I have found the Collaborative Law process to be a very effective tool for resolving differences between parties. I find it the perfect vehicle for resolving many divorce, probate or business disputes.

Using Collaborative Law makes sense in situations where both sides are willing to work hard to resolve their dispute, with the assistance of their attorney, but without resorting to a trial in court.

The Collaborative Law process creates a team consisting of all of the parties and all of the attorneys who are involved in a disputed matter. The parties and the attorneys work together to resolve the dispute in a manner that is both satisfactory and acceptable to each of the parties. It differs greatly from the traditional model of litigation where adversaries and their attorneys try to best each other in court and take advantage of any error that is made by the other side. The traditional model of litigation can be thought of as being analogous to the methods used by opposing teams in a football game. The Collaborative Law process, on the other hand, is more akin to the methods used by committee members as they work together to solve an assigned problem.

In its most effective form, the Collaborative Law process requires that all of the parties and all of the attorneys involved enter into a written contract which provides, among other things, that each of the parties and attorneys agree to not litigate the dispute, or even threaten to do so. They also agree that if any of the parties or attorneys do resort to litigation before the matter has been resolved through the Collaborative Law process, all of the attorneys will drop out of the case and will be barred from representing their respective clients in the subsequent litigation. All of the experts who were retained by the parties during the Collaborative Law process will be barred from testifying. This contract causes a high price to be paid by both the parties and their attorneys in the event that the Collaborative Law process is not successful. Therefore, there is pressure to continue negotiating in good faith, even when the going gets tough.

By using the Collaborative Law process, the parties are able to resolve their various differences in private, as opposed to doing so in a court room that is open to the general public.

Instead of both sides paying for their own experts, and then the experts testifying against each other at a trial, the parties in the Collaborative Law process hire the same single expert and the parties agree to be bound by that expert’s opinion.

Since over 85% of all civil litigation is settled before trial, it makes sense to aim for a mutually agreeable settlement from the beginning as opposed to wasting both money and time on months or years of trial preparation for a trial that, in all likelihood, will never take place.

The Collaborative Law process can save all sides in a dispute both time and money. After the successful conclusion of Collaborative Law negotiations, the parties are able to remain in a relationship that has not been soured by a knock down, drag out fight. This can be valuable where there is a need for the parties to continue communicating with each other after the dispute is resolved, such as where they are neighbors, business partners, relatives, or spouses with children.

Areas Of Collaborative Law Practice

• Commercial Contract Disputes
• Commercial Lease Disputes
• Commercial Real Estate Disputes
• Commercial Construction Disputes
• Corporate and LLC Disputes
• Divorce
• Municipal Law Disputes (Zoning, etc)
• Probate Estate Disputes
• Real Estate Subdivision Disputes
• Residential Lease DisputesResidential Construction Disputes
• Residential Real Estate Disputes
• Trust Disputes

Back to top