Collaborative Law

Collaborative Law is a means of dispute resolution whereby the parties and their attorneys work together to resolve the issues without involving or threatening adversarial litigation. Clients may opt out of the Collaborative Law process at any time so long as the client has not contractually limited their ability to withdraw. An attorney who agrees to represent a client collaboratively, however, is not permitted later to represent that client in adversarial litigation.   A written agreement to work collaboratively to resolve the dispute is signed by the parties and their attorneys in the initial stage of the case. The collaborative agreement expressly eliminates adversarial litigation as an option for the attorney’s representation. Only by having the attorneys and their clients contractually agree in the initial stage of the case that they will not proceed to adversarial litigation or threaten litigation does the collaborative law concept have the best chance of succeeding.