The question of which attorney to choose is a very personal one. You want someone who will offer a warm, welcoming environment and who understands the unique legal and societal challenges that transgender family law matters often entail. You want someone who has been on the forefront of LGBTQ family law rights and will be there for you. We would be honored to represent you.
We at Family Diplomacy: A Collaborative Law Firm, are grateful for the opportunity to help our clients through difficult times. One such client, from a collaborative family law matter, was kind enough to leave a review on Avvo.com.
The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) is the premier organization urging families to resolve divorce and other family law matters in a better way. Collaborative Divorce, also known as Collaborative Practice, Collaborative Law, and the Collaborative Process, is a structured method of private dispute resolution that keeps families out of court.
The short video below, produced by the IACP, explains why families facing divorce should consider Collaborative Practice.
When you come into my office to learn about collaborative divorce, I want to make sure that you understand the process. Yes, collaborative divorce helps families day in and day out, but there are potential negatives that you need to know, as well. Further, Rule 4-1.19 of the Florida Bar Rules of Professional Conduct requires me to help ensure you have informed consent before entering the collaborative process.
Accordingly, I will sit down with you to discuss all aspects of collaborative practice. At the end, I will provide you with an Explanation of Collaborative Process Consent Form to sign. I have designed this form, but it is based on one created by Robert J. Merlin, an attorney in South Florida who was the point person for the adoption of Rule 4-1.19 by the Florida Supreme Court.
If you are considering or going through divorce, there are two terms you should become familiar with: collaborative divorce and collaborative divorce participation agreement.
Collaborative divorce is a form of private dispute resolution where you, your spouse, and your attorneys agree from the beginning that they will not fight in court. You agree that you do not want to subject yourselves, your children, your business, and your friends and family to an adversarial, hostile, and public court system. You just want to move on to your better future in the least painful way possible.
Though there are statutes and rules that interact with the collaborative divorce process, it is mainly governed by a contract, known as a collaborative divorce participation agreement. This is an agreement that you and your spouse sign. Because the collaborative divorce process is very different than the traditional divorce process, it is important that you have a complete understanding of your collaborative divorce participation agreement and walk through the agreement thoroughly with your attorney.
Below is a sample collaborative divorce participation agreement that I often use in my cases here in Tampa Bay. Keep in mind that there are a lot of variations of this agreement, and different communities use different participation agreements. In fact, I use different participation agreements depending on the circumstances of the family and what type of resolution they are trying to reach (i.e., divorce, post-divorce, prenuptial agreement, or postnuptial agreement).
If you are in the market for a divorce lawyer, you should know that not all divorce lawyers are the same. Some specialize in fighting in court, while others focus on resolving disputes outside of court. One way to help determine which strategy your divorce lawyer focuses on is to find out whether he or she has completed an Introductory Collaborative Practice Training.
An Introductory Collaborative Practice Training is one of the first steps a lawyer or other professional takes before offering collaborative divorce services. Collaborative divorce is a process where the spouses agree that they will not use their attorneys to fight in court; rather the attorneys and any other professionals will focus solely on helping the family resolve their disputes and move on to their better future.
Kids are often caught in the middle of divorce. Their parents are fighting, and many times the kids’ needs get ignored.
Fortunately, not all divorce processes are the same. Collaborative divorce gives parents the opportunity to work in a non-adversarial setting and develop a parenting plan tailored to meet children’s needs.
In the video below, therapist Jacquie Lamb, LMHC, discusses collaborative divorce and children. This video was produced by the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals.
If you are going through divorce, you may have heard of collaborative divorce as a non-adversarial method of separating. What you may not know is that not all divorce lawyers have completed collaborative training. Further, even among those who have completed a training, not all collaborative lawyers meet the IACP Minimum Standards for Collaborative Practitioners.
International Academy of Collaborative ProfessionalsThe IACP is the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals. It is the premiere organization when it comes to helping families resolve disputes in a better way. The mission of the IACP is “To transform the way families resolves conflict by building a global community of Collaborative Practice and consensual dispute resolution professionals.”
