FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Contacts:
J. Kim Wright:  jkimwright@healersofconflicts.com; 828-253-3355
Barbara Davis: bdavis@main.nc.us  828-281-0446

For information: http://www.collablaw.org

Collablaw.org  Sponsors Event for GLBT Community

Asheville, NC –September 12, 2007 – The Asheville Collaborative Lawyers group, www.Collablaw.org, has received a mini-grant for outreach to underserved communities and has planned several events in the upcoming months.  The mini-grant was awarded by the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals Task Force on Inclusivity, Diversity, and Accessibility. The IACP has expressed a strong commitment to making collaborative law available to a broader clientele.  

For their first event, the local group is sponsoring a free seminar entitled “Why is the North Carolina Legislature in my bedroom? 5 Steps to Getting them OUT!” for the GLBT community. It is open to individuals and couples. The event will be held at the Grand Asian Buffet; 153 Smokey Park Highway; Asheville, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. on September 19, 2007. The Seminar is free. The Buffet is $9.75 plus tax and tip.

Asheville attorneys Aleece Hiller, Barbara Davis & J. Kim Wright will present short programs on relevant issues and will then be available for questions and answers.

Collaborative Practice is a non-adversarial approach to addressing legal issues that arise in relationships. Collaborative practitioners should be aware of and sensitive to special issues, legal, logistical, and emotional, that arise in the break-up of a GLBT relationship.  

Collaborative Law is especially helpful to same-sex couples, given the legal inequalities and uncertainties they face. It gives clients the opportunity, with the assistance of professionals, to work toward the best solution for all involved. If clients go to court, their problems will be resolved by contract law, resulting in significant or even devastating financial and emotional costs for everyone.

Privacy is often a major concern for same-sex couples, particularly if their community, work environment or family environment is homophobic. Collaborative Law is very well suited to helping couples separate in a dignified, respectful and private manner which does not result in harsh, inequitable results for one or both of them.

Collaborative Law is holistic in nature. It takes care of the legal, financial and emotional needs of the parties. Traditional adversarial models of law do not fit same-sex separation cases. In the multi-disciplinary model, a team of lawyers, accountants, and mental health professionals work with both clients' best interests at heart and share information freely in a supportive environment. A mental health coach can be available to help each client through the process.

Collaborative Law provides a safe structure where people can negotiate without the threat of court. They do not have to worry about the discrimination they may face in an adversarial process because of their sexual orientation.

Collaborative Law is client-centered instead of court-centered. It is far too easy for one partner in a same-sex relationship to “throw in the towel” and run to court for any number of actions, including partition of assets, tort actions, contract actions, or use of family law to the detriment of the other partner. The partner with the genetic or adoptive relationship with the children and the partner who holds the assets in his or her name will generally win in court, often to the detriment of the family unit that has been so carefully created and preserved. Where children are involved, and, in particular, in states which do not allow second-parent adoptions or recognize de facto parenting, there can be heartbreaking results if the court awards all rights to the “legal” parent and does not honor the child’s relationship with the co-parent.

The cornerstone of the collaborative process is that the lawyers sign a pledge to withdraw from the case if either of their clients decides to go to court. This gives the lawyers an incentive to leave adversarial habits behind. It encourages clients to stay in the process because litigating means starting over with new counsel. The parties have a vested interest to hopefully prevent the worst case outcome of litigation over GLBT issues where one or both partners face highly unfavorable results.

The settlement is shaped by the needs and desires of the couple, not the current status of the legislation and case law. A same-sex couple in the collaborative process is able to apply equitable distribution property principles even though these principles do not apply to them in their jurisdiction. For example, one partner may compensate the other for half of her retirement proceeds earned during the marriage, although she was not required by law to do so. The other partner may waive her claims to the first partner’s business, to which she had a right under business partnership laws, because her partner agreed to pay child support, which was not required by law.

Outside the collaborative process, an attorney representing a partner in a same-sex couple would assess whether the law benefits the client. If the attorney represents the partner with the strong legal position, he or she would promote litigation and push for filing a civil law suit as soon as possible. If the attorney represents the partner with the weak legal position, he or she would work hard to reach a settlement as soon as possible, try not to create waves, and hope that the other partner does not file a lawsuit. With Collaborative Law, this distinction can be erased. The parties can each be represented by counsel and litigation can be avoided. The status of the law can be ignored and the parties can agree to what is equitable. Mental health professionals are very helpful in achieving this outcome, because the partner who knows that the law is in his or her favor will usually be tempted to terminate the Collaborative Law process and litigate, whereas the partner who has no legal rights may be desperate. This discrepancy can create extreme emotional barriers to the process. The mental health professionals can assist in keeping the partners in check and on track. Collaborative Law can give same-sex couples the emotional support they need, so that they can focus on reaching an equitable agreement.

Collaborative Law was the brainchild of a Minnesota lawyer who created the process in the early 1990’s. Now, over 10,000 lawyers have been trained in the process and there are collaborative law groups in most states and many countries. It has been the subject of news reports in dozens of cities, on the Today Show, the Jane Pauley Show, Paul Harvey, and in national periodicals such as The Christian Science Monitor, Wall Street Journal, Money Magazine, and many others.

For information: http://www.collablaw.org
Contact: Kim Wright, jkimwright@healersofconflicts.com;
Barbara Davis bdavis@main.us
Phone: 828-253-3355; 828-281-0446

 The International Academy of Collaborative Professionals: www.collaborativepractice.com.

For more information, email info@collablaw.org