Collaborative practice
Key practice support for your work as a collaborative practitioner
Practice support and resources
In this section, you’ll find Resolution’s suite of resources for collaborative practitioners. This includes information on the scope of collaborative practice, how you become a collaborative practitioner, routes for professional development and much more.
Please let us know if there’s anything you’d like to see included.
Professional development
This section includes resources that help guide you through training and what you need to do your continuing professional development.
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Collaborative Working Party update
Ian Hawkins and Tasha Bevan-Stewart (Co-chairs, Resolution Collaborative Working Party) at the Collaborative Practice Forum (19th November 2020).
Running collaborative meetings on Zoom
This session is presented by Gemma Hope (Family Law Partners).
Dealing with difficult clients
Presented by Adele Ballantyne – Family Consultant at Eleda Consultancy.
Professional Collaboration - Family Separation and Divorce
Presented by Hampshire Family Legal Solutions: Catherine Sousa, Bethan Hartley, Ann Herd and Nick Dean.
Training and Learning
Podcast: Financial neutrals and the collaborative process
In this podcast, Ian Hawkins, Mary Waring, and Phil O'Connor discuss the many benefits that can be obtained from including a financial neutral within a collaborative meeting.
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Standards in collaborative practice
Collaborative practice is a process in which those involved in family breakdown, whether or not they’re a couple or other family members, appoint an impartial third person to assist them to communicate better with one another and reach their own agreed and informed decisions concerning some, or all, of the issues relating to separation, divorce, children, finance or property by negotiation. This section considers the different factors that make family mediation a principled and structured process.
Conduct of collaborative practice
We look at all the issues you need to consider when it comes to conducting a collaborative case. This includes issues such as: first meetings, financial disclosure, arrangements for children, developing options, drafting, types of payment and much more.
Pre-participation protocol for collaborative practitioners
This protocol establishes the standards which guide the relationship and communication between collaborative lawyers in the period between first contact in a potential new collaboration and the signing of the Participation Agreement (PA).
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Stages and process for collaborative practice
1. The Initial Meeting with the Client; 2. Preparation Meeting with Client for Collaborative (can be combined with 1. above); 3. First pre-four way meeting between lawyers (NB parallel or further interdisciplinary; 4. First four way meeting; 5. Intermediate four way meetings; 6. Final four way meeting
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Other professional practice considerations
Further resources
The Certainty Project
Nadia Beckett, Julian Bremner, Margaret Kelly and Karin Walker four of the main forces behind ‘The Certainty Project’ explain about this innovative way of working and how it can assist your practice at this time of change.
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Family Consultants and Psychologists in Collaborative Practice
As dispute resolution practitioners, we constantly find ourselves navigating private aspects of human relationships and emotions. An experienced family lawyer and mediator confided in me that she did not feel competent in handling the emotional aspects of disputes.
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FIAMs within the collaborative setting
A Financial Initial Assessment Meeting is a financial health check that is best carried out early in the collaborative journey.
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DR Committee
Further information - latest minutes and members of Resolution's Dispute Resolution committee.
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Collaborative Working Party
Further information - latest minutes and members of Resolution's Collaborative Working Party.
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Resources for clients
The collaborative process
The collaborative process can help you and your ex reach agreement whilst retaining your own team of professionals
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Choosing the right process
Download the leaflet for clients on choosing the right process.
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