Working with Allied Professionals in an Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice
(Published in the April 2008 issue of Ventura County Bar Association's "Citations")
Most attorneys practicing in family law address the obvious emotional and financial, as well as legal, issues involved in a divorce. We refer clients to consult with therapists and accountants as needed. So, how is it different when we work in an interdisciplinary way with mental health and financial professionals in the context of a collaborative divorce case?
Before engaging additional professionals to be part of a collaborative divorce, we need to establish, in fact, that it is a collaborative case.
The Disqualification Agreement: Collaborative Law Agreement
Attorney Stu Webb,of Minnesota, the founder of collaborative family law, designed collaborative divorce around the basis of a disqualification agreement, which is still the centerpiece of the process today. Before signing the agreement, the clients have been fully informed by their attorneys. They understand that by signing the agreement they are choosing a much different, more comprehensive way to divorce. The clients understand that mental health professionals (working as "coaches" or "child specialists") and an accountant or another qualified financial professional (working as "financial neutral") will be a part of the process as needed. Clients also understand that, if the case does not settle and/or either of them wants to take the case to court, their collaborative attorneys will be disqualified, and they will need to hire new attorneys.
The disqualification agreement is similar to a treaty among negotiating nations. It can supplement trust, allowing parties with differing points of view to "come to the table" and negotiate within preset safe guidelines. Sometimes this step may be overlooked locally when we think, "the other attorney and I already trust each other, so why do we need it?" However, the agreement is not only for building trust between the attorneys; it is also for the benefit of the clients. There is a big difference in the tone of a four-way meeting when there is a signed "disqualification" agreement in place. Trust grows where previously it seemed unlikely: between the divorcing spouses, between your client and the other spouse's attorney, as well as among the professionals. A lot more can be accomplished when defensiveness has left the room.
Overview of Interdisciplinary Work
In interdisciplinary work, attorneys and their clients, along with the coaches and the financial neutral work as a "team." From the beginning of the case, the professionals have more communication with each other, and they design the process to fit the couple's particular needs. The team approach broadens the way the professionals help. For example, the coaches not only help with traditional areas such as communication and child issues, but they also help with fear and abandonment issues, moving through impasse, and restructuring lives.
Coaches also reinforce the paradigm shift from adversarial to collaborative, which is not only taking place in the lawyers but also among all the participants — as our culture still generally associates divorce with a range of stereotypically bad behavior. When coaches are present in a meeting with the lawyers and their clients, the meeting doesn't feel like "business as usual." According to preliminary "exit" data from collaborative divorce cases, clients reported more over all satisfaction with their divorce process when there was a team of professionals, rather than when there were just the two lawyers working with the parties in the case.