FITTING THE FORUM TO THE FAMILY FUSS |
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| Authors: | John Lande Gregg Herman |
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| Affiliation: | John Lande is an associate professor and director of the LL.M. Program in Dispute Resolution, University of Missouri–Columbia School of Law. He received his J.D. from the Hastings College of Law and his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.;Gregg Herman is a family law attorney with Loeb &Herman, S. C., Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the founder of the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin, Inc., and is chair of the Divorce Cooperation Institute, Inc. |
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| Abstract: | This article analyzes advantages and disadvantages of mediation, collaborative law, and cooperative law based on the parties' capabilities, attitudes about professional services, and assessments of and preferences about the risks of various procedures. Each of these procedures has virtues and there is great value in providing clients and practitioners with a choice of procedures. Under collaborative and cooperative law, lawyers and clients agree to focus exclusively on negotiation from the outset the case, typically using a problem-solving process. Collaborative law involves a written "disqualification agreement" between all the parties and their lawyers under which lawyers are disqualified from representing parties in litigation if either party chooses to litigate. Cooperative law is similar but does not use the disqualification agreement. Because most communities do not have lawyers offering cooperative law, collaborative law groups should encourage at least some of their members to offer clients the option of cooperative law. |
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| Keywords: | collaborative law cooperative law mediation process selection lawyers |
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