Dear List ~
One of our colleagues emailed me directly to ask about the inclusion of
judges at the Symposium - how and why to get them involved. I thought
it was a great question and so I am posting here my response to that
email in case anyone else had the same question.
One of the judges just retired and is going to do mediation. She was a
long standing family judge and has been intrigued with Collaborative and
so she wanted to train. The other judge is the Administrative Judge of
one of our largest counties. We have found it extremely helpful to
have the judges supportive of Collaborative because ultimately, our
Rules are promulgated by the judiciary. I and some other Collaborative
colleagues have addressed the Administrative Office of the Courts Family
Services Division in an effort to provide them information about
Collaborative so that they can offer information to people in litigation
so that they are aware of the option. A lot of litigants have not yet
heard of the process and their litigation attorneys don't tell them.
Right now, parties in court are referred into mediation. We want them
referred into Collaboration too if the clients are willing. If more
litigators lose clients to Collaboration, then they may embrace it a bit
more - at least tell their clients about it. Our Rules recently were
changed (thanks to the judiciary) to make it a "should" instead of a
"may" obligation for an attorney to advise a client of all alternative
dispute resolution models. We wanted a "shall" but for now we are happy
with the "should."
I think the more you can educate the bench and gain their support the
better off Collaborative will be.
Darcy A. Shoop, Attorney At Law
Stein, Sperling, Bennett, De Jong,
Driscoll & Greenfeig, P.C.
25 W. Middle lane,
Rockville, MD 20850
(301) 838-3228 direct telephone
(301) 354-8128 direct facsimile
dshoop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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