Uniform Collaborative Law Act

In the United States, the Uniform Collaborative Law Act was adopted in 2009 by the Uniform Law Commission, and thereby became available to the individual States to enact as law. In 2010, the Uniform Collaborative Law Act was amended to add several options and renamed the Uniform Collaborative Law Rules and Act. As of June 2013, the Uniform Collaborative Law Act was enacted into law in the states of Utah, Nevada, Texas, Hawaii, Ohio, the District of Columbia, an…

External links

• Friendly Divorce Christian Science Monitor – 21 May 2004
• Getting a Divorce? Why it Pays to Play Nice CNN Money – 1 July 2005
• Bringing Harmony to Divorce – article by collaborative lawyers, James Stewart and Charlotte Bradley, published in The Times to mark the launch of Collaborative Law in London, 21 November 2006.