Collaborative Family Law: Good for Clients, Good for Lawyers. A Practical Guide to Peaceful Divorce Resolution

8:55 Welcome and Introductions

9:00 Collaborative Family Law: Good for Clients, Good for Lawyers. A Practical Guide to Peaceful Divorce Resolution

Sarah Hill McIntyre, Two Families Law, Durham
Nicole M. Quallen, Two Families Law, Durham

Collaborative divorce has been around since the 1990s and while it grows in popularity each year, it's still very niche. It goes against the grain of traditional legal practice and adversarial negotiation methods, finding a new way to serve clients and opening up what advocacy can mean. In this session, Nicole Quallen and Sarah McIntyre of Two Families Law lead you through the nuts and bolts of what collaborative law is, and then they tackle the tougher question of how to make it successful.

Explore relevant statutes, "the pledge," non-violent communication, client management, the tension (or not!) between advocacy and collaboration, and some of the ways collaborative practice is used beyond family law. In addition to exploring how this approach can be helpful for clients, learn how collaborative law can be a healthy and sustainable practice for attorneys.

12:20 Adjourn

This session includes two 10-minute breaks

Description

Collaborative divorce has been around since the 1990s and while it grows in popularity each year, it's still very niche.

Contributors

Sarah Hill McIntyre

Sarah Hill McIntyre is Two Families Law’s newest collaborative attorney. After earning both her undergraduate and law degrees from UNC Chapel Hill, Sarah worked as a defender of survivors of domestic violence and then as an immigration lawyer. She is a born advocate. After seeing so much of the pain that court processes can bring to clients, Sarah brought her wisdom to collaborative law. Sarah shares the perspective of a child of divorce and of a veteran of the litigation system with her clients, focusing on finding the healthiest solutions possible. She brings empathy, patience, an eye for detail and an open mind to all of her client families.

Click here for more information about Sarah.
Nicole M. Quallen

Nicole M. Quallen is a trained attorney and mediator, practicing collaborative family law at Two Families Law in Durham, North Carolina. She earned her JD from Carolina Law in 2010 and still thinks her professors there are the best of the best. Nicole is a mother, an ex-spouse, a co-parent, an empath, a big-hearted entrepreneur, and an advocate. She began Two Families Law in 2016 as a way to provide a different kind of divorce for families. Nicole and Two Families work exclusively outside of court through collaborative and cooperative divorce processes, bringing resolution and avoiding trauma for hundreds of NC families. Nicole loves to work with nonviolent communication and creative brainstorming to help families resolve their legal needs, and she loves to spread the word about collaborative law to anyone who wants to listen!

Click here for more information about Nicole.