The better way to solve your legal disputes

Finding a solution to your dispute does not have to be painful. While newer than mediation, thousands of people have already enjoyed the innovative and creative process known as "Collaborative Law" or as it is more commonly referred to as today, "Collaborative Practice." What one Minnesota attorney started in 1990 has spread throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. The reason? Collaborative Practice just makes sense. It is a smart and humane way to solve problems.

To view a 5 minute informational video on collaborative law, go to: http://www.yoursocialworker.com/videos/CFL-direnfeld.wmv

Collaborative Practice is fundamentally a new model and set of rules about how to solve legal disputes. Instead of racing to court, Collaborative participants agree not to go to court. Instead of spending thousands of dollars answering nearly irrelevant questions, Collaborative participants agree to provide each other with all relevant information. Instead of focusing on what is wrong with the other person, Collaborative attorneys and participants work together as a team to resolve their differences. In traditional litigation, each side often hires expensive experts who come up with opposite opinions. In the Collaborative approach, all experts work for both participants. Traditionally, the court and attorneys determine when progress occurs. In Collaborative Practice, you control the pace. Instead of having your court file open to anyone with access to the internet, most if not all of your personal information is kept private in Collaborative Practice.

Too often traditional litigation rewards bad behavior and brings out the worst in people. We've all seen how the traditional court system can be used as a weapon to attack. When people are in high conflict, their natural instinct is to fight back or to flee; in either case the resulting behavior is probably not something anyone is proud of. In Collaborative Practice, professionals structure the process to promote healthy, non-threatening, communication. In this setting, people can call upon their "higher selves" and more easily recognize what is really just. When the threat of hurting each other is eliminated, people can let down their guards, effectively listen and discover wonderfully creative solutions.

The attorneys on this web site have all received special training on how to conduct Collaborative Practice. All of the attorneys on this web site are members of Spokane County Collaborative Professionals ("SCCP"). They are the only attorneys practicing in Spokane, who, at a minimum, have taken a special two-day course in Basic Collaborative Law training and participated in at least 40 hours of mediation training. In addition, most of the members on this site are also members of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and have met their more stringent standards involving additional training. See CollaborativePractice.com.