Collaboration
Collaboration is a co-mediation process. It requires both parties to hire attorneys specially trained in the Collaborative process to adequately conduct the process.
Both attorneys and both parties enter into a Collaboration Contract to not use the court until everything is agreed. If the attorneys are unsuccessful in resolving everything without trial, the attorneys will resign and not represent the parties in court. This gives everyone a stake in finding resolution without trial.
After meeting separately with their clients, the attorneys gather and share all of the financial documents. Then the parties and the attorneys meet in a Collaborative settlement conference in what is usually a problem solving process. The attorneys discuss the “community standard of fairness” — how a judge would view and decide each issue. Both attorneys explore the interests of the parties to meet both clients’ interests.
If you feel uneasy and are unwilling to trust a single neutral attorney mediator, the Collaborative Settlement Process was created to provide the safety of having each party represented. You have help each step of the way.
If you are interested in the Collaborative Settlement Process, call us for a free initial consultation, and print out and give your spouse a copy of the list of Collaboratively trained attorneys. This assures that both attorneys are Collaboratively trained, and perhaps more importantly, both attorneys will support settlement rather than pulling the case into court.
We represent clients in person in Collaborative processes in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties and represent people throughout Oregon by video conference and high speed internet in your home or office. Meeting by video conferencing is convenient for attorneys and clients, but more importantly it saves you from paying the attorneys for any travel time to attend the Collaborative settlement conferences.