Why Should Families Use The Collaborative Law Process

Law schools focus on teaching students how to litigate. Law Students learn the Rules of Court, study legislation, study caselaw, and practice running trials. Now, there are a few weeks that Law Students spend on how to negotiate and other “alternative dispute resolutions”. The description of “alternative dispute resolutions” as being “alternative” accurately describes that litigation (going to Court) is the “primary” or “default” form of dispute resolution.

Our dispute resolution system is set-up so that the default form of resolution is litigation. If parties don’t agree on how to resolve their dispute, the only thing that they can force the other party to do is to litigate. This means filing documents to ask the Court for what the parties want along with written evidence exchanging documents through lawyers, being questioned by lawyers, providing more documents, being questioned more, setting Court dates, attending Court, and eventually having lawyers ask you questions in front of a judge then letting that judge make decisions for the parties and their family.

Litigation is fun for lawyers. Lawyers have to think on their feet, know their case well, and know the law well.

Litigation pays Lawyers well. The law profession is still about the “billable hour” and those are easy to rack up when you are litigating.

Litigation is discouraging. Real people with real problems pay a lot of money and wait a long time to get a decision from a stranger about the things in life that are most important to them.

Collaborative Law is a system where people maintain control over their own decisions and can rely upon experts to help them make their personal and financial decisions while still benefitting from having a lawyer protect their best interests. The Collaborative Law system encourages real commitment from the parties and keep costs down by focusing on the issues and avoiding the expense of the litigation process.

Article Written by Tyler Pollock, Harvie denBok Pollock Law.