An explanation from David Emmerson about collaborative practice is provided here.

Collaborative practice (LINK) is another way of voluntarily resolving your dispute without going to court.  In common with mediation, you and the other party are the decision makers and in control of the process, but you will have your lawyer with you throughout to give you advice and guidance. 

In a collaborative process, each person appoints their own collaboratively trained lawyer and the separating couple, and respective lawyers all meet to work things out face to face or by Zoom. Each will have their lawyer by your side throughout the process and so the separating couple will have their support and legal advice as they go. 

Besides the lawyer, the separating couple will have the opportunity to work with an independent financial adviser, a family consultant, a child specialist or an accountant, who will provide the separating couple with specialist help regarding financial matters and those concerning children, parenting, communication and emotional support when needed. All these professionals will collectively make up the collaborative team. 

Both mediation and collaborative law have the advantage that it is the separating couple who are making the decisions about their own finances and children. The issues and the timetable can be set by the individuals rather than a rigid and long running, expensive court process. 

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