FOR most lawyers, the adversarial nature of the traditional legal process is drummed in at law school.
But for Victoria Smith’s students that concept is anathema.
She teaches collaborative practice – an approach that views litigation as evidence of failure – at Canada’s Osgood Hall Law School in Toronto.
The Australian’s Legal Affairs writer Chris Merritt talks with Victoria Smith while she was in Australia training with Queensland Collaborative Law.
An expert in collaborative law or “no court divorce” is visiting the north for a training course this week.
Queensland Collaborative Law is hosting Canadian expert Victoria Smith, who has practised in the area for 13 years.
Listen to Victoria explaining to ABC’s Paula Tapiolas on collaborative practice differs from a court divorce.
When two people go into a marriage, the last thing they expect is that they’ll get divorced.
But, sadly, a good deal of Australian marriages do end in divorce.
It’s a difficult enough thing to go through when there’s just the two of you – but add children to the mix and it can be traumatic for all involved.
Relationship breakdowns and divorces can often end up in the courtroom, but an Adjunct Professor in Collaborative Lawyering at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto says they don’t have to.
Victoria Smith is interviewed by ABC Gold Coast Mornings presenter Trevor Jackson.
WHAT’S with Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin cosying up over a meal barely three months after their split?
Are they back on? Or is this “conscious uncoupling”, as they call it, just plain weird?
Animosity, not affection, is what people have come to expect from divorcing duos, especially those with a sizeable fortune to divvy up (in this case, $150 million).
Read more in The Sunday Mail article
There is a new trend in divorce and it promises to minimise the pain. It’s called collaborative law. See an interview on The Today Show with a couple in the United States who chose collaborative law to separate.
The video of this interview is provided by the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals.