Gini Nelson's Engaging Conflicts

Prof. John Lande continues his insightful work on Collaborative and Cooperative law with his recent article Lessons For Collaborative Lawyers and Other Dispute Resolution Professionals From Colorado Bar Association Ethics Opinion 115, published online at Mediate.com in April, and also posted here at his website together with other articles on this and related topics. Background to this issue is found in this earlier post about the Colorado Ethics Committee’s Opinion finding Collaborative Law per se unethical, and this one overviewing the promises and perils of Collaborative Law.

Here’s an excerpt:

[Ethics Opinion 115] found per se violations of ethical rules when Collaborative Law involves four-way agreements beween lawyers and clients. It also found that similar Cooperative Law agreements do not violate the ethical rules. Readers may wonder what is the difference between Collaborative and Cooperative Law? What can you learn from this opinion and why should you care? This article addresses these questions.