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A Brief History of Collaborative Family Law
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world…indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” --Margaret Meade, 1970
He announced that he would no longer go to court on behalf of matrimonial clients. He would do his best to help them settle their problems through negotiation, but if negotiation proved unsuccessful and either spouse commenced court proceedings, he would withdraw from the case and refer his client to a lawyer with a more litigious temperament. Other lawyers in Minneapolis found the concept intriguing. A group of them decided to follow Mr. Webb's lead. They formalized the idea by preparing a contract which both lawyers and both spouses would sign, committing the four parties to negotiate diligently and in good faith, and requiring the lawyers to withdraw from the case if it went to court. Collaborative Law Spreads Meanwhile, lawyers in other jurisdictions were experiencing similar dissatisfaction with the ordeal that family law had become. California lawyer Pauline H. Tesler, a seasoned veteran of the divorce wars, pioneered the practice of collaborative family law in that state. As word spread, matrimonial lawyers across North America began to explore what appeared to be a better way of resolving the issues of family breakdown. Today, there are collaborative family law associations in many states and provinces. Collaborative Law in Canada Medicine Hat, Alberta was one of the earliest Canadian cities to embrace collaborative family law. The procedure has taken hold so firmly there that the number of family cases on the court docket has been reduced by almost 85 percent. This leaves scarce court resources to deal more effectively with the small percentage of cases that can't be resolved collaboratively. Lawyers in other Canadian communities have organized collaborative family law groups after articles about the new technique appeared in trade publications like The Lawyers Weekly. Soon, the mainstream press was writing about it, too. Articles appeared in Maclean's magazine, The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. Lawyers are being trained in collaborative family law techniques in various Canadian communities across Canada every month. To see if collaborative family law is available in your community, type "collaborative family law" and the name of your community into most search engines. How Is It Actually Working? Lawyer who practice collaboratively are extremely enthusiastic. Sue Brunsting, a collaborative practitioner in Rochester, New York, says: "I now sleep like a baby. My stress level is way down, and my clients are happier, too." Collaborative family law now has a "track record" going back as far as 1990, and practitioners are finding that it is also less expensive for their clients. Ms. Brunsting estimates that the cost of completing a collaborative family law case is about one-half to two-thirds the cost of preparing a traditional case to the courthouse door (i.e. not including a trial). last updated February
26, 2003
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Introduction Find a Collaborative Lawyer in Quinte Area What Can I Expect as a Collaborative Client? A Brief History of Collaborative Family Law About the Quinte Collaborative Law Association (QCLA) Links Contact webmaster |
