“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

The Collaborative Process

The goals of the collaborative process are: to create an environment in which each party can have his and her legitimate needs met; to assist the parties in gathering all necessary information and analyzing that information for choices and options; to assess all options determining the consequences of each; to guide the parties in developing settlement proposals and to help them negotiate a durable and lasting agreement.

“After more than twenty years practicing matrimonial and family law, I am convinced that many divorces are turned into bad divorces by the very nature of the adversarial legal system. Lawyers are trained to be adversaries and to represent their individual clients zealously, however the concept of “opposing parties” aggravates divorce-related conflicts. I believe that the traditional approach and the legal process often set the spouses on the wrong road, encouraging them to oppose one another and to give up responsibility for decision-making to their attorneys and to the court. As a collaborative lawyer, I am a dedicated advocate for my client.”

Since 2001, Sue has also been championing the development of Collaborative Law in her own Rochester, New York community and by presenting trainings throughout the United States and Canada. Minneapolis attorney Stuart Webb developed this alternative process in 1990 to give spouses a way to end marriages cooperatively, face-to-face, with the help and guidance of attorneys, but without going to court. Building on his concept, Sue’s trainings, with Stu and others, are directed to attorneys and affiliated professionals assisting clients through the separation and divorce process and helping them address relationship, emotional, financial and legal issues. The trained professionals help their clients remember the needs of the children to be kept out of the middle of parental conflict. In Collaborative Law, a respectful, creative effort to meet the legitimate needs of both parties and their children replaces positional bargaining backed by threat of litigation.

Collaborative Law is the practice and art of settling cases with legal counsel, but without court intervention at any stage. All negotiations take place in four-way conferences between the parties and their attorneys. Each client has built-in legal advice and advocacy during negotiations and each attorney is committed to guiding the clients toward reasonable resolutions. The attorneys cannot go to court or threaten to go to court. Settlement is the only agenda and all involved rely upon an atmosphere of cooperation and professionalism.

Sue is actively involved in expanding the collaborative idea to incorporate therapist/”coaches” to help the clients deal with the emotional fallout of the end of the marriage, parenting issues, and development of communication skills. The coaches receive specialized training to coordinate their efforts with the collaborative attorneys as all support the spouses through this difficult time. If a child specialist is needed to meet with the children, the parents can agree to enlist the aid of that professional. Financial consultants (accountants or certified financial divorce analysts) receive specialized training to help educate the spouses about financial decisions and supplement the efforts of the collaborative attorneys. If an expert is needed to evaluate an asset of the marriage, be it a degree earned during the marriage or the valuation of a business interest, the parties agree on one neutral professional.