Kathleen O'Connor Attorney at Law
A Certified Family Law Specialist with over twenty years experience practicing family law in Los Angeles.Collaborative Practice California Fifth Annual State-Wide Conference!
REGISTER NOW!
Registration Information
The full conference brochure can be downloaded from the CP Cal website
Just click the link to view and download the brochure.
You may mail or fax your completed registration form to
Paula Jackson
CP Cal Conference Coordinator
145 Wild Horse Valley Dr.
Novato, CA 94947
fax: 415-897-4850
Online registration will be available early next week.
| Hotel Information
Located at 222 Mason Street in the heart of San Francisco, Hotel Nikko is a four-diamond hotel situated just two blocks from Union Square and the world famous Cable Car – conveniently located for business, sightseeing, theater and shopping! The Nikko has provided a limited number of rooms at the discounted rate of $189 for CP Cal Conference attendees.
HOTEL AMENITIES
Below please find a link to the reservations site for your booking. It will automatically populate with the conference dates and Group Code. Collaborative Practice California Reservation Link -or- Go to www.hotelnikkosf.com Enter dates of stay in “Reservations” box and click SUBMIT Enter in “Group Code”: SBVFRC Available rates will appear. Select room type of choice and submit information to complete reservation. You can also call the Hotel’s reservations department to speak with a live agent at (415) 394-1111; please reference “Collaborative Practice California” |
Transportation
The hotel is easily accessible by public transportation (BART). The Nikko is two blocks from the Powell Street BART station. The BART fare from San Francisco Airport is $8.10, and from Oakland Airport the fare is $3.00 for the shuttle to Coliseum station plus $3.80 for BART.
Direct transportation is also available from airports to the Hotel Nikko by shuttle, as follows:
San Francisco International Airport: Contact Airport Express at 415-775-5121 ($18/person; rates discounted if booked online at www.airportexpress.sf.com).
Oakland Airport: Contact either Bayporter at 415-467-1800 ($32) or City Express at 510-638-8830 ($39).
Parking
The conference has been planned so that a car is not required.
Parking is available for those who choose to bring cars, at the hotel and in other nearby lots. The hotel garage offers 24-hour parking with in-and-out privileges (rates are $10.00/hour with a $45.00 daily maximum).
Allowing Galen Say Goodbye to Her Daddy
How sad that Dennis Hopper’s last day’s will be spent in conflict – over the basic right of a parent and child to access to each other.
Short loving visits for which Galen (age 6) is prepared would help Galen accept her father’s death and grow into the loving, successful young woman that both Dennis Hopper and Victoria Duffy would want for her. A wise father would be able to give his daughter a message of love and hope for her future. A wise judge needed to intercede.
When disputes cannot be resolved within the family, or with the help of skilled collaborative team of lawyers and mental health professionals, courts are available. This family is grateful that courts are available. It is nonetheless a tragedy for Galen and her father.
Kathleen O’Connor
Report on ABA Mid-Year Meeting
Many of us have just returned home from the ABA Mid Year Meeting in Orlando. The Uniform Collaborative Law Act, as promulgated by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC), was scheduled to have been considered for endorsement by the ABA House of Delegates today.
During the first few days of the meeting, numerous Collaborative practitioners and representatives of IACP, ABA DR Section and GCLC met with ABA sections and delegates. There was support for the act from the Dispute Resolution, Family Law, and Individual Rights and Responsibilities Sections and the Standing Committee on Delivery of Legal Services, and the committed votes of other Section delegates whose sections did not vote to oppose the Resolution. There was opposition from the Litigation and the Tort, Trial and Insurance Practice Section, the Judicial Council and the Young Lawyers Division. The discussions and debates made it clear to us that ABA delegates lacked sufficient accurate information about Collaborative Practice and the UCLA to make an informed decision regarding endorsement.
It is the sole prerogative of the ULC to put one of its Acts up for ABA endorsement or not. ULC leadership made the decision that it was prudent to withdraw the matter from vote at this meeting, which is not an unusual strategic decision. IACP fully supported the decision of the ULC leadership to remove the act from the ABA’s consideration at this time. We learned a great deal over the course of the weekend about the questions and concerns of those who do not practice Collaborative Law. The meeting provided us with a wonderful opportunity for discourse and will enable the Collaborative community to move forward with enhanced clarity about how better to educate and inform the bench, the private bar and the public about the work we do.
Overall, for this phase of the education of the bar leaders, we believe we accomplished our mission. The term “collaborative law” was on everyone’s tongue. Many were hearing about it for the first time (particularly section members who were not delegates and therefore not on the House of Delegates listserv). The questions we heard as we spoke to groups were very basic: How does it differ from mediation? What purpose does a disqualification clause serve? Can it be used in areas other than family law? How can the potential of someone using it for the nefarious purpose of exhausting an opponent’s resources and then forcing the other to lose his/her attorney be addressed? Is all the information gathered lost forever when a case is transitioned to litigation? The questions were those that occur to someone considering the process after a very short introduction with no prior knowledge or context for the discussion.
In response to some of the feedback we received, the ULC intends to further review the act, and may consider revisiting some of its specific provisions. We will continue to work closely with the UCLA Drafting Committee and will keep you informed of new developments. IACP is deeply grateful to the ULC for the investment it has made in Collaborative Practice.
In the meantime, the IACP will assimilate what we’ve learned during both the drafting process and the ABA Mid-Year Meeting and will share this knowledge with the Collaborative community. You will soon be hearing more about a Model Participation Agreement, guidance about informed consent, and DV screening tools. We will continue to review how to ensure that our message to professionals who do not chose to use the Collaborative Practice process option understand its value to clients.
And finally, to all who contacted delegates in advance of the Mid-Year Meeting, and traveled to Orlando, and wrote and spoke on behalf of the UCLA, our deepest thanks. Collaborative practice has spread throughout the world because of the incredible generosity of many in the Collaborative community who give their time, effort and hearts to further the goal of “transforming the way conflict is resolved worldwide.”
Sherri Goren Slovin, President
Harry Tindall, Chair, UCLA Committee
Talia Katz, Executive Director
Uniform Collaborative Law Act
Uniform Collaborative Law Act’s final hurdle is scheduled for 2 p.m. EST at the American Bar Association House of Delegates’ Meeting. The Uniform Law Commission spent four years drafting a collaborative practice bill which, if approved by the House of Delegates, shall be introduced to the legislatures of all 50 states. This uniform act legitimizes collaborative practice, a process which guarantees that parties can resolve disputes without the intervention of the court. Now parties to a dispute will have the power to resolve the conflict in a manner which frames a settlement in the interest of all.
Watch for the outcome of the vote. It is a very important day for the Alternative Dispute and Consensual Dispute community..
CHOOSING A PROCESS APPROPRI ATE FOR YOU Kathleen M. O’Connor, Esq.
CHOOSING A PROCESS APPROPRI ATE FOR YOU
Kathleen M. O’Connor, Esq.
Once you decide to separate from a spouse or partner, your most significant decision is choosing the process which is appropriate for both of you. The choice of Mediation, Collaboration or Litigation impacts you and your children emotionally and financially. The choice will affect your relationship with your children and your partner.
This blog discusses the process available to assist you to obtain an enforceable judgment. It refers to divorce for convenience only. The process apply to termination of domestic partnership and establishment of a parental relationship.
You decided you are leaving your spouse. The decision has not been easy. You need a clear agreement about children, finances and assets. You may feel scared, fearful for the children, angry, and confused. The easiest and safest decision seems to be to follow the lead of family members or friends. Listen to them. They care about you. But remember that how they ended a relationship may not be appropriate for you and your children. This is a summary. Read other material so you understand the benefits and risks of each process to you.
How we divorce has changed in the last 15 years. There are other ways to handle ending your relationships other than relying upon the win/loose decision of a court.
There are four processes available for you to consider. These process can overlap with each other. You need to decide which process is appropriate for your family. Couples now choose Kitchen Table, Mediation, Collaboration or Litigation. Which you choose depends upon the level of domestic violence, the level of communication, the level of trust, and mutual ability to make decisions. It is not dependent upon the level of income or assets or debts.
