Developing a Collaborative Family Law Practice provides an authoritative, insiders perspective on becoming an effective collaborative lawyer and building a successful practice. Featuring skilled collaborative attorneys from around the country, this book guides the reader through the paradigm shifts that have to occur before embarking on the collaborative path. These top lawyers discuss the tenets of the growing collaborative movement, including how the process works, the benefits involved, and advice for working with clients and other collaborative professionals. Whether you are replacing a litigation practice with collaborative or incorporating it into a current practice, these authors explain the step-by-step process of establishing a collaborative family law firm. They unveil strategies that will take you from through your initial training and starting a local practice group to setting up the physical office and creating a thriving business. Additionally, these leaders reveal proven tactics for promoting yourself and your practice to clients and the legal community. The different niches represented and the breadth of perspectives presented enable readers to get inside some of the great legal minds of today, as these experienced lawyers offer up their thoughts on the keys to success within this flourishing field.

Tips, strategies, tactics, forms, and real-word advice for starting - or building - a family law practice. Written by a successful and happy family lawyer, this book explains the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in a challenging area of the law. It takes a no-nonsense approach in explaining the most critical issues for developing a successful career. Examples and practice tips show how to gain experience, understand the business aspects of a practice, develop and maintain the ideal client mix, and manage staff and finances. CD-ROM with forms and related materials.

This unique new handbook explains this emerging dispute resolution model of collaborative law that is helping family lawyers bring their clients through the divorce passage with integrity and satisfaction. Collaborative Law describes how this approach engages the unique problem-solving skills of lawyers to achieve settlements that creatively and appropriately customize outcomes in the way that few courts are able to achieve. In the collaborative process, fees and costs are minimized, high-quality legal counsel and negotiating assistance are built in, and the ability of divorcing spouses to cooperate and coparent is maximized to a dramatic extent.

Forrest S. Mosten Collaborative Divorce Handbook Helping families without going to court Praise for Collaborative Divorce Handbook "There are many roads to peace. Whether you engage in collaborative practice, which by definition includes the provision that professionals will not represent the parties in litigation, or some other process for respectful conflict resolution, you will find Collaborative Divorce Handbook to be an invaluable resource for deepening your understanding and enhancing your skills as a peacemaker." Talia L. Katz, JD, executive director, International Academy of Collaborative Professionals "Collaborative lawyering is a promising new way of resolving disputes through joint problem solving rather than adversary litigation that has particular appeal for divorce cases. Whether you are a client who seeks to learn more about it or a lawyer using it who desires a wise guiding hand, this book is an invaluable resource." Frank E. A. Sander, Bussey Professor Emeritus, Harvard Law School "Written by one of the innovative thinkers in the field, Collaborative Divorce Handbook is a treasure of information for all professionals interested in collaborative divorce. Easy to read, expansive, and chock-full of resources, it is bound to become a classic." Constance Ahrons, PhD, author, The Good Divorce and We're Still Family, and professor emerita, University of Southern California "Family law is changing. As more people realize that the adversarial process is expensive, degrading, and stressful, they look for alternatives and find it in various forms of alternative dispute resolution. Woody Mosten is the nationally recognized leader of this movement, and his book on collaborative practice literally will be 'The Handbook' we will all follow." Garrett C. Dailey, Esq., CFLS, AAML, president, Attorney's BriefCase, Inc.

"Focusing on family law practitioners, [this book] is a particularly appropriate resource given the unique promise that unbundling holds for family law litigants. In many jurisdictions, self-representation rates are highest in family cases. But, as any family law attorney (or family court litigant) knows, these are the case types that arguably benefit most from attorney involvement. Family issues are among the most sensitive and pressing matters that enter our civil justice system, and the outcomes of these cases can affect entire families for years to come. This important new book provides a crucial step forward in matching individuals with the family law services they need." -- Publisher's website.

Helping all professionals - lawyers, mental health professionals, financial neutrals, etc. - who practice in the area of Collaborative Divorce, this book explains how marital dynamics (both conscious and unconscious), combined with the traumas of the divorce as well as those from previous situations, will be re-enacted within the Collaborative process. This enlightening book integrates elements of effective psychotherapy into the Collaborative process, although its lessons can be as easily applied to divorce cases handled through litigation and mediation.

Divorce is hard, but it doesn’t have to be so painful. Collaborative Divorce offers a different, more peaceful path to ending a marriage; this book shows you how to do it. Divorce is like a death in the family, except no one is bringing you food. This book is a myth buster, and an antidote to the negative messaging about divorce. It offers hope and encouragement for the reader to choose a divorce process that aligns with their own core values. Values such as dignity, mutual respect, integrity, and compassion. It offers the reader an introduction to Collaborative Divorce, both the mindset and the process, as it has been established and practiced for the past thirty years. Collaborative divorce is an interdisciplinary, non-adversarial divorce model. It is like mediation on steroids. Divorce is a complex process. It involves legal, psychological, and financial considerations. Collaborative divorce uses an interdisciplinary approach, and it is not dominated by the lawyers and is more cost efficient. A skillful mental health coach addresses emotional issues such as anger, sadness, rage, betrayal, guilt, shame, excitement, relief, and acceptance for everyone in the family. The financial neutral will collect, organize, analyze, and present the financial resources of the couple in a way to ensure an equal understanding of what can often feel like overwhelming amount of data. The lawyers provide legal advice. The core focus of the book is to reframe divorce from a shame and blame game to a paradigm where divorce is viewed through the lens of grief. It offers each reader an opportunity to show up for their divorce and present their best selves, even if they don’t feel like it. It emphasizes honor and respect for everyone involved. This book is an open and honest portrayal of divorce from the perspective of a veteran divorce attorney, who has also been divorced. We live in a time of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. A divorce is just like that, and the antidote to those conditions include concepts like collaboration, deep listening, innovation, flexibility, and an ability to pivot. Collaborative divorce is the best kept secret of family lawyers. It is an opportunity to emerge from a divorce, healthy and wholehearted, not bitter, and resentful. Learn how to do it here.