HCBA Lawyer Magazine Vol. 28, No. 3 | Page 30

Can You reaLLY be both a Litigator anD a CoLLaborative attorneY?
Collaborative law Section
Chairs: Tina Tenret - ProVise Management Group & Ellie Probasco - Probasco Law
O
ther family law
practitioners often
refer to me as an
“aggressive attorney.”
The term “aggressive” is an over-
simplified description of how I
practice family law. People rarely
distinguish between taking a very
aggressive position in a case and
simply aggressively pