Hi everyone,



My fall tour of Collaborative community gatherings has been a great success! I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of you at the Civil Collaborative Law Conference in New York, the Canadian Collaborative Rocky Mountain Conference in Banff, and the Annual Meeting of the Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin in Delafield. I’ve shared updates about IACP’s new Strategic Plan—and done a lot of listening, too.

Next up: December 4–5: CLI Minnesota Forum 2025 in Minneapolis.

I would love to continue the conversation. If we met but didn’t get to finish our discussion—or if you were not able to connect with me—please reach out. I am happy to set up a Zoom call.

As part of my Presidential year, I have been using this space to reflect on the Ten Pillars of Collaborative Practice. Last month, we explored Inclusivity. This month’s focus is the sixth Pillar: Ethical Integrity.

Each of the Ten Pillars is a value statement—not listed in order of importance. The final six express values we uphold as a community. Here is the full statement:

In line with the IACP mission, we are committed to creating a community that upholds high standards of competence and ethics, ensuring reliability and professionalism in every interaction.

IACP includes professionals from many disciplines—lawyers, mental health professionals, financial specialists, and mediators—with others involved depending on the case and jurisdiction. What binds us across those differences is ethics. Our specific codes vary by discipline and geography, but ethical standards communicate competence, reliability, and professionalism. They enable parties in conflict to trust us professionally, and by extension trust the process. Strong allegiance to ethical principles is the keystone to trust building in our cases and in our communities.

IACP plays a vital role in promoting ethical standards. Our Ethics & Standards Committee is hard at work reviewing our ethical guidelines—and you can expect updates to be released in the year ahead.

Next month: Interdisciplinary Teamwork.