Welcome Bill Ruth !
* InJoy!*
*cMr*
*'the moderator'*
*Collaborative Practice Chicago*
*Divorce Without Warfare*
*carl Michael rossi, M.A. J.D., L.P.C. Attorney, Mediator, Coach, Counselor*
*773-442-2751 <773-442-2751>** cMr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <cmr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
www.CPChicago.net <http://www.CPChicago.net>*
Executive Director, *Collaborative Practice Professionals of
Illinois*<http://cppillinois.com/>
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
57f455b28c
* [If any of you know someone else who'd value being on this listServe,
send them here to follow the steps to sign up:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollabLaw/
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CollabLaw/>.]*
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Name: Billie Ruth Edwards
Firm name: Priority Legal, LLC and Edwards & Johnson, Attorneys, LLC
Address: PO Box 1874; 1603 Capital Avenue Ste. 311
City: Cheyenne
State: Wyoming
Zip: 82003-1874
Phone: 888-632-2889
FAX: 888-632-2889
Eddress: prioritylegalwyoming@xxxxxxxxx
wyomingatty@xxxxxxxxx
Web site: none yet
Area(s) of practice: family law, including flat fee and limited
representation; litigation in the areas of family law insurance defense,
subrogation, and civil rights.
Any trainings in Collaborative Law: none yet
What is your interest in Collaborative Law: I want to facilitate peace
rather than manage war.
I have reached that point in my life where I would rather be a teacher and
a peace facilitator than a warrior. I am fortunate to have found a new law
partner with the same goals. We began our firm to offer services to “the
other side”, those individuals unable to obtain free legal aid because
their opponent had already done so. We offer unbundled services and handle
cases at a lower flat fee. Still, it is not enough.
Immediately we were inundated with paternity and “granny snatch” cases
where the children serve as the ball to parents and relatives seeking to
rush them to the opposite side of the field from their “opponents”. None of
these individuals have a clue as to what they are doing to the child, or to
themselves. They refuse to look at the long term effects of these wars.
They adopt the attitude of if he wins, I lose; poor me.
So we began to formulate a “road trip” to educate young people about
paternity and older people about forbearance. Young people seem to have the
view that they created it and they have a right to have it. Older people
seem to believe the parent of the child is not doing right by it, so they
need to take it.
I use the word “it” intentionally because the goal is not to care for the
child, but to control its parent. Everyone has, however, learned well how
to cloak themselves in the flag of “It’s for the children!”. And the
cheerleaders sit on the sidelines chanting “Fight! Fight! Fight!”,
chastising any move they feel is not “fighting” for their friend/relative.
I found and formulated questions to lead our clients and their opponents to
parenting plans, while not calling them by that name. Then I found the
Tribal peace court. While we have veterans’ court, drug court, teen court,
we have no peace court. So, I began to look further, finding articles by
Mark Baer, then finding “Peacemaking and Profitmaking, ...”, Forrest
Rosten, carl Michael rossi, the UCLA, David Hoffman, so many articles, and
most recently, a link to this listserve.
A collaborative law practice is not what I set out to find, but it is a
concept I admire and may eventually prove to be an effective solution for
so many of our wild west combatants. There is a lot of work to be done to
allow our bar to use this concept, but In a state like Wyoming, community
based legal solutions to all kinds of problems should be the norm, rather
than the exception. In some communities everyone knows the problems of
everyone else. Why shouldn’t those who can do so, help solve those problems.
I believe the Listserve would help as we move forward in our search for
solutions.
