Global Collaborative Law Council

We welcome Norma Levine Trursh of Houston, Texas, Lawrence G. Newman of Dallas, Texas, and Theresa G Kulat of Downers Grove, Illinois.
 
Norma Trusch is a prominent family lawyer, collaborative trainer and mediator in Houston, and a leader in the world-wide collaborative movement  Norma is a two-term past president of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals and an Adjunct Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law. She is a long-time advocate of expanding collaborative practice to all areas of law.
 
Larry Newman has been a member of GCLC from its inception. We are delighted to welcome him as a new member of the Board of Directors. Larry has recently been elected to membership in the prestigious American Law Institute. He is the author of A Compete Guide to Nonprofit Corporations and Texas Corporation Law. As a Director, Larry will make a valuable contribution as GCLC continues its efforts to educate corporate leadership around the world as to the benefits of the collaborative process
 
Theresa Kulat was elected to the Board of Directors at the Annual Meeting of members, and elected by the Board to serve as Secretary of GCLC. Theresa has an active collaborative practice in family and employment matters in a geographical area that she describes as "Chicagoland." As a member of the Midwest Chapter of GCLC, she is actively spreading the word as to the benefits collaborative practice in other areas of law.

Shannon L.K. Welch, we thank you for your years of service as a Director and Secretary of GCLC. Shannon has recently become a named partner in the Dallas firm of Fisher, Holmes & Welch, and in the Spring of 2011, will receive her Master of Arts in Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management from Southern Methodist University. Shannon will continue her support of GCLC as a member of its Advisory Board of Directors.
 
Sherrie R. Abney, the heart and soul of the Global Collaborative Law Council, we thank you for your total commitment to the mission of the Global Collaborative Law Council, and your tireless efforts to spread the good news of the collaborative process, from coast to coast in the United States, and to Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, and recently to Uganda. In 2005, Sherrie authored the first book published on Civil Collaborative Law, Avoiding Litigation: A Guide to Civil Collaborative Law. In 2010, she authored a soon to be published a textbook on Civil Collaborative Law, which she is putting to good use at Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, where she serves on the Adjunct Faculty and teaches a three hour course on Collaborative Law.
 

GCLC President Larry Maxwell has authored an article entitled An Update: Uniform Collaborative Law Act, Uniform Collaborative Law Rules, Texas Uniform Collaborative Law Act, which appears in the Winter 2011 edition of Alternative Resolutions, a publication of the ADR Section of the State Bar of Texas. The article includes an overview of Collaborative Law, a chronology of the development of the Uniform Collaborative Law Act and the need for uniformity from state to state, and provides a history of collaborative law legislation in Texas and a look at the Texas version of the UCLA.

In July 2009, at its Annual Meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Uniform Law  Commission by a unanimous vote, approved the Uniform Collaborative Law Act.  GCLC President Larry Maxwell is co-chair of the Collaborative Law Committee  of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution, and served as the Section's  Advisor to the UCLA Drafting Committee which drafted the Act. The ABA  Collaborative Law Committee has prepared an Executive Summary of the Uniform  Collaborative Law Act which provides a section by section analysis of the  UCLA as approved by the Commission.

In February 2010, the Uniform Law Commission submitted the UCLA to the ABA House of Delegates for approval at the ABA Mid-Year in  Orlando, Florida.The UCLA was supported by a number of ABA entities:  including the Sections of Dispute Resolution, Individual Rights &  Responsibilities, Family Law Section and many delegates. In view of  certain objections voiced by the ABA Litigation Section and other  groups, the Uniform Law Commission in consultation with proponents of  the Act, decided to withdraw the Act from consideration by the ABA at  that time.

In March 2010, in an effort to meet the objections that had been raised  in Orlando, the UCLA Drafting Committee reconvened and made certain  revisions and additions to the Act.

• The Committee drafted Court Rules  which mirror the statute. This gives states options to enact the statute,  or adopt Court Rules, or a combination thereof.
• The definition of "collaborative matter" in Section 1 was modified to  created an Alternate A which limits the Act/Rules to "matters" which arise  under family laws of a state; and Alternate B, which places no limitation of  matters that can be submitted to the collaborative process.
• The Committee modified the automatic stay of court proceedings in  Section 6, to provide that notice to a tribunal that parties are proceeding  in the collaborative process is an application for a stay, rather than an  automatic stay.

The revisions and addition of the Court Rules have been approved by the  Uniform Law Commission, and the UCLA / UCLR with Prefatory Note and  Comments, as amended, dated October 12, 2010 is available for  introduction in state legislatures. States will now have several  options: to enact the original UCLA, or the revised Act, or Court Rules,  or a combination thereof.

The Collaborative Law Committee of the ABA Section of Dispute Resolution has prepared an Updated Executive Summary of the Uniform Collaborative Law Act and Uniform Collaborative Law Rules, which provides a section by section analysis of the Act/Rules.

The original 2009 UCLA, the amended 2010 UCLR/UCLR, a history of the drafting process, and a Legislative Information Kit and Bill Tracking information are available on the website of the ULC.

An article entitled The Uniform Collaborative Law Act: It's here appears in  the Fall 2009 edition of Alternative Resolutions, a publication of the ADR  Section of the State Bar of Texas. The article provides a brief history of  the Uniform Law Commission, gives an overview of the collaborative process,  identifies the reasons that the Commission deemed it appropriate to codify  the process into a uniform law and highlights the significant provisions of the Act.

Sherrie Abney, GCLC's co-founder and VP for Training and Continuing Education, edits the GCLC Newsletter, which is sent every other month to members via e-mail. The newsletter keeps GCLC members informed regarding the activities in various collaborative communities around the world. If you would like to stay abreast of the worldwide collaborative movement as a member of GCLC, you may apply to become a Licensed Professional Member or an Associate Member. For more information on the Benefits of Membership and to obtain a New Member Application form, go to Membership Information

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR Institute) is an international nonprofit coalition of corporate counsel, top law firms, judiciary and academics, dedicated to providing resources and information in commercial conflict prevention and dispute management. The Journal of Dispute Resolution, a publication of the University of Missouri School of Law., recently published an article by Kathy A. Bryan, President and CEO of the CPR Institute entitled Why Should Businesses Hire Settlement Counsel?  Ms. Bryan outlines the benefits of CL, gives ideas and proposals for future direction of the CL movement and concludes: "Given the rapid growth and stunning impact of CL in family law, it is time to experiment with CL concepts in the business setting." The author encourages corporate counsel to take the lead and experiment with using separate settlement counsel and with more pure forms of CL.  

Robert Lopich, a collaborative lawyer and nationallly accredited mediator in Sydney, Australia, has  been appointed by the Council as its first International Director and Chair of the Council's Austral/Asian Region. In Collaborating Down Under Robert provides a glowing report of the March 2009 collaborative law conference held in Sydney, and describes the enthuastic support of Australian government officials for the collaborative law movement in Australia.

New GCLC member Norman Solovay is Chair of the ADR Section of the New York law firm of McLaughlin & Stern LLP, Norman will serve as Chair of GCLC's Northeast Region. He and GCLC President Larry Maxwell have co-authored an article entitled "Why a Uniform Collaborative Law Act?," which has been published in Spring 2009, Vol. 2, No. 1, of the New York Dispute Resolution Lawyer, a publication of the New York State Bar Association. The article provides an in-depth analysis of the Uniform Collaborative Law Act, which will be submitted for final reading in July at the Annual Meeting of the Uniform Law Commission. The Uniform Act will be available for enactment by state legislatures later this year. The authors strongly support enactment of the UCLA and opine that ". . .the further growth and development of collaborative law holds out significant benefits for clients and the legal profession. . ."

In February 2007, the American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution established a Collaborative Law Committee. David Hoffman of Boston, Larry Maxwell of Dallas and Linda Wray of Minneapolis currently serve as Co-chairs of the Committee. The mission of the Committee is to encourage the use of Collaborative Law, educate the Section, the ABA and the public about the use of Collaborative Law, A number of GCLC members actively participate in the work of the Committee.

In August 2007 the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility issued Formal Opinion 07-477 approving the use of collaborative law agreements by lawyers. The ABA Ethics Opinion puts to rest the questions raised by the Colorado Ethics Opinion, and squarely supports the use of collaborative law participation agreements so long as the clients are well informed about the process. In October 2008, the Collaborative Law Committee authored a Discussion Draft entitled Summary of Ethics Rules Governing Collaborative Practice, The paper addresses ethical issues considered in state court opinions issued to date and ABA Formal Opinion 07-477.

In the current edition of the Construction Law Journal, a publication of the State Bar of Texas Construction Law Section, is an an article entitled Collaborative Law: It's Here and the ConsensusDocs Are, Too, authored by Lawrence R. Maxwell, Jr. and William B. Short, Jr. The article provides a brief historical perspective of the development of the collaborative dispute resolution process, detail how the process works and explain the similarities between the protocols and procedures of the collaborative process and the construction industry’s new ConsensusDOCS. Gregory M. Cokinos, of the Houston law firm of  Cokinos, Bosien & Young, Editor of the Journal comments that "the collaborative process requires a different approach to resolving disputes with a cooperative mandate and deserves consideration."

Avoiding Litigation: A Guide to Civil Collaborative Law 
        by Sherrie R. Abney, TCLC's VP for Training and CLE

The book is available on the author's website, Four Corners Solutions, Inc., or through the publisher's on-line book store. Avoiding Litigation has received excellent reviews, by Gay G. Cox, published in The Collaborative Review, and by Lawrence R. Maxwell, Jr., published in Alternative Resolutions.

Avoiding Litigation has received notable endorsements from around the country:

"Here it is! The definitive book on Civil Collaborative practice!"

                                    Rita Pollak, Co-founder
                                    Massachusetts Collaborative Law Council

"Thank you for providing this excellent work to spread the gospel. Only one as uniquely qualified as you could have transferred lessons learned from domestic practice to the civil arena - and you have performed the task eloquently. Your work will be a useful tool in reforming a flawed legal system."

                                    Nolan Murrah, Program Director

                                    Office of Dispute Resolution, State of Georgia

"Avoiding Litigation provides a great deal of practical information in a theoretical framework that helps both clients and their counsel understand this revolutionary new approach to conflict resolution. I recommend this book to attorneys who are interested in trying this new, better way of practicing law and resolving conflicts."

                                    William M. Andrews, Director
                                    Collaborative Council of the Redwood Empire

"This book is a must read for attorneys interested in exploring the possibility of enhancing their own lives and that of their clients by utilizing this ground-breaking new approach to dispute resolution. Abney's style is eminently readable, and her grasp of collaborative concept is as good as you can get."
                                    
                                    Norma Levine Trusch, Immediate Past President
                                    International Academy of Collaborative Professionals

GCLC attorney members in Dallas, Texas have joined with family collaborative attorneys and developed a program to assist civil and family courts with cases involving pro se parties. Upon referral from courts and with the informed consent of pro se parties, collaborative attorneys are representing pro se parties on a pro bono basis.