“Discourage litigation. Persuade neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out how the nominal winner is often the real loser in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker, the lawyer has a superior opportunity of becoming a good man.”

- Abraham Lincoln

Daily Record Tech Link Article Fall 2002

— By Suzanne L. Brunsting, Esq.

Our access to information and quick communication over the Internet is going to revolutionize family law in the next few years. A great idea started in early 1990 when an attorney decided to declare “unilateral disarmament” and convince spouses and other attorneys to resolve the parties’ differences cooperatively and without going to court.

The process of collaborative law started slowly, at first, through word-of-mouth. As its successes became known, collaborative law gained acceptance. Associations of attorneys formed across the country and in Canada as people learned about this option for minimizing the conflict in divorce while resolving the issues. Now, with the Internet, that slow “word-of-mouth” has hit warp speed.

I heard about collaborative law from a colleague who was surfing the Internet, typed in “collaborative law” and hit “search”. I found dozens of web sites, among them, one with an attorney’s name and an asterisk denoting that he practiced collaborative law, exclusively. There was an e-mail address so I started to type in a question, “Is it really possible to give up litigation cold turkey, limit your practice to collaborative law, and survive?” By the end of the day I had a positive response. Over the next two weeks, I e-mailed back and forth with an encouraging Stu Webb who, I learned later, happens to be the father of collaborative law.

At Stu’s invitation, I attended a training in Washington D.C. in June of 2001. I was so psyched up that when I came home, I wrote to a few attorneys I thought would have interest. Through mail and e-mail, meetings were scheduled, the concept was discussed, and by November of 2001, thirty of our own matrimonial attorneys had been trained in collaborative law. We connected with other groups found through the internet search who were enthusiastic about sharing their experiences, helping us form our association and getting us started.

Now our own web site is up, www.nycollaborativelaw.com, and calls are coming in. We have joined a Yahoo group for collaborative professionals and, in what feels like a heartbeat, the information about our Association of Collaborative Family Law Attorneys has been shared with hundreds of other groups. In the first twelve hours, I had over twenty e-mails of congratulations, encouraging comments, and offers for help.

With our technical explosion; “word-of-mouth” will never mean the same thing, again.