History and Development of Collaborative Law

by Nora Bushfield

Collaborative Law came about as the result of one man’s desperation. In the late 1980's, after practicing traditional civil law for eight years and then family law for an additional seventeen years, Stuart ‘Stu’ Webb, a family law practitioner in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was approaching burnout. He, like many of us, who practice in the field of family conflict, hated the adversarial nature of his practice. It was becoming harder and harder to tolerate the schizophrenic nature of trial and family practice. Incivility seemed on the increase rather than the decrease. In other words, he'd had it.

Prepared to close down his practice, he started taking courses in psychology at the local university. It did not take long, however, for Stu to realize that his future did not lie in becoming a psychologist. Then he started thinking. If he was willing to start over, maybe he could come up with a different way to structure a family law practice, which kept only those parts of his practice that, he truly enjoyed.

So Stu started experimenting. After some successes and failures, Collaborative Law was born. In this family law model, attorneys work collaboratively with the parties to achieve a win/win solution for everyone. Information is shared and the parties agree that they will not litigate during this process. When disagreements arise, often outside experts—such as financial planners, therapists, child advocates—are brought in to help create a solution that will work for the entire family. If no solutions are possible, the parties can still litigate, but then they will have to retain new and different lawyers.

Stu started practicing collaborative family law exclusively as of January 1, 1990, but he could not practice collaboratively by himself. So, he started seeking other family lawyers who would be willing to try the collaborative model. He began on a case-by-case basis asking for a collaborative commitment. A local “institute” started with four attorneys. By 2000 there were 45 members of the Collaborative Law Institute in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul. Under Stu’s leadership, the Institute conducts training, sends out information and membership lists to prospective clients, and offers support meetings to members.

It was not long until Stu started hearing from lawyers in other states. California was one of the first, leading to an alliance between Stu and Pauline Tressler from the San Francisco area. Stu and Pauline have conducted separate and joint training sessions around the country and Canada, including Georgia, Florida, and a number of sites in California, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Texas.

Some areas of the country-- for example, Ohio--are working toward creating collaborative law models which can be used in different types of legal cases. The Collaborative Family Law Project reports that as many as 100 cases were resolved by attorneys using the collaborative law process. Collaborative Law or Collaborative Family Law (a generic description of the process) is sometimes equated with “Collaborative Divorce“. “Collaborative Divorce”, fostered by a group of psychotherapist in California, is a highly evolved interdisciplinary team model which utilizes attorneys, therapists, and financial experts in an effort to avoid some of the destructive aspects of divorce. The ABA Family Law Section’s 1999 Spring CLE Conference featured “Collaborative Divorce” as part of its program.

Stu’s effort has fostered the development of collaborative law in both the United States and Canada. At a recent meeting among representatives of groups from both countries, it was agreed that the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals [IACP], (www.collabgroup.com), should serve as the hub for this exciting movement. The IACP publishes a quarterly journal and facilitates national meetings on Collaborative Law.