The “collaborative process” is an interesting dispute resolution alternative that’s been used for years — with great success — in the family-law context.

An important tenet of collaborative law is that, should the collaborative process fail, the parties’ lawyers and law firms are disqualified from subsequent litigation. In my opinion, this dynamic changes everything.

I think collaborative law could be the next big thing for resolving trusts and estates cases (which are almost always family disputes of one kind or another), and it’s in that spirit I agreed to be one of the panelists for a webinar that’s taking place on Tuesday of next week, September 18, 2018, from 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (Eastern). The webinar is entitled Collaborative Process: Are Probate and Trust Disputes on the Horizon?, and it’s sponsored by the ADR Section of The Florida Bar. My co-panelists are Robert J. Merlin (Florida’s elder statesman of all things Collaborative) and A. Michelle Jernigan (lawyer, mediator and arbitrator extraordinaire), presently serving on the Executive Council of the ADR Section.

If you’re a trusts and estates lawyer who’s ever thought to yourself “there’s gotta be a better way,” this webinar’s for you. Click here to sign up.

The webinar is open to all Bar members and may be of particular interest to members of the Real Property Probate and Trust Law, Family Law and the ADR Sections. The purpose of the webinar is to educate members about the Collaborative Process and challenge them to use it as a dispute resolution tool in their practices.