From Georgialee Lang, Esq.:
To experienced family law lawyers there was nothing new about four-way settlement meetings. They had been the basis for settlement discussions for decades.
But the collaborative process introduced an additional feature. The agreement signed by the spouses and their lawyers stipulated if the collaborative process was not successful, their lawyers could no longer represent them and they would be compelled to “start over” with regular family law lawyers, otherwise known as litigators.
This “court is not an option” approach is a critical component of the process, expected to compel adversarial spouses to settle, rather than face the prospects of new lawyers armed for court battle.
It all sounds wonderful and for some divorcing couples it is effective. Whether it can be said to be less expensive is another issue, because the collaborative process also provides much-needed work for underemployed counsellors, child psychologists, domestic abuse specialists and financial experts, who are called upon to assist, for a fee.
Read more at The Huffington Post.
ABC Collaborative Divorce Blog 
Posted on July 21, 2013
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