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The American Bar Association defines collaborative law as follows:
Each person retains his or her own trained collaborative lawyer to
advise and assist in negotiating an agreement on all issues.
All negotiations take place in "four-way" settlement
meetings that both clients and both lawyers attend.
The lawyers cannot go to court or threaten to go to court.
Settlement is the only agenda. If either client goes to
court, both collaborative lawyers are disqualified from further
participation.
Each client has built-in legal advice and advocacy during negotiations,
and each lawyer's job includes guiding the client toward reasonable
resolutions. The legal advice is an integral part of the process,
but all the decisions are made by the clients. The lawyers generally
prepare and process all papers required for the divorce.
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