Workshop

The emotional case beneath the legal case is often the cause of failed negotiations. This workshop will show attorneys how to transcend their familiar legal paradigm, and learn to practice some of the techniques familiar to therapists. Without any formal psychological training, attorneys will be able to confidently and skillfully work with the parties’ emotions, cut through the impasse and reach deeper levels of resolution that are possible through conventional negotiation approaches.

In this interactive session, four crucial assumptions rooted in traditional litigation communication processes will be identified. We'll examine how these assumptions have fostered more than a dozen pitfalls in current Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) practices. Simple changes, presented and practiced, can greatly enhance the ease and quality of resolutions achieved with Collaborative clients.

This workshop will dig into the best practices for incorporating the child’s voice into divorce to improve outcomes for families. All Collaborative team members will benefit from understanding prevailing international protocols for working with children and the opportunity to incorporate skills based on research. Participants will explore tools and skills for: screening parents, determining the level of involvement of the child, determining how information is elicited and preparing parents to hear feedback and information regarding their children.

Serious conflict and irreparable harm to family relationships often occur when an estate plan is the product of undue influence or in the shadow of diminished capacity. This workshop identifies those situations that put the professionals and the clients at the greatest risk, offering positive solutions for the professionals, beneficiaries and elders.

North Carolina has been busy bringing Collaborative Law principles to civil practice attorneys across the state. Learn how to introduce law schools, students, bar leaders, dispute resolution colleagues, and civil practitioners to Collaborative Practice. We'll teach you how to create engaging, informative and substantive CLEs; and market civil Collaborative Practice to clients.

Access to collaboration is crucial to the growth of Collaborative Practice. We'll discuss access to collaboration programs as well as challenges and triumphs in starting and maintaining pro bono, low bono, modest means and fixed fee programs. We will share the tips and insights that helped us to implement and run our various programs in hopes that participants will be better informed in initiating programs in their communities.

Link to view materials

Collaborative Practitioners can benefit from establishing presence and awareness in their lives and Collaborative Practice. During the workshop and optional pre-forum video conference calls, the presenters and participants will draw on specific readings and videocasts related to this topic for presentations, experiential activities, small and large group discussions.

Often, we have a tendency to move to compromise instead of true collaboration. We will work with some of the fundamentals of what Adam Kahane refers to as Stretch Collaboration through reflective exercises, small group work and larger discussions. Participants will leave with specific, applicable tools for Stretch Collaboration.

Divorce grief causes feelings of emotional vulnerability. The intense swings of emotions in grief can contribute to further misunderstandings and conflict. Through an understanding of how the cycles of grief impact our clients’ functioning and our process, we can prevent grief from holding the process hostage and create a compassionate space for clients and their children's losses.

Clients are increasingly seeking unbundled services as a way to allow them to maximize the value they get from their divorce professionals. This workshop will show Collaborative professionals how to expand their Collaborative Practice to include a range of unbundled services and how to use unbundling strategies to expand their existing Collaborative Practice.