Collaborative Law in Your Iowa Divorce
Part II
By Daniel L. Bray
Collaborative Law in Your Iowa Divorce Part I, informed the reader that Daniel L. Bray and Lori L. Klockau would be attending training on Collaborative Practice Interdisciplinary Training on November 6th and 7th of 2010. Collaborative Practice Trainers Collaborative Practice Center of Santa Rosa, California provided the two day interdisciplinary collaborative law training on the collaborative law process and the framework for collaborative law.
Central to the collaborative law process is a mutual commitment not to go to court. This requires that all of the professionals involved - lawyers, experts, consultants - must withdraw from the case if either client chooses to terminate the process. At that point, everyone starts over from the beginning because all of the professionals are disqualified. The defining element of collaborative law is simple; if you have not signed a disqualification agreement it is not a collaborative case. This differs from a cooperative law case which does not require a disqualification agreement.
The collaborative process has a goal of meeting each party’s highest prioritized needs. There is a mutual commitment to strive for creative solutions that can take into account the interest of all parties. It is based on an honest, voluntary, and good faith exchange of all relevant information. It is designed to be respectful open communication. The process allows for an "interdisciplinary team" working together in two to seven or eight way meetings. There can be a lot of people involved with different roles. A collaborative practice case raises two main concerns: the cost and expertise of both the client and the interdisciplinary team. The lawyer’s role differs in each collaborative law case depending on the circumstances of the case. The lawyer may serve as an advocate, negotiator, evaluator, but never a litigator.
Bray & Klockau, P.L.C., has for many years worked to present our lawyers as a group of cooperative lawyers practicing family law litigation. We are troubled with a disqualification requirement on termination of the collaborative law process except in the right case with the right client. The disqualification requirement is supposed to build trust, focus on settlement, reenforce the confidentiality of the process, and be a good faith statement by the parties to encourage productive methods of handling.
Our lawyers recognize that two people who have the same information can make good decisions together. The collaborative process emphasizes that both clients need to hear the same information at the same time to explore solutions. We like that aspect. Whether using a collaborative law process or using a cooperative approach to litigation, the objective is the same; to help the client reach the client’s priority needs in settlement.
After training in the Collaborative Law Interdisciplinary Practice, we recognize that this approach may be a viable process for settlement with a limited number of clients. Very few people can afford the cost of a failed collaborative law process followed by an active litigation process. The questions to successful settlement of family law disputes are:
After training in the Collaborative Law Interdisciplinary Practice, we recognize that this approach may be a viable process for settlement with a limited number of clients. Very few people can afford the cost of a failed collaborative law process followed by an active litigation process. The questions to successful settlement of family law disputes are:
How can parties acquire the same information at the same time?
How can parties have access to all experts and professionals needed to evaluate all of the different aspects of the case?
How can parties create respectful communications in which real interests are exchanged and discussed between the parties?
How can parties assure that a process is reliable as they work towards settlement?
Bray & Klockau, P.L.C., offers a wide range of client services to breathe life into impasses in family law disputes. Our firm offers mediation services, consultation services to lawyers and to their clients, information and educational services on diverse subjects from creating effective parenting programs to education on negotiating from real interests and not from postures.
If we have the right client and the right case that could fully utilize a collaborative law process – complete with its required disqualification – lawyers in our firm are ready to participate in a collaborative process. In general, our firm is a family law litigation firm fully utilizing all effective means for settlement through negotiations, mediation and other forms of alternate dispute resolution.