What is a “Collaborative Team?
The foundational premise of the “collaborative team” is that the clients and their chosen professionals – be they the lawyers or other collaborative professionals – act as a problem-solving team rather than as adversaries. A collaborative team can be any combination of professionals that the clients choose to work with to resolve their dispute. It can be just the clients and their collaborative lawyers. It can be the clients, their collaborative lawyers and a financial professional. It can be the clients and divorce coaches, or mediator, or child specialist, working as a team either before or after the collaborative lawyers are chosen.
The premise of the “collaborative team” is that parties and their chosen professionals act as a problem-solving team rather than as adversaries. A collaborative team can be any combination of professionals that the parties choose to work with to resolve their dispute. It can be just the parties and their collaborative lawyers, which in all cases comprise the Collaborative Law component of Collaborative Practice. It can be the parties, their collaborative attorneys and a financial professional. It can be the parties and divorce coaches, working as a team either before or after the collaborative attorneys are chosen and the legal process begins.
The collaborative team is comprised of professionals who are trained in conflict resolution and who are committed to reaching agreement with fairness and dignity. The collaborative contract brings clients, attorneys, mental health professionals, children’s specialists and financial experts together in the same room, at the same table, seeking to reach agreement. It might be compared to the collaborative team of doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, and others who work collaboratively in the operating room to “keep the patient alive.” The Hippocratic Oath admonishes physicians to “Do no harm,” and the collaborative team seeks to resolve conflicts in the same spirit.
A Collaborative team is the combination of professionals that you choose to work with to resolve your dispute. It can be simply you and your Collaborative lawyers. In addition to your Collaborative lawyers, you can choose to include a neutral financial professional, divorce coaches, a child specialist or other specialists you and your spouse believe would be helpful. Your “Collaborative team” will guide and support you as problem-solvers, not as adversaries.
The premise of the “collaborative team” is that parties and their chosen professionals act as a problem-solving team rather than as adversaries. A collaborative team can be any combination of professionals that the parties choose to work with to resolve their dispute. It can be just the parties and their collaborative lawyers, which in all cases comprise the Collaborative Law component of Collaborative Practice. It can be the parties, their collaborative attorneys and a financial professional. It can be the parties and divorce coaches, working as a team either before or after the collaborative attorneys are chosen and the legal process begins.
