'Collaborative law' gives families less traumatic results

A rise in the use of "collaborative law" in family law cases is resulting in less traumatic, more compassionate settlements, a seminar heard yesterday.

Speaking at a seminar for financial experts who work in family law cases, Patricia Mallon, chairwoman of the Association of Collaborative Practitioners in Ireland, said the collaborative law model offers humane, respectful and non-adversarial ways of dealing with family break up.

The model, developed in the US in the 1990s and imported to Ireland in 2004, currently has 40 practitioners around the country.

It offers voluntary conflict resolution for couples going through a separation, divorce or other family law matter without the threat of legal action and aims to minimise the negative economic, social and emotional consequences of litigation on families.

Couples employ their own solicitors and negotiate a settlement over a series of meetings. All parties sign up to a participation agreement. Under the agreement, solicitors pledge not to go to court to resolve the couples' differences and if negotiations break down, neither solicitor can continue to represent the separating couple. In the US, only 0.05 per cent of collaborative law cases break down in the negotiation stage.

According to Ms Mallon, the popularity of collaborative law is growing in Ireland and up to 50 cases are being handled in Cork.

"Already 90 per cent of family law cases in Ireland are settled outside the court, but with a back drop of high tension, with a threat that parties will move to court if they don't get what they want," she said.

"With collaborative law that threat is removed. It moves from what people want, to what is best for everyone, including children."

Ms Mallon added that the process is transparent and more cost-effective than the adversarial method.