Empowering Families

Sometimes people wonder what some of the key differences are between collaborative law and mediation. I think it’s best to answer this question in this way. How will you know whether or not the collaborative process is better for you or whether or not the mediation process is better for you? And I think people make that decision based on the amount of support they feel that they need in the room.

Mediation as a general rule in New York is a series of three-way meetings where the mediator meets with the two parties and usually the two parties have attorneys of their own, but the attorneys rarely actually come into the room, so the negotiation happens in a series of three-way meetings.

In collaborative law, people have their attorneys with them during all of the negotiations and although the idea of finding a resolution that makes sense for the family and is based on their own personal reference points is the same, you bring an attorney with you so you have support in the meetings all along. In addition, the availability of the collaborative team adds another element of support in the collaborative process that is not there in the mediation process.

That being said, oftentimes people want to have a lot of autonomy and control over their own negotiations and don’t want the interference of the collaborative team, so it’s really a matter of personal preference how much support you might want as you go through a divorce process.