Collaborative law is an approach to dispute resolution where the parties are represented by counsel of their own choosing, however the attorneys are chosen because they belong to an identified group of lawyers who have made a commitment to represent their clients in achieving a maximized outcome without resorting to the use of litigation.
Early non-adversarial participation by the attorneys allows them to use attributes of good lawyering not greatly utilized in the usual adversarial proceedings, namely use of analysis and reasoning to solve problems, generation of options and creation of a positive context for settlement.
The role of the attorneys is to facilitate the development of a voluntary settlement without the threat of or use of power. In the event the parties are unable to arrive at a settlement through the collaborative law approach, the collaborative attorneys must withdraw from the case and the parties are then free to retain trail attorneys to pursue their matter in court.
The result is that the parties will have had the best representation for each phase of their proceeding if court action is necessary.
In most cases however, the matter is resolved using only the collaborative process.
Utahs organized group, known as Collaborative Family Law of Utah, (CFLU) includes other professionals, in addition to the lawyer members. There are mental health professionals, custody evaluation specialists, conflict coaches, financial planners and forensic accountants. These other professionals are available to assist in those cases where their expertise will be helpful in evaluating outcomes that are mutually acceptable to the parties. They are not retained as experts for just one party. They are retained to work neutrally for both parties.
For more information about the collaborative process and to obtain a list of the members, go to www.cflutah.org.