International academy of collaborative professionals

When Boston lawyer David Hoffman started his career as a litigator, his life was less predictable: A trial could mean giving himself over to work for weeks at a time. And, worse, the adversarial process didn’t always fit his values.“I saw the terrible waste of clients’ time and money in litigation and the terrible impact emotionally on clients, particularly in the family cases, and I decided that I needed to find some other tools,” says Hoffman, who practices family, business and employment law.Hoffman turned first to mediation and then, in the 1990s, to collaborative law, a process in which the parties agree to share information freely and settle their disputes before going to court. The process, which has been gaining traction as an alternative to traditional negotiation, has also emerged as a professional choice that, for some lawyers, can mean a better balance between work and life.“Collaborative practice is in alignment with my values as someone who … [Read more...] about Working Together, Living Together

One of the most rapidly expanding forms of alternative dispute resolution in family law may have found its growth slowed.In February, the Colorado Bar Association’s ethics committee declared that collaborative law, a process by which lawyers agree to withdraw if settlement talks collapse, is per se unethical. Although nonbinding, the opinion is significant because it is the first time that this form of ADR has been declared in violation of a state’s rules of professional conduct.The idea behind collaborative law, its proponents say, is to encourage settlement by easing the exchange of information between parties. The process would bar the use of that information and require the lawyers to withdraw should the dispute go to court. (See “Collaborative Counselors,” June 2006 ABA Journal, page 52.)The lawyers and the parties agree to these and other terms at the outset of the process in a contract termed a “four-way agreement.” Part of the rationale for … [Read more...] about A Warning to Collaborators

Ask any veterans of a nasty divorce whether they’re familiar with the nascent field of collaborative law, and you might get a response like this: “Collaborative practice is nothing new. Lawyers have always collaborated against their clients’ best interests.”The irony of the quip would not be lost on collaborative law practitioners. They believe this newest entry into the alternative dispute resolution scene may be just the tool that clients are seeking to help them navigate a civil justice system that increasingly relies on expensive tactics that work against their interests.Now, with a steady flow of lawyers undergoing specialized training in collaborative law, it may be poised to break wide open.Some observers say the practice, which promotes clients’ free exchange of information in settlement negotiations by barring its use in court, could be a ready alternative both to litigation and mediation in a variety of civil practice areas.Local and national … [Read more...] about Collaborative Counselors