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As in traditional divorce cases, your lawyer supports you and your spouse’s lawyer supports your spouse. But in collaborative family law, both lawyers must also practice collaborative law. Before the process begins, all of you — lawyers and clients– formally contract to work together to resolve your divorce issues. Both lawyers are then, by agreement, forbidden to take the case to court. In other words, all efforts are aimed at settlement and because of the full disclosure and mediation like methods utilized, if the parties later chose to "fight it out" in court, they will need to retain a new set of attorneys for litigation purposes. This provides incredible incentive to stay committed to reaching agreements and settling important issues.
To reach a settlement using collaborative law, the lawyers initiate four-way meetings between themselves and their clients. The meetings promote improved communications and cooperation and nourish an environment that fosters analysis and reasoning. This helps generate options and creates a positive context for settlement whilegiving both parties control over the outcome. The commitment to continued cooperation — evenif communication becomes difficult — also increases the likelihood of a solution where everybody wins.
