I completely endorse the approach carl Michael is espousing. After spending
the first 15 years of my practice litigating divorces, I have not done any
litigation whatsoever for the past 15 years. Instead, my practice has been
exclusively limited to out-of-court peacemaking work for couples seeking
separation or divorce. Once I made that steadfast decision and committed to
this approach on my website I began building my reputation as a collaborative
lawyer and divorce mediator and have a continuous flow of work, often more than
I can handle and I look forward to arriving at my office each day.
As carl Michael says, you can accomplish this goal by diving in and by getting
the great ideas and support you may seek along the way from articles like
Woody’s (which is fabulous) and by attending one of his workshops specifically
devoted to providing you with the options and tools to take advantage of. I
was fortunate enough to serve as his assistant trainer in this workshop and
personally witnessed the transformations of my colleagues, some of whom were
staunch and deeply entrenched family law litigators before attending the
workshop. They had talked the talk before and walked it at times but now they
are just walking the walk and are so much happier.
From: CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] ;
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2015 7:01 PM
To: CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [CollabLaw] Marketing CFL to corporate HR departments
Robert,
We tried that a couple of different times and a couple of different ways
here in the Chicago area. It didn't get very far. Fundamentally, we had no
people any part of whose practice involved Employment work in any way such that
they would have contacts, or even any credibility, in any HR department. And
of course building that credibility takes time and effort. More even than a
direct mail campaign.
Among the challenges I've seen in various practice groups who wish to
address their experience of "only nominal increases ... in the volume of CFL
cases opened by our members during the last two years" is the reality that,
frankly, most attorneys are used to 1- having clients sent to them by others as
opposed to trying to attract them themselves; 2- avoiding as much as possible
saying "no" to a potential client.
In the decade of numerical expansion of Collaborative Practice, we need to
acknowledge that a large if not predominant percentage of those who are trained
in CP, even of those who are members of a CP group, or several, are
professionals for whom Collaborative Divorce is fundamentally an "oh, and I can
do that, too" thing.
I've not done any litigation since I was first trained in CP in 2000. But
my practice didn't truly begin to expand until I stopped hoping that my local
colleagues would send me clients, that general advertising about the benefits
of CP would bring anyone to my door asking for it. Instead I made that fact,
that I do NOT do litigation, the preeminent aspect of my website and my entire
internet presence. I made it plain that if they're headed toward litigation,
they shouldn't call me. And now they don't. So I don't waist my time and
energy on the phone or in 'consultations' with people who want a service that
I'm not willing to provide or trying to 'sell' them on the service I do want to
provide.
I've come to believe that those who genuinely want more Collaborative work,
or just generally less litigation, need to hold themselves out in a way that is
consistent with that. You can find more on the inevitable "how do I do that
and not go broke" by checking out Woody Mosten's work on Profitable
Peacemaking. His most recent ABA article on that shift is here:
http://www.lawpracticetoday.org/article/peacemaking-law/?utm_source=January ;
<http://www.lawpracticetoday.org/article/peacemaking-law/?utm_source=January&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=januaryLPTemail>
&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=januaryLPTemail
He also offers workshops on the topic. You can check out more info and
upcoming offerings here:
http://theworldofcollaborativepractice.com/?p=1924
InJoy!
cMr
Collaborative Practice Chicago
Divorce Without Warfare
carl Michael rossi, M.A. J.D., L.P.C.
Attorney, Mediator, Coach, Counselor
773-442-2751
<mailto:cMr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> cMr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<http://www.cpchicago.net/> www.CPChicago.net
Executive Director, <http://cppillinois.com/> Collaborative Practice
Professionals of Illinois
Publisher, The World of Collaborative Practice
<http://theworldofcollaborativepractice.com/> : A Magazine Promoting
Collaborative Dispute Resolution for the Full Range of Possibilities. An
international online magazine for professionals and the general public
On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 2:52 PM, 'Robert Wistner' rwistner@xxxxxxx [CollabLaw]
<CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
The Central Ohio Academy of Collaborative Divorce Professionals (Columbus and
six contiguous counties) organized in 1998. In March of 2013 the Ohio
legislature adopted the Uniform Collaborative Law Act by incorporating its text
into the Ohio Collaborative Family Law Act. However, we have experienced only
nominal increases in COACDP membership or in the volume of CFL cases opened by
our members during the last two years.
As of December 31, 2014, our paid membership consisted of 17 lawyers, three
MHP-Coaches and three Neutral Financial Experts. After many years of focusing
our efforts to increase the volume of cases by expanding our membership roster
(with very little success), our Board of Trustees has decided to change our
focus by designing a marketing campaign directed at the Human Resources
Departments of corporations in our geographic area. Our long range goal is to
educate the HR staff regarding the benefits of the CFL process for the
corporation, and for its employees, in minimizing the disruptive impact of
divorcing employees’ emotional and financial stress while working through the
restructuring of their families. Then, we hope the HR staffs will encourage
their employees to investigate the CFL process as a first option, with
litigation or “divorce by war” as the last option.
We hope there may be some other local CFL groups represented on this listserv
who already have developed a successful marketing program directed at HR
departments, and might be willing to share their experiences. We would very
much appreciate receiving any information or recommendations here (or directly
offline to my email address below) that would help us get this project started
the right way. If you do not want to take the time to draft an email reply,
please send me your phone number, and I will be happy to call you.
Robert N. Wistner, J.D.
Collaborative Divorce Professional
5650 Blazer Parkway, Suite 100
Dublin, OH 43017
Phone: (614) 734-8354 <tel:%28614%29%20734-8354>
Fax: (614) 553-7138 <tel:%28614%29%20553-7138>
Email: rwistner@xxxxxxx
Web: www.robertnwistnerjd.com <http://www.robertnwistnerjd.com/>
Martindale-Hubbell® AV® Preeminent™ Peer Rated
