An internationally-recognised practitioner and trainer in collaborative law will be hosted by Queensland Collaborative Law (QCL) later this month.

Collaborative lawyer, mediator, writer and educator, Victoria Smith, will visit the Gold Coast on 25-26 July.

The Canadian Adjunct Professor in Collaborative Lawyering at Osgoode Hall Law School will give a special two-day Intensive Collaborative Training Workshop to QCL members at the Palazzo Versace.

Collaborative practice is a unique form of dispute resolution, suitable for separating couples who are keen to resolve issues privately, with minimal conflict and with dignity and respect.

Unlike litigation, collaborative practice enables couples to work together with their collaboratively trained lawyers and other experienced professionals to resolve family law differences.  Couples are embracing this form of dispute resolution particularly as it avoids going to court. (more…)

A growing number of couples are turning to collaborative law to resolve complex family law cases to avoid the stress and emotional toll of protracted courtroom battles.

Australia has one of the highest divorce rates in the world with current trends suggesting between 32 per cent and 46 per cent of marriages will end in divorce, according to data from the Australian Institute of Family Studies.

In Queensland the number of couples living in de facto relationships has risen from 15 per cent to 20 per cent in the last 15 years with the same issues and pressures causing relationship breakdowns within both groups of separating couples.

This new approach to family law encourages couples to resolve the issues arising from separation in a collaborative way that promotes cooperation and puts the interests of the children first, according to the industry body representing collaborative law professionals in Queensland. (more…)