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Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Abstract

This paper takes the suggestion of collaborative law practice for divorcing couples with an element of domestic violence in their relationship a step further, and proposes a deeper collaboration: a new combination called Mediation/Collaborative Law, or "Med/ Collab." The discipline of Alternative Dispute Resolution and its practitioners are not unfamiliar with collaborations. Hybrid processes on the ADR continuum' 7 include Med/Arb and Arb/ Med. In the same spirit, Med/Collab presents the best aspects and benefits of each process, while addressing and overcoming the difficulties each process separately faces in dealing with domestic violence.

Part II of this paper will revisit the definition of domestic violence. This will include a discussion of the spectrum of domestic violence, as well as the cycle and culture of violence, in an effort to demonstrate the challenges of defining the term, and how those challenges effect the mediation process. Part III will provide examples of how the issue of domestic violence has been addressed in mediation, followed by a discussion as to how these methods are inadequate. Part IV will explore the Med/Collab proposal-first presenting an overview of the collaborative law practice, and then analyzing the new combination as a more beneficial and advantageous way of dealing with the presence of domestic violence in the negotiations of divorcing couples. Doing so will include an examination of how this process would differ from represented mediation, and how that difference creates benefits.

Disciplines

Courts | Dispute Resolution and Arbitration | Law

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