My colleague Tim Gerrity and I are just concluding a successful
collaborative family law case. One party lives out of state, so doing
four-way meetings was difficult. We only did one, and got the agreement
signed and the parties committed.
We did one 3 1/2 way meeting, with Tim's client on the speaker phone.
Everything else we did via e-mail. Both attorneys and both clients set
up e-mail group lists, and we would send e-mail messages to all four of us,
as we sorted out some of the remaining asset division and parenting issues.
Having overcome the taboo of never communicating directly with the opposing
counsel's client, we skipped right over the issue of email not being
absolutely confidential. We were not discussing state secrets or putting
account numbers out into cyberspace.
I tried to keep in mind at all times that the informality of email
communication sometimes causes unintended emotional content to be read into
messages. My opposing counsel did the same, I think. In any event, it
worked. I don't know that I would recommend email 4-ways in every case, but
it is at least possible. Has anyone else tried this?