You and your spouse can make all of the decisions about your children, and your futures. You do not need to relinquish that decision to a court. A court will enter as an enforceable court order, the agreements which you reach for your family. So although the court is available to make decisions after considering credible, factual and reliable evidence, it is not the only way to end your relationship.
Kitchen Table.
During your relationship, many decisions were made at the kitchen table. Deciding upon child custody arrangements and dividing property can still be done at the kitchen table. This process works for simple assets and couples with very low conflict. Be careful to have an experience attorney review your agreement so that you know you have divided all the assets, and properly handled the support of the children and their access to both parents.
Mediation.
A trained mediator will assist you and your spouse reach decisions necessary to provide for the children’s custody, support, and divide your property. A trained mediator may be from a background of law or mental health. Each profession brings strengths to the process. Mediation works well where couples are able to reach decisions, are honest about assets and want to settle. The mediator must remain neutral.
Collaboration.
A team of lawyers, coaches, and neutral financials assist you to identify interests which are important to your. The process uses the skills of a multi-disciplinary team to reach an agreement which meets mutual interests of you, your spouse and your children. As in mediation, the process encourages respect, re-building of trust, and recognition that you have a different but continuing relationship with your partner. Each spouse has a collaboratively trained attorney, but the attorneys will never appear in court on behalf of either spouse.
Litigation.
You hire an attorney whose professional responsibility is to advocate for you. The impact of the divorce on your children may not be a concern of your attorney. Most cases which use the litigation process end with an agreement of the attorneys and parties. This process relies upon credible, factual and admissible evidence. Although the process may end with compromise if the judge makes the decision, there will be a winner and a looser. This pace of litigation often depends upon the availability of the court.
Domestic Violence
If there is any domestic violence in your relationship – and certainly if the violence has been long term – you must stay safe and protect your children. Litigation may be your best alternative.
Introduction to the Collaborative Process
After years of practicing family law, I could barely pick-up a file. I had bought into the cultural assumption that divorcing spouses fought to assert their legal rights and to protect their future. I was there to encourage them to hang in there. Their lives were put on hold while they sorted out their children, assets, support, jobs, and waited and waited for a judge to hear the case and then waited and waited for the decision.
While the adults pursued this battle, children carted their belongings between households, avoided questions, ducked barbs directed at a parent they loved. They kept a good face — or different face — for each parent. Each parent believed the child was unaffected by the escalating conflict.
Children were not insulated from the conflict. Stories of nightmares, regressive behaviors, falling grades, different friends, or police at the house increased with the length of the conflict. After the case finished, the client was left to put the pieces together.
Everyday I was working with hurt, disappointed and scared people. They feared for their future and feared for the future of the children. The legal process was not designed to allay their fears, to give hope for the future or to protect their children when they could not.
For most families, litigation was a destructive and wasteful use of emotional and financial resources. It failed to recognize that parents have a future with their children and their spouse. Most of all, spouses failed to recognize that life is short and precious. There was cancer, heart attacks, and accidents. It bothered me that clients had spent time litigating not understanding that there was not a lot of time left.
I embraced collaborative practice to reach out to all families with hope and a message. This is your family. You need to care for it. You may not be able to live with your spouse; but you cannot dissociate yourself from your spouse and your shared history, experiences, joys, excitement and sadness. Collaborative process supports the future of your reorganized family and maximizes the options for everyone. It gives the family a process which preserves relationships.
Quoted in Collaborative Divorce Handbook: Effectively Helping Divorcing Families Without Going to Court, by Woody Mosten (2009 Jossey-Bass)
Video Contest
The Virginia Group of Collaborative Professionals is sponsoring a video contest in an effort to raise more awareness of the collaborative process. Video submissions can be made by individuals or a team and must be no longer than 3 minutes in length. The grand prize is $1,000 for the video that best demonstrates how the Collaborative Process is a beneficial way of settling disputes without the necessity of a long and drawn out court process. Simply upload your video to YouTube for a chance to win! The deadline is March 31, 2010.
Follow the link for full details.
Kathleen O'Connor Attorney at Law 