Collaborative Settlement
path to family-focused results
In divorce cases, legal proceedings are likely to be about two people who have built a common life and are now disassembling it, painfully. Litigation—in court, before a judge—can be long, stressful, and expensive, resulting in a judgment that seems impersonal at best and sometimes frightfully arbitrary. There is another way.
Collaborative practice is the professional legal field aimed at a collaboratively negotiated settlement.
It is an approach to divorce that spares a couple — and any minor children — the confrontational experience of litigation. It avoids creating new emotional scars and exacerbating the bitterness that is often unavoidable in a divorce or separation. During the collaborative process, parties work together to reach agreements both sides can live with.
Collaborative practice starts with a commitment by the parties to use their best efforts to reach an out-of-court settlement. It is a team-based approach in which each party has a lawyer to guide and support in creating interest-based solutions within the law. Each party may also call on other trained professionals — such as financial experts, real estate appraisers and collaboratively trained mental health professionals — to help them. Child specialists can help assess how children are coping with the divorce.
A settlement tailored to the family
Hirsch’s collaborative practice helps clients find mutually beneficial settlements—collaborative settlements—focused on the family. The goal is not to defeat the other side, not to win. It is to resolve past differences and build the future.
Many people find court rulings impersonal, not accurately reflecting the realities of their family. Settlements through collaboration are often more creative, taking into consideration economic, familial and emotional factors. The result is a personal, custom settlement that fits the family’s need.
An experienced professional
Attorney Andrea Hirsch is a recognized leader in collaborative practice, having helped found and expand the practice in the region for decades. For more information about collaborative practice, or to discuss your situation in detail, call us at 301.968.2410. Attorney Andrea Hirsch will sit down with you, answer your questions, and advise on the approach that is right for you and your particular situation. There is no charge for this consultation.