Collaborative law
In collaborative law, both parties will instruct their own collaboratively trained solicitors.
Both parties, and their solicitors, will take part in fourway, face to face meetings with advice being shared openly as negotiations take place.
Before the collaborative law meeting, both parties and their lawyers sign a contract stating that court proceedings will need to be brought if an agreement cannot be reached. Neither solicitor will be able to continue to act in the matter, and so both parties will need to instruct new solicitors for litigation. There is a real commitment to work together, collaboratively towards solutions.
Advantages of Collaborative Law:
- Unlike mediation, both parties have a legal representative in the room during discussions. This can ensure that both parties have an opportunity to have their voices heard as well as understand the position of the other side – which can be especially important where one party is attempting to dominate negotiations.
- When an agreement can be reached, collaborative law can be a much faster process than litigation, as you are not having to rely on the courts’ availability, nor delay as correspondence passed backwards and forwards – discussion take place in the meeting with everyone involved.
- Parties have more control over the agreement reached – no decisions are imposed and an agreement is only reached when both parties are content to do so.
- You can bring in experts to assist you if required – to look at pensions or business valuations for example.
Disadvantages of Collaborative Law:
- As two lawyers are being instructed, this can be a more expensive process than mediation (though may still be cheaper and faster than court proceedings if successful).
- If a compromise cannot be reached between the parties, the collaborative process will break down and both parties will need to instruct new lawyers in any subsequent court proceedings.