Kay K.W. Chan (Hong Kong),

Adam B. Cordover (USA),

Goh Siu Lin (Malaysia)

YAA Dato’ Setia Dr. Hj. Mohd. Na’im Hj. Mokhtar 

Join IACP’s co-founder and first President, Pauline Tesler, for a wide-ranging keynote exploration of how much more is needed than simply signing collaborative participation agreements if we are to offer our clients the kind of services that can reliably guide most of  them to a resolution that is both deep and lasting. 

Pauline will share  ideas for maximizing the potentialities and effectiveness of our work drawn from systems theory, 21st century  brain science, attachment theory, lawyer typology,  conflict resolution theory,  and much more.  Her talk promises to weave  a compelling argument for why our guiding principle with new clients should be that interdisciplinary team collaboration is the gold standard, the service delivery model that can help the broadest spectrum of divorcing couples and families not only to reach agreement, but to emerge from the divorce process in better health than when they entered it.

Those familiar with her writing and training know that Pauline’s work integrates a highly practical perspective with a deeply moral grounding, always focusing not just on how collaborative practice works, but on why it matters so much for the welfare of  families and communities.  Be sure to join Pauline for a conference keynote that promises to inspire us with a reinvigorated sense of our purpose as collaborative professionals:   helping our clients  emerge from the divorce process with a restructured, functional arms’ length relationship that supports them  in co-parenting a healthy next generation.

How can we be effective advocates while remaining true to the goals and values of the Collaborative Process? The IACP Ethical Standards address advocacy including: our obligation to support client self-determination, set reasonable expectations, be mindful of the impact of our personal values and beliefs and avoid contributing to interpersonal conflict. This webinar will explore Collaborative Advocacy in light of s. 3.2 of the Standards. How do we use an interest-based model where there is little trust or goodwill and what is the role of the law? What does it really mean to set realistic expectations? How do we support client self-determination when clients are bullied, can’t decide or we don’t agree with the outcome? How do we avoid working from our own personal values and experience? How do we avoid contributing to interpersonal conflict without sacrificing outcome? This webinar will deepen participants’ capacity to be more effective non-adversarial advocates.

COLLABORATION HAS NO BOUNDARIES … OR DOES IT?

Until recently, the ability to undertake relatively unrestricted international travel, has meant that many relationships are formed globally between people from different countries and frequently in countries of which neither is a citizen or resident.

When those relationships fail, there's an extra layer of complexity in assisting clients to navigate the separation process.  Collaborative Practice offers both some unique advantages and also raises some legal and practical issues in dealing with those challenges and complexities.

In this presentation, collaborative lawyers from Australia, Hong Kong and Switzerland will explore these complexities in the context of conducting an international family law matter using the Collaborative Process, including issues such as:

- Why or why not choose the Collaborative Process for international matters.
- How to deal with choice of jurisdiction.
- Conflict of laws issues that can arise.
- How to manage competing local rules and customs including the (often substantial) different approaches to the Collaborative Process across borders.

The presenters will cover challenges that have arisen in an actual international collaborative family law matter and will include a "warts and all" examination of what worked, what didn't work and how the collaborative team worked together to achieve the successful outcome.

With Collaborative Practice gaining coverage and popularity across the Asia-Pacific Region, it is only natural that Collaborative Professionals are called upon to assist families with a multitude of cultural or religious matrix. Navigating through the Collaborative Process is already no easy task, imagine adding multiple cultures and religious beliefs or even legal systems into the mix.

In this session, speakers with different experience in operating in multi-cultural and/or multi-religions environments will introduce the audience to a world of possibilities that the Collaborative Movement can bring by introducing local legal systems and customs, outlining regional issues and sharing international experiences and solutions.

The Single Most Effective Activity for Building Your Collaborative Law Practice

For Collaborative Practice professionals balancing busy schedules and client demands, a long list of business development “to-dos” quickly becomes overwhelming and often remains unfinished. This workshop will answer the question, “what is the single most effective action you can focus on to build your collaborative practice?”

In this webinar, legal marketing consultant Elizabeth Ferris will offer tips and strategies on how to prioritise your business development strategies to help you build the practice you want. You will learn action-focused tactics for how to:

• Identify and minimise the barriers to creating the practice you want
  
• Develop a mindset for how to build your Collaborative Practice
  
• Create and execute a 3-step process for growing your Collaborative Practice
  
• Connect and communicate with clients and referral sources.
  
• Implement a weekly action plan that focuses on your highest priorities
  

On a Road to Nowhere? Resolving the Collision between Serving Your Clients and Serving Yourself.

Whether you practice primarily in consensual dispute resolution or maintain a firm footing in the world of litigation, chances are that you frequently face situations that can have you feeling frazzled, overwhelmed or even as though you are on a road to nowhere!

Collaborative Professionals strive to make a positive difference in the lives of their clients. Many of us do this work so we can provide meaningful assistance to people who are living through a most difficult point in their lives.

What if that work, however, collides with your own wellbeing and is at the expense of yourself and your loved ones?

Perhaps there are times you are left feeling that you aren’t aiding people, or cannot help them, in the ways you hoped for?

How often do the words “stressed”, “busy” or “exhausted” enter our daily vocabulary as descriptors of our own wellbeing?

What can occur when, day in and day out, we are confronted with the grief or trauma that our clients are experiencing?

I posit that these issues, for ourselves, colleagues and workplaces, are not only the biggest health and safety issue facing our practices today but also one of the biggest roadblocks to optimal client service.

Against a backdrop of significant research that is taking place in NZ on the wellbeing of our lawyers, we will explore a collaborative approach to terrain that is often left in the domain of the individual to navigate.

In this workshop, we will explore together the following questions:

·       What is ‘trauma informed lawyering’?

·       How can we incorporate trauma informed lawyering into our Collaborative Processes, either as lawyers or neutrals?

·       Are we at risk of moral injury? Is this the new ‘burnout’?

·       How might we detour from the road to nowhere onto a new road towards resolving the collision between serving our wellbeing and serving that of our clients?

Our “Road to Resolution” conference concludes with Pauline Tesler’s four hour workshop, “Trust, Fairness, and Attachment Ruptures in  Collaborative Divorce Practice.”  This workshop draws not only on Pauline’s decades of experience as a pioneering collaborative lawyer, trainer, and writer but also on her more recent groundbreaking work applying brain science, positive psychology, body/mind awareness practices, neuro-economics, evolutionary psychology, and decision science to our work as collaborative professionals.