Collaborative Practice Participation Agreement

It will be tailored to suit you and your partner's needs.

A typical agreement contains the following:

It must be signed by the partners and their lawyers.
The principles of the collaborative process are set out.
It provides for the lawyers to inform their clients of their legal rights and obligations in joint meetings.
It provides for the partners and their lawyers to work cooperatively to reach agreement on all important issues.
It provides for independent experts to be appointed to advise and assist where necessary.
It provides that the partners will not go to court or use threats of court in the process.
It further provides that the lawyers cannot continue to act for either party in the event that the process fails.
It prohibits either party from using information and/or settlement offers or proposals discussed in the process in court.
It requires the lawyers and/or the partners to give notice if they no longer want to participate in the process.
It requires a lawyer to stop participating if they learn that either partner has taken unfair advantage of the collaboration.
It makes provision for any agreement reached to be finalised with either orders made by a court with the consent of the partners or a binding financial agreement.
It makes provision for the funding of the process