Collaborative and Cooperative Law — Promise and Perils (9/30/05)
John Lande
Collaborative law (CL) is an important innovation that establishes a general norm of interest-based negotiation and intentionally develops a new legal culture. CL reverses the traditional presumption that negotiators will use adversarial negotiation. CL parties and lawyers sign a participation agreement establishing the rules for the process. Under these agreements, lawyers and parties (negotiators) focus exclusively on negotiation, disclosing all relevant information and using an interest-based approach. Negotiators work primarily in four-way meetings in which everyone is expected to participate actively.

The Collaborative (R)evolution (12/12/04)
Chip Rose
In the field of conflict resolution, the contemporaneous emergence of the modern mediation movement began a course change that is nothing short of revolutionary. If we tracked the arc of that change like a Saturn rocket, mediation was the first stage lift off and Collaborative Law is the second stage booster.

The Creative Solution: Sibling Non-Rivalry (7/28/03)
Chip Rose
Either the Collaborative Law (CL) movement has already sprouted in your community or it will in the near future. The growth of this latest entry into the dispute resolution field demonstrates meaningful similarities to and differences from the emergence of the modern mediation movement beginning in the early 1970’s. In every sense, these two movements are siblings, evolving from a common gene pool.   1 Comment

Making Sense of Collaborative Law (2/17/03)
Robert Wildau
To most attorneys including this one, on the first hearing "collaborative law" sounds like a contradiction in terms. Lawyers go to court to find out who's right and who's wrong, so what's to collaborate about? Or if people are truly collaborating, why should they need to resort to law at all?   2 Comments

Collaborative Family Law: A Path Beyond Winning (6/17/02)
Gay Cox
This paper is written in furtherance of the goal of increasing the number of practitioners willing to engage in the practice of law collaboratively so that the pool of attorneys available to the ever-increasing number of clients seeking the service is adequate to meet the demand.   4 Comments

Collaborative Concepts (3/11/02)
Chip Rose
As the Collaborative Family Law model moves into its second decade of expansion, we can observe how far it has come and how far it has yet to go. The two most frequently expressed frustrations I hear while training around the country and across Canada are, the difficulty in getting cases, on the one hand, and the difficulty in keeping the case collaborative, on the other. As was true for mediation in the decades of the 80's, the desire of the professionals is out pacing the consumer demand.

The Role of Law in Conflict Management (1/28/02)
Alan Simpson
The task of this paper is to explore the relationship between law and conflict management. This paper has four components: stated assumptions of law, underlying values that affect the relationship, the impact of the legal process on present day forms of dispute resolution models, and questions for future ponderings. The conclusion of this paper expresses the beliefs of this learner's present and developing understanding of law and its relationship to conflict management.   2 Comments

What is Collaborative Law? (4/07/01)
Maury Beaulier
Collaborative law is a new way to resolve disputes by removing the disputed matter from the litigious court room setting and treating the process as a way to "trouble shoot and problem solve" rather than to fight and win.

Family Section Editorial Winter 2001 (3/03/01)
Donald T. Saposnek
Family Mediation has found a new home. The Academy of Family Mediators, which, for the past 20 years, has been the premier international professional organization for family mediators has, as of January, 2001, merged with the two other national organizations for alternative dispute resolution – SPIDR (Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution), and CREnet (Conflict Resolution Education Network). The new amalgam organization, called the Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR) is now the largest membership association in the conflict resolution field, and has as its mission, “...to promote peaceful, effective conflict resolution.”

Why Collaborative Law? (1/10/01)
Maury Beaulier
Collaborative law is a process that was created by lawyers as a bloodless alternative for resolving family law and divorce issues. Forum Discussion

Introduction To Collaborative Negotiating (1/09/01)
Chip Rose
The core of the collaborative process is to facilitate the making of agreements. To be effective in this role, it is necessary to make a mental shift in the mindset that one brings to viewing both the nature of the conflict and the elements inherent in the personalities, characteristics and resources of the parties. Forum Discussion

Sample Stipulation For Collaborative Law (1/08/01)
Chip Rose
Petitioner SUSAN SMART and Respondent SAMUEL SMART, and their respective attorneys, enter into the following stipulations with respect to the above-captioned Family Law action now pending before the Court: Forum Discussion

Principles and Guidelines For the Practice Of Collaborative Law (1/07/01)
These standards give guidance to parties participating in the collaborative law process. Forum Discussion   1 Comment

Family Section Editorial Fall 2000 (9/29/00)
Donald T. Saposnek
I am delighted to serve as Editor for the Family Section of the MIRC collection of informative articles. Thank you for visiting this site. I hope that we provide you with useful information and ideas that you can immediately use in your life and work. Your feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

Collaborative Law Makes Messy Divorce Thing of the Past (7/31/00)
American News Service In fact, in collaborative law, couples agree in advance to spend their time, effort and money on settling their issues, not on litigation. Attorneys and any other outside professionals brought into the process also agree in advance that they will not go to court. Unlike litigation, which can take up to two years, collaborative law divorces take about 6 months on average to hammer out agreements between couples. Forum Discussion   4 Comments

Collaborative Dispute Resolution:An Idea Whose Time Has Come (4/24/00)
Tom Arnold
The basic theme is that, with or without advice of counsel, the parties agree to scrap the idea of the adversarial system of law, and to work at every phase of their dispute resolution process in a collaborative, cooperative mode to resolve the dispute. Forum Discussion

Why Collaborative Law? (3/30/00)
Chip Rose
The most profound development in the legal profession is the rapidly growing field collaborative law. Collaborative law refers to an approach to dispute resolution in which the parties are represented by counsel of their own choosing, however the attorneys are chosen because they belong to an identified group or association and have made a commitment to represent their clients in reaching a settlement without resorting to any form of litigation or any adjudicatory procedure. Forum Discussion   2 Comments

Turn Down the Volume When it Comes to Divorce (10/29/98)
Barbara Stark
There are options for couples who share the goal of ending their marriage in a constructive way, minimizing hostility and damage to all family members. There are three paths to divorce: the conventional adversarial process, a mediated settlement, or a collaborative approach to the process.