The IACP initially created Minimum Standards for Collaborative Practitioners in 2004; it revised and adopted the current Standards in 2014. It states the following about the Standards:
The IACP Standards for Trainers, Trainings, and Practitioners are drafted with an awareness of the aggregate nature of learning. Knowledge comes from the interface between education and practical experience. Skill is acquired from the successive application of education to experience. With those principles in mind, these Standards should be understood as a point of departure in a continuing journey of education and practice for Collaborative practitioners and trainers.
There’s no getting around the fact that divorce is difficult and painful. And yet, not all divorces are the same. To the contrary, some methods to separate are designed to be adversarial and others are designed to be holistic.
In the short video below, produced by the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals, social worker Gary Direnfeld discusses collaborative divorce, which he views as a good way to separate. Direnfeld filmed this clip at the 7th Annual Conference of the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals.
• Do you want more collaborative cases?
• Are you looking to conduct more mediations?
• Can you imagine a day where your peacemaking practice is so profitable that you no longer need to take litigation matters?
With Forrest Mosten and
Guest Trainer, Adam B. Cordover of Tampa, FL
San Diego, California
September 27-28, 2019
Tuition Discounts for:
• Early Bird Registration
• IACP Membership
• 3 or More Participants from same Collaborative Practice Group
This workshop will provide you with the real-world tools and ideas that can help you transform your practice. Now is the time to take the future of your career in your own hands and learn how you can become a full-time peacemaker.
Using concepts and practice forms from their 2018 ABA Book, Building a Successful Collaborative Family Law Practice and Woody’s classics, Mediation Career Guide and Collaborative Divorce Handbook, Adam and Woody will take you step by step how to build and grow your practice, including:
• Standing Out In A Crowded Marketplace
• Tailoring Models of Collaborative Practice to Meet a Families’ Needs
• Utilizing Interdisciplinary Models of Mediation
• Creating a Menu of Peacemaking Services
• Exploring New Opportunities in Preventative Dispute Resolution
• Much Much More
This course has been adopted by both the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and the ABA and has been highly praised by past participants when it was held in Seattle (twice with Kevin Scudder), Chicago (3 times with Carl Michael Rossi), Tampa (with Adam Cordover) Coral Gables (with Enid Miller Ponn), New York City (with Ken Neumann), Los Angeles, Minneapolis (With Ron Ousky), Boston (with David Hoffman), Toronto, Marin County (with Steve Rosenberg) and other venues.
Mosten Mediation and Collaborative Training is an Approved CLE Provider for the California State Bar (including Family Law Specialization) and CAMFT for Marriage and Child Therapists and Licensed Clinical Social Workers.
Woody’s Minneapolis training on Getting More Cases has truly set the Iowa Collaborative practice group on fire — several of us have found all sorts of magical things zhappening since we’ve been back in Des Moines. It’s amazing what happens when you begin to think more creatively about your practice and how to use collaborative law skills to better serve your clients. I’ve attended a lot of trainings in my career and his is top notch. I highly recommend Woody’s training.
Kimberly Graham, Collaborative Attorney and Mediator
West Des Moines, IA
www.GrahamLawCollaborative.com
Forrest (Woody) Mosten is in collaborative law and mediation practice with offices in San Diego and Los Angeles. He specializes in matters involving complex legal and financial issues and high conflict parties. Woody is the author of Building A Successful Collaborative Family Law Practice (ABA, 2018, with Adam B. Cordover), Unbundled Legal Services (ABA, 2017, with Elizabeth Potter Scully), Collaborative Divorce Handbook (Jossey-Bass, 2010), The Complete Guide to Mediation, 2nd Edition (ABA, 2015 with Elizabeth Potter Scully) and Mediation Career Guide Jossey-Bass, 2001).
Adam B. Cordover is a member of the Board of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and co-chair and instructor of the Florida Academy of Collaborative Professionals Leadership Institute. He is co-author with Forrest “Woody” Mosten of Building A Successful Collaborative Family Law Practice, published by the American Bar Association in 2018. In 2015, Adam stopped taking litigation cases and now practices exclusively in out-of-court dispute resolution.
For questions about course content or nearby hotels, click the button below or call (310) 721-4291.
