Can My Spouse and I Use the Same Lawyer in a Divorce?

We frequently hear from people who are working out their own divorce settlements amicably, and they want to hire a single lawyer to assist them in completing the divorce. They even are considering the same lawyer to advise them as to what their final settlement should look like....

Post-Divorce Parenting Mediation

A friend of ours recently pointed out an interesting article by Silvana D. Raso titled Using Mediation to Keep Your Cool During Divorce and Beyond. In the article, Ms. Raso makes the very good point that post-divorce parenting is often prone to disputes after their divorce is over, and that working...

Collaborative Pre-Nups

I have been finding lately that the Collaborative process lends itself very well to helping soon to be married couples prepare Pre-Nuptial Agreements, or "Pre-Nups". Too often bringing lawyers into the process of drafting pre-nups can lead to friction between the couple. This can happen when one par...

Seeing Things Differently

This week I went in for cataract surgery. The next day when the bandages came off, it was quite amazing how everything looked different than what I was used to. Things are more brightly colored, they look a little closer, I can see great at a distance, but I need reading glasses for close up. Basica...

Differing Definitions of Mediation

Mark Baer wrote recently in a Huffington Post article "What Does Mediation Really Mean?" about how the definitions of Mediation mean different things to different people, and how the vagueness that creates can be confusing to the client. He refers to three different forms of mediation that all get l...

Can We Hire Mediators Instead of Lawyers?

Since we do both mediation and representation, we are often contacted by people who want to hire one of our lawyers as their mediator so they can get everything done by one person. However, the functions of mediators and lawyers are different, even when the mediator is a lawyer. We act as a lawyer w...

Secrets to Getting to Agreement Out of Conflict

You may think "There is no way we'll be able to reach agreement, we're too far apart." However, Dispute Resolution professionals can help you move past those differences to find ground for agreement....

Negative Thinking

Guest blog by Joseph Shaub, Marriage and Family Therapist & Mediator "Criminal lawyers see the worst people at their best; divorce lawyers see the best people at their worst." (Attributed to Thomas Concannon, Jr., Former Mayor of Newton, N.J. and Family Lawyer) Divorce puts enormous pressu...

The High Cost of Litigation

Litigation is an expensive process. Divorces that go all the way through trial can often run $50,000 or more for each spouse. Not only that, but there are other costs as well - including a huge emotional cost for the parties, damage to parenting relationships, and fallout for the kids. Fortunatel...

Conflict in Divorce

Here's an interesting quote from a cover letter and resume we received recently: "Aggressive litigation is not necessarily the most efficient or emotionally appropriate forum for people going through the trauma of dissolution." Did you think you would ever hear that kind of statement from an attorne...