Collaborative Law

Collaborative law is a relatively new approach to the resolution of family law conflicts. In a collaborative case, each party has their own lawyer, but the focus is on working together to create a result that is best for the family unit. This approach is designed to give the parties control of the process and to enable them to craft a personalized result which meets their specific needs.

Collaborative cases are handled according to certain ground rules resulting in an “interest-based” resolution. Perhaps the most important of these is that the parties agree that their attorneys will resolve matters through discussion, and not file adversarial motions in court. In addition, there is a cooperative approach to acquiring and sharing the information needed to make decisions.

There is much more to a collaborative agreement that an effort to be agreeable. The attorneys who handle these types of cases have extensive training in the specific conflict resolution techniques used in these cases. Attorney Gillin has advanced training in both the interdisciplinary collaborative practice and in several more focused training seminars. She is a member of a number of groups of collaborative attorneys, including (1) Connecticut Collaborative Divorce Lawyers; (2) International Association of Collaborative Professionals; and (3) Divorce Solutions.