Family Law, Divorce, Custody and Child Support Attorneys in Denver, Colorado

Collaborative Law – To Be, or Not to Be …

I just finished 2 days of collaborative law training and on returning to the office, was heckled by my associates for potentially losing my litigation mojo. It seems some of them buy into the view that collaborative law is somehow a weak approach to family law, or, as one indicated, really best for the women in divorce.

Before attending the collaborative law training, I might have just chuckled a little and walked off in the face of these obviously sexist and hasty comments. But I attended the training and made the investment of two attorneys for two days to give collaborative law a fair shake – and a fair shake down. After two days of asking hard questions and being as fully open to the concept as I could, I can now say “bunk” to these preconceived, sexist and ill-inform comments.

Collaborative law is a valid and useful tool in resolving some family law cases. All cases should be evaluated as candidates for this process the same as we might evaluate a case for other tools such as mediation. I’m convinced that some cases will be better handled in the collaborative process rather than in litigation – not all, certainly, but some.

To my associates who think women fair better, I can say there is nothing gender specific about collaborative law. The process is completely gender blind. Men should fair just as well as women. I found nothing in the process which leads me to believe one sex is advantaged by the election of the CL process. I believe young fathers are particularly disadvantaged in our family law court system, in general, and I do believe there is a strong bias for young mothers. But I see nothing about the Collaborative Law process that exacerbates that inequity. In fact, I find the educational nature of collaborative law to be a powerful tool in bringing the parties to a common solution.

We have more to learn about the process and I look forward to it. This tool for resolving family law cases is here to stay for a reason – for some cases, this litigation substitute will help families survive the divorce process.