Collaborative and Cooperative Law

Collaborative and Cooperative Law Workgroup

The Collaborative and Cooperative Law Workgroup was formed in the summer of 2008.  The workgroup’s goals are to:

1) Develop objective educational materials, comparing various ADR processes and litigation. First step is to develop these materials as related to Family Law, thus limiting the ADR processes to the following: Negotiation, Mediation, Collaborative divorce, Collaborative Practice, Cooperative Practice, Arbitration, and Litigation. A later goal may be to extend the development of these materials to other areas of law that would include a broader spectrum of processes e.g. consensus building, facilitation, early neutral evaluation, etc.

The purposes of these materials are two-fold:

          i. Consumer Education: Develop materials that will help consumers better understand their options, and the benefits and drawbacks of each, and to make more informed decisions, regarding their choice of dispute resolution process.

         ii. Practitioner Education: Develop materials that will help ADR practitioners better understand the range of ADR processes, so that practitioners are able to engage in dialogue with others in the field, and so that they are better able to provide potential clients with a clear, concise and objective comparison of the various processes available.

2) Develop opportunities for the ACR community to engage in dialogue regarding newer forms of ADR, and especially Cooperative and Collaborative Practice. These opportunities may include an ACR teleseminar (or seminars), and workshops and other fora for dialogue at the ACR conference and Section conferences, and other events. 

The purpose of these conversations and teleseminars will be to provide members with clear and objective information about Collaborative and Cooperative Practice and how they relate to other forms of ADR, such as Mediation and Arbitration, and to provide a forum for thoughtful conversation amongst practitioners regarding how Cooperative and Collaborative Practice relate to other ADR and DR processes. Teleseminar presenters would include practitioners with Collaborative Practice, Cooperative Practice, Mediation and Arbitration practices. Subject matter and format to be developed once we have expanded our group. Possible date will be in spring of 2009.

The workgroup’s membership is as follows:

Cindy Cook and Nancy Gardner - Co-chairs of the CCLWG (Association for Conflict Resolution, Legislative and Public Policy Committee)

Doug Kleine - (Executive Director, Association for Conflict Resolution)

Rita Pollak - International Academy for Collaborative Professionals

Larry Rute, American Bar Association, Family Law Section

Julie O'Halloran, Divorce Cooperative Institute

John Lande, International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, Collaborative Law Task Force

Bob Baum, American Bar Association, Section on Dispute Resolution, Collaborative Law Committee

Sheldon Finman, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

Chip Rose, Family Section, Association for Conflict Resolution,

Rebecca Henry, American Bar Association, Domestic Violence Commission

The workgroup co-chairs anticipate inviting a number of people to consult with the workgroup in an advisory capacity. 

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