Collaborative Law.. lawyers practicing in the area are quite convinced of it's potential to help many families work out their legal issues in a relationship breakdown in a manner which is effective and respectful.
But, oddly enough, many lawyers who pursue a practice in Collaborative Law aren't the best promoters of the practice. Being focused on finding the best solutions for their clients, they sometimes eschew spending time to publicly promote themselves and their practice relying, largely, on word of mouth of their clients to "spread the word".
Most clients, however, have nothing to judge their Collaborative experience against. They haven't been divorced before, so they haven't had the pleasure of enduring months and sometimes years of litigation, including what might be fairly described as the legally sanctioned verbal flogging called pre-trial questioning and cross-examination in trial.
As lawyers, having seen the comparison first hand - we can often recommend to our clients the benefits of avoiding litigation where possible - but for the client, even going through Collaborative divorce may seem harsh and stressful. So - their promotional benefits may not be as clear as we, as lawyers, might suggest.
So.
Then.
How important is it for lawyers to put their humility aside a bit, and to speak a little louder that, yes, we are here, and yes, we believe that Collaborative law and Mediation are processes that you should seriously consider should you find yourself in the midst of an unfortunate relationship breakdown, either in Divorce or the breakdown of a Common-law relationship.
For an excellent example of a colleague who has made the effort to promote not only her own practice, but the practice of Collaborative Law generally, take a look at Beryl McNeil's youtube post:
