An overview of the collaborative process

Collaborative law, like mediation, puts the emphasis on reaching a settlement without acrimonious and costly court battles. Both parties hire lawyers who know how to handle the divorce or separation in a non-adversarial way. The parties and their lawyers then all work together in a series of “four-way” meetings towards an agreement. The lawyers have received special training in the collaborative process, including training on communication and problem-solving skills.

In addition, the team approach can often involve other professionals who work with the lawyers in the process and who provide support or expert analysis on financial issues or what’s best for the children. This input can be provided at any stage, as and when it is needed.

The Participation Agreement

You and your lawyers sign a “no court” collaborative Participation Agreement at the beginning of the case, committing everyone to work collaboratively toward a mutually agreeable settlement, and requiring both lawyers to withdraw from the case if either party ends the process and goes to court. This agreement is a strong incentive to follow through with the process. If your lawyer and any other professionals are all required to withdraw from the case, going to court will require you to hire a new team and get everyone up to speed for litigation. This will be very expensive and time-consuming.

The Collaborative Process

Like mediation, the collaborative process is a structured one that proceeds in stages. These have been designed to minimise adversarial posturing and to maximise the potential for a mutually acceptable settlement. It may be helpful to view a typical case as following a number of stages, although the exact structure and pace are down to the parties to agree, depending on their particular needs and wishes.

The Introductory Stage

The Introductory stage begins with your meeting with your collaborative lawyer to discuss the process and to prepare for the first four-way meeting. This will also involve a discussion of the pros and cons of using the process. There are a number of areas to address in preparing for the first four-way meeting. These include identifying your short-term and long-term priorities, understanding the collaborative process, reviewing the Participation Agreement, assessing your readiness for the meeting and making a plan for assembling financial and other information.


There will usually be a preliminary meeting between the two lawyers to help agree an agenda for the first four-way meeting and to discuss any features that may require special attention or sensitivity.


The first four-way meeting is also part of the introductory stage. This is a chance for the four of you to get to know each other and develop a plan of action. It will also include a review of the process, the review and signing of the Participation Agreement, identification of shared priorities and a process for making any necessary interim arrangements and agreement on the process for future meetings.

The Information-Gathering Stage

This is where you and your partner work with your lawyers to prepare detailed information about yourselves, your finances, your children, and any other aspects of your case that are important to take into consideration in reaching a settlement.


This stage often overlaps the introductory stage, given that you and your lawyer will probably have started to discuss the factual information involved in your case and the legal aspects of it at your first meeting. You will probably be asked to complete a detailed questionnaire and to produce copies of various documents. You will agree with your own lawyer how this information can be presented to the meeting.

The Framing Stage

This is where you focus on your individual points of view on the issues to be addressed in the settlement. This involves identifying your interests – your needs, priorities and goals. A proper understanding of your interests is essential if an agreement is to be reached. In the typical court process, little if any attention is paid to the real interests of the parties, as the outcome may well simply be dictated by legal rules.

The Negotiating Stage

Once the essential information has been gathered, exchanged and reviewed, and you have framed the issues and interests, you are ready to move on to this stage. The assumption is that any agreement reached must be satisfactory to both parties. The negotiation is therefore structured in a way that maximises the potential to find solutions that benefit both of you.


The first step in this stage is to identify as many options as possible for the issue you are discussing, using a technique called “brainstorming” to generate a list of possibilities which can then be considered in the light of your respective interests and a short list drawn up of the most promising options. The feasibility of each option must be carefully considered, given that any settlement must not only address your interests, but also be workable.

The Concluding Stage

Once a tentative agreement has been reached, the agreed terms are put into a written settlement agreement, which is thoroughly reviewed, revised if necessary and signed. There may be a final four-way meeting to deal with this and any other documentation needed to give effect to the agreement, and to celebrate a job well done