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----- Original Message -----
From: "Cathy Regier" <cathy.regier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2001 11:45 AM
Subject: RE: [CollabLaw] Protocols - sorry - very long
Hi Nora;can
The process choices letter we send out to the spouses was one of the
documents I originally attached. It was the one called "spouse - process
choices.doc" I will attach it again, in case that is easier.
I hope this helps!
Cathy
<<Spouse - process choices.doc>>
-----Original Message-----
From: norabush@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [SMTP:norabush@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2001 12:56 PM
To: CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [CollabLaw] Protocols - sorry - very long
Cathy: Thank you for sharing your documents. It will be great if we
thehelp standardize the practice of collaborative law by contributing to
sendforms and documents that we use. I noted that you mentioned that you
thatout a letter to the spouse. Is it contained in one of the documents
appreciateyou attached? We have several letters that we use and I would
thereceiving a copy of your letter for comparison. It seems that one of
clientmost challenging aspect of insuring that a case proceeds collaboratively
revolves around getting the other spouse on board.
Thanks again for sharing.
Nora Bushfield, Atlanta, Ga.
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Cathy Regier" <cathy.regier@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, July 06, 2001 12:14 PM
Subject: RE: [CollabLaw] Protocols - sorry - very long
Janice;perhaps
I am part of the group in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada and we have
gone a step further than most of the groups I have read about. Wedecided
right off that we would share everything in an attempt to standardizethe
information going to everyone's client.
Our process here generally follows the following outline. When a
incomes in for an initial interview, we give them the three processchoices -
litigation, mediation or collaborative (which we call CFL for short).If
the client chooses CFL (which is about 98%of the time) we immediatelysend
out a letter to the spouse. The letter states that their spouse hasbeen
in
to see a lawyer and wants to deal with the divorce amicably. It setsout
the process choices briefly and it includes a list of the CFL lawyers
weour
group. When the spouse goes in to see one of the CFL lawyers in thegroup,
he or she gets the same process choices information. If they buy in,
client -begin to set up the first meeting between lawyers, and the firstfour-way
meeting.
We have a number of standard handouts that we give to every CFL
clientfrom homework to information about the CFL process. We also havestandard
guidelines that each of the CFL lawyers follows to prepare their
thatfor
the first CFL meeting. Then we can tell our clients in all honesty
"jerk"their spouse is getting exactly the same preparation for the firstmeeting.
We also have a standard CFL contract to be signed by all fourparticipants.
While it is very similar to the contract posted earlier, we have triedto
put it in more simplified language, with less legalese, so that theclients
can understand it more easily. (Those of us who drafted it are bigstandardized
proponents of "plain language drafting") We are working on a
final contract, so that the lawyers don't end up haggling over howclauses
should be worded.
We have talked about Sherri's question about what to do when the
thespouse does something outside of the process, that forces the otherparty
to
terminate the CFL process. We have included in our Contract a clausewhich
indicates that upon deciding to terminate the process, the personterminating
terminating must give notice in writing, and cannot bring a Court
application for 30 days. Our reasoning was that if the person
brings an application within 30 days, the respondent could point to
applicationCFL
contract and get an adjournment for the 30 day period. If the person
terminating feels that it is an emergency, they bring their
andimmediately, but then must convince the Court that it is an emergencyapplication
requiring immediate action. Once the Court is convinced, the
could proceed within the 30 day time period. When we were having our
discussion, the exact situation that Sherri brought up was discussed
takenwe
all felt that the Court would consider that an emergency requiringimmediate
action.
In relation to the issue of confidentiality, the position we have
confidentialityis
that, once involved in the CFL process, the lawyers owe
areto
the process, but not as between the parties. In other words, if we
decisiongoing to do this CFL, everything must be shared, including the
andto
terminate.
I will attach a number of our shared documents (all in Word format),
haveyou
are free to review them and use them as you see fit - as are any other
groups that like the look of them. You will be able to see that we
on!stolen unabashedly from any and every source we could get our hands
lawcould
Because of the number of family law lawyers who are practising CFL in
Medicine Hat, almost all of our new files (and as many old ones as we
convince) are being handled in this manner. It sure has made family
Client.doc>>an
nicer place to be!!!
If you have any questions about the documents, feel free to ask.
Cathy Regier
<<Collaborative Law Contract.doc>> <<Ground Rules for the
is<<Guidelines for ACFL(MH).doc>> <<Homework List - CFL.doc>> <<What
Houston,Collaborative Family Law.doc>> <<Spouse - process choices.doc>>
-----Original Message-----
From: Janice Pardue [SMTP:jpardue@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 2:13 PM
To: CollabLaw
Subject: [CollabLaw] Protocols
Hi, everyone -
As collaborative law is fairly new in Texas and especially in
mewe
fromare working toward establishing protocols under which to operate. It
would be a huge help if those of you who are farther along on the
experience curve could share with us any protocols that you have
developed. Your experiences would be invaluable to us who can learn
them.
If you want to share them, please -email them to me or fax them to
Pardueat
Houston.713-526-7974, and I will see that they are distributed here in
Thanks for your assistance and guidance.
Janice
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