In September 2003, Family Law in Partnership hosted the first ever training for collaborative lawyers that took place outside the North Americas. Since then nine members of the firm have trained and have given countless lectures and interviews about a "new way" that has been taking the UK by storm.

Before this initiative many families found that there was no process that met their needs, namely one which:

• Involves lawyers so that advice can be given - but given in a way that provides the best chance of finding better solutions for the family as a whole. 
• Is client-centred: i.e. is less about what the lawyers think should be the answer and more about parents/ spouses determining the shape of their futures - being aware of what the law might offer them but doing something better - better for both of them and in particular the children. 
• Is ethical, so this is not about winning but a search for solutions that are fair and which work for the family as a whole. 
• Enables both to have proper and open discussions about all the options whilst avoiding the feeling that they are giving away their position.

• Finding out about the collaborative process: it is only one of a range of options - it is not for everyone and its advantages and problems must be considered against the likely opportunities and problems of other ways of resolving matters (to include traditional court-based process, mediation, arbitration and DIY).
• Having a meeting together with their lawyers who will have been trained in the collaborative model (almost everything in this process takes place at the table), when they will sign up to an agreement by which they agree to prioritise the needs of any children and to deal with each other fairly as they search for the solutions that will work best for the whole family.
• There will probably then be a disclosure stage before the couple start to focus on working out the different options you have for moving ahead and really focusing on how they would work out in practice.

• Whilst the traditional law-based process is likely to erode trust and make relationships harder, the collaborative process helps to build better communication which will assist you as regards the ongoing contact that you have in the future. 
• The traditional process deals with resources in a narrow way and often fails to allocate the resources to the person who values them most highly - as such the opportunities of making things better can be wasted.
• Collaborative lawyers will have specifically trained in the collaborative approach and will be capable of interest based, solution focussed negotiation.