Mediation Versus Collaboration

Both Meditation and Collaboration are forms of alternative dispute resolution, meaning that the parties rely on out of court resources to resolve their case. This is always a positive thing. Meditation requires a mediator and even though the parties are utilizing a form of alternative dispute resolution, the threat of going to court still hangs over the mediation. Collaboration grew out of mediation but eliminates that fifth party and more importantly, in Collaboration, the parties commit to not going to court, and to resolving their differences during the Collaborative Process. They hire attorneys who can only be their Collaborative attorneys, so the attorneys join with the parties in their goal of reaching an out of court resolution. The two attorneys are trained to assist the parties in reaching their own solutions. Common sense and research shows us that people are more likely to abide by and be happy with solutions in which they are personally invested. In collaboration the two attorneys present the law and help the couple to understand the law, but then that couple reaches the solution that works for their unique case. This is the complete opposite of litigation where the attorneys are completely adverse to each other and where the judge decides the case and imposes the solution on the litigants.