NEW COLLABORATIVE LAW WEBSITE IS LAUNCHED

December 2011

Following recognition in The Legal 500 of Rothera Dowson’s work in Collaborative Law, the firm has now launched a new website: www.collaborativelawsolicitors.co.uk

All lawyers understand how the true cost of relationship breakdown is measured in personal and emotional terms as well as financial terms.  A poorly managed separation leaves lasting scars not only on the separating couple but also on their children and members of their extended family and support network.

More and more people throughout Nottinghamshire are finding Collaborative Law a practical and constructive alternative approach.  It allows couples to sit down with their respective solicitors, and the four of them commit to sorting matters out together.  Hopes, aspirations, expectations, even fears can all be shared, and the four people agree to work together to create an agreement with which everyone is content.  Couples emerge ready to move on, without the bitterness and unresolved anger that can so often accompany separation.

The process starts with the couple and their lawyers signing a written agreement in which they commit to try to resolve matters without involving the courts.  In addition to the technical legal expertise you would expect, our Collaborative Lawyers receive additional training in working collaboratively.  This takes a special type of lawyer: skilled and compassionate professionals who focus on solutions rather than confrontation to make it work, and who aren’t afraid to call in additional help when the situation needs it, for example from financial advisers or counsellors.

The couple sets the agenda, and matters progress at a pace both feel comfortable with.  They commit to making full disclosure and being open about the issues that matter, and so avoid feeling as if they’re being dragged helplessly along a legal conveyor belt.  The process sends out positive signals to any children.  Research consistently shows that children benefit from knowing their parents are working out their differences together and constructively.

Collaborative Law is not an easy option.  It requires the right mindset from everybody involved.  But it can be vastly more cost effective than the “traditional” non-collaborative approach.  For couples for whom it’s right, it provides genuine resolution to relationship breakdown, and those coming out the other end report a genuine sense of well-being.  Couples can move forward in an atmosphere of respect and understanding which may not have been possible otherwise.  The results achieved can be quite remarkable. 

Collaborative Law takes a certain kind of couple and a special kind of lawyer.  If you want further information or would like to speak with one of our Collaborative Family Lawyers, contact  Paul Cobb or Lorna Sear on 0115 9100 600 or visit our new website at www.collaborativelawsolicitors.co.uk