What is Collaborative
Law?
The collaborative practice
of law began in early 1990 in Minneapolis, Minnesota
where it was the concept of an attorney, Stu Webb. He
developed the principles of the practice and applied
them to his family law practice. While it is rooted
in family law, it is now being applied in other areas
of legal practice.
The collaborative practice
of law is now embraced by attorneys throughout the United
States as well as in Europe, England, Scotland, Ireland
& Australia. There are several practice groups in
Pennsylvania including Pennsylvania
Collaborative Practice (PaCP) - which was co-founded
by Linda S. Pellish in 2005. PaCP has attorney members
in Schuylkill and Berks counties.
For couples considering divorce,
collaborative law provides an alternative to the traditional
court-based divorce. The traditional divorce starts
with the filing of a lawsuit which begins a process
of one party "fighting" the other in order
to come out the "winner" in the end. In reality,
the traditional process takes a tremendous toll on the
family and there are usually no "winners"
at the conclusion. In contrast, the collaborative process
is non-adversarial.
How Does It Work?
Collaborative law is a method
of resolving disputes with the goal of reaching an agreement
which meets the needs of each of the parties in an atmosphere
of open, respectful communication.
In collaborative law each
spouse retains a specially trained collaborative counsel
who represents that spouse through the negotiation of
the divorce agreement, which may include issues of support
and custody. All negotiations take place in four-way
settlement meetings which both clients and their lawyers
attend. The parties have settlement as their focus and,
therefore, they agree that they will never go to court.
If either client elects to go to court, the lawyers
must withdraw and the parties must each seek new counsel.
Key features of the collaborative
process are:
- Each client has
legal advice from his or her own counsel during all
negotiations and the lawyer's job is to guide the
client toward reasonable resolution
- The parties agree that all relevant
matters and issues are to be fully disclosed to counsel
and each other which meet their individual interests
and needs. If any party does not do this, the collaborative
process ends and the parties must seek new counsel
- The parties can seek assistance from
jointly retained neutral experts to assist them in
areas such as finance and family counseling.
- The parties agree to all the terms
of their agreement and the lawyers prepare the final
papers for divorce.
- All negotiations are done in the spirit
of openness.
- Lawyers guide the process but the parties
are responsible for decisions and the final agreement.
The result is often the settlement
of family law disputes in a shorter time frame than
with traditional divorce. Because divorce disputes in
most collaborative environments do not "drag on"
for many years, it is also often less costly to each
of the parties.
Agreements are reached which
satisfy the needs of the parties and divorces are completed
after negotiations which allow couples to retain their
human decency and self respect. If children are involved,
they reap the benefit of seeing their parents resolve
their differences in an atmosphere of dignity and they
experience a restructure of family without permanent
damage to their parents or to themselves.
The collaborative law process
creates a "win-win" experience for couples
and families despite the fact that they are going through
a difficult transition in their lives.
Linda S. Pellish
and Ronald R. Pellish are trained Collaborative Attorneys.
If the Collaborative Process is one you may be interested
in, call Pellish and Pellish at (570) 622-2338 and contact
the PaCP website at www.pacollaborativepractice.com
