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Joshua Rozenberg

Friday 19th February 2010

Why Family Lawyers Should = Collaborate

I don't think I could ever be a family lawyer. Their daily diet of = human=20 frailty would depress me beyond measure. Yes, I'm sure there is much=20 satisfaction to be gained from helping clients to put their shattered = lives back=20 together again. But there must be many more people who never truly = recover from=20 the effects of family separation or abuse.

These depressing thoughts were prompted by a morning this week in the = High=20 Court Family Division. Each judge of the division does a week of urgent=20 applications, sitting in court during the day and sleeping by the phone = at=20 night.

As an "accredited" journalist, I am now allowed to attend hearings in = the=20 Family Division. I am not permitted access to the court papers so it is = rather=20 difficult to know what is going on. On the other hand, I am not allowed = to=20 report most of what I see or hear so perhaps the detail contained in = these=20 papers would not be of much use to me.

Exactly what I can report is far from clear. I don't think even the = judges=20 know. But I suspect that I will not be in contempt of Mrs Justice Barron = if I=20 comment that she handled her caseload with tact, sensitivity and an=20 extraordinarily practical attention to detail. She knew how to make the = system=20 work and she was determined to ensure that justice was done. Perhaps all = family=20 judges are as practical as she is; I shall have to go back and watch = another=20 judge at work.

A few hours later, I went to meet another very practical lawyer. = Gillian=20 Bishop, whose law firm is called Family Law in Partnership, has written = a=20 44-page booklet called A=20 Client's Guide to Collaborative Divorce. Single copies cost =C2=A35 = and it's well=20 worth a read by anyone contemplating divorce or separation.

Collaborative divorce is a process developed by lawyers in Minnesota = a few=20 years ago under which couples commit themselves to resolving disputes = over money=20 and children between themselves without asking the courts to intervene. = This is=20 not conciliation or reconciliation; it doesn't bring couples back = together=20 again. But for those who try the collaborative approach, it seems to = work in 85%=20 of the cases.

Instead of writing aggressive letters to each other, collaborative = lawyers=20 and their clients meet across the table. These four-way meetings - two = lawyers,=20 two parties - are at the heart of the collaborative process. And there's = a great=20 incentive to do a deal: if it fails and the couple have to go to court, = both=20 lawyers must pull out and the clients have to start again from scratch. =

If you want to know why lawyers are prepared to risk losing their = clients,=20 read the book.

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About Joshua Rozenberg

Joshua Rozenberg was the BBC's legal correspondent for 15 years. He = moved to=20 The Daily Telegraph in 2000, editing the paper's legal = coverage=20 for eight years. Now a freelance writer, commentator and broadcaster on = legal=20 affairs, he blogs exclusively for Standpoint.

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