Is Collaborative Law a Threat to the Court System?

Some judges don't like Collaborative Law because they see it as a threat to the need for courts. In other words, there's a little job insecurity. To be sure, that's a minority view, but there are some judges with that concern. Some attorneys probably share that point of view.

From my perspective, there's no realistic chance that courts will be abolished. Here's five reasons why:

1. The biggest factor may be the shear number of cases to be decided. Thousands of divorce and other family law cases are filed each month in Tarrant County and in other counties around across the country. There are many more cases than there are trained Collaborative Lawyers. That means, for judges and lawyers, that there is plenty of work to go around, whether the attorneys are trained for Collaborative Law or not. The untrained lawyers will always have plenty of opportunities to go to court, even as the number of trained Collaborative lawyers grows. Tarrant County Collaborative lawyers will almost always try to sign up new cases as Collaborative cases if there is any possibility of going Collaborative. Of course, where one of the attorneys on a case is not trained in Collaborative law, the case can't proceed as Collaborative. Although more Tarrant County lawyers are getting trained in Collaborative law all the time, the great majority of cases are still non-Collaborative.

2. A second factor is that Collaborative Law won't work for some cases. Some of the reasons for that are:

• One of the attorneys isn't trained in Collaborative Law.
• The parties prefer to fight, or at least one does. Most attorneys will discourage fighting for fighting's sake, but some people look forward to hurting their spouse (not realizing or not being concerned about the harm to themselves).
• Unrealistic expectations can scuttle a Collaborative case. More experienced attorneys are usually able to sniff out the problem cases and avoid taking them into Collaborative. A party with unrealistic expectations will get frustrated and the process will usually break down unless someone can change that mindset.
• Some mental illnesses prevent parties from being able to function at a high enough level to follow through the steps of the Collaborative process. While mental illnesses can complicate any divorce, they can prevent a party from being able to cooperate and function appropriately in a Collaborative context.
• Similarly, drug and alcohol issues can prevent a party from functioning well in a Collaborative case, especially if the party is in denial about the problem(s). A therapist might be useful in evaluating whether the person can effectively participate in the process.
• Domestic violence can also make Collaborative Law inappropriate, unless there is remedial therapy and safe guards are provided.

When Collaborative Law is not a good fit for a case, the case will have to end up in the litigation system. Please note that the above list did not include cases where there was significant disagreement between the parties. Collaborative Law is not just for the easy, agreeable cases. It will work well for custody disputes and major property fights. Don't assume that Collaborative Law is only for agreeable people.

3. Administrative agencies, such as the Texas Attorney General, will be expanding their reach into the court system. Following past trends, you can expect the A.G. or the Tarrant County Domestic Relations Office to initiate, negotiate and settle many cases. They will also file cases and set hearings. So far, the A.G. and DRO are not trained in Collaborative Law, so they rely on litigation.

4. There will always be a few Collaborative cases that fail. It looks like somewhere from 5-8%, by some studies, will terminate and go to litigation. They need the court system to handle those.

5. Finally, some people just want someone in authority to decide their issues. Even thought the litigation can be slow, expensive and personally destructive, some people want their day in court. If either party has that feeling, the case must be in the court system.

While the Collaborative Law Institute of Texas wants Collaborative Law to be the preferred method of dispute resolution, no one believes Collaborative Law would work in every case. Our courts will undoubtedly survive past the foreseeable future. What we hope for is that Collaborative Law continues to expand so that more and more people will have it as an option.