Does Collaborative Law Protect the Client (and the Attorney Against a Malpractice Claim)?
Answering the malpractice question requires us to first consider how much ‘protection’ the divorce client enjoys under prevailing practice. We can start by noting that there is rarely a domestic outcome that hits every one of the client’s original targets. The conventional wisdom of the past states that if either spouse left the courthouse happy, the other one must have received a bad deal. Depending on the facts of the case, the standard by which most family attorneys would expect to have their work judged, is that the settlement should be economically workable, with no unhappy surprises or unforeseen tax consequences, and should provide both spouses the chance to be good parents to the children. Being a competitive exercise, litigation proceeds by selective disclosure as well as tactical maneuver, mobilizing evidence and witnesses favorable to one side and discrediting the ones favorable to the other. Particularly where clients are vulnerable as in divorce, the warrior’s first instin
