Well Harry, in Canada if we lawyers wore the clothes we wear to court, it
would be way too intimidating!! For court work, we wear the barrister's gowns
and waistcoats and tabs you see on Rumpole of the Bailey - the only thing
missing is the perriwig.
We try to schedule meetings as far as possible to accommodate our clients'
schedules while not unduly impacting our personal needs (for me that means no
early mornings!) so I have had weekend and evening meetings and in one case, an
all day meeting, but these are not the norm. Most clients and other
professionals we work with seem able to fit into standard office hours.
I do know of two cases in our group that were conducted successfully by
teleconference; one of them involved some domestic violence issues.
With respect to venue, I don't know of anyone in our group having a meeting at
a public place like Starbucks (or in our case Tim Horton's) and I would be
reluctant to do that myself because of privacy concerns, among others. We have
made use of a local court reporter's office where it was a matter of
convenience and a low cost alternative. I have on one occasion used the local
courthouse law library after hours. In fact, occasionally I dream of the day
when we can use the courthouses all the time since they will no longer be
needed for trials and can be reclassified as Resolution Centers. Since they
were built with and continue to be supported by public funds, it only seems
reasonable to me that they should continue to be funded by the same government
ministry that they currently fall under. Ah well, perhaps not in my lifetime.
Some months ago there was a thread on this listserve about the ideal setting
for joint meetings and I think it was reproduced in the IACP's Collaborative
Review. Many colleagues have interesting and innovative ideas about creating a
comfortable, safe and inspiring collaborative work environment. I'd be
interested in hearing more about the creativeness of our collegues, not just in
venue choices but other aspects of this work. Perhaps there could be some
regular column space dedicated to Bright Ideas in the IACP e'zine (another good
reason to join the IACP for those of you who haven't already).
Marg Opatovsky
Niagara Region, Ontario
----- Original Message -----
From: harrytindall2001
To: CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 5:20 AM
Subject: [CollabLaw] Times, attire and venues for joint meetings
In attempting to schedule joint meetings our office finds difficulty
in scheduling meetings. We have resorted to use of early morning
meetings beginning at 7am and we have also resorted to evening
meetings. Is this a common experience for others? We have also
scheduled meetings on Saturday and Sunday
I have also gone back and forth on proper attire. I currently believe
that I should wear the same clothes that I would wear to court. Any
thoughts on this?
Finally, I would like to promote discussion on venue choices. Has
anyone had joint meetings at Starbucks, conference centers, in homes,
or by conference calls. On the latter, we recently had a joint meeting
where one party participated by calling in. It worked quite well.
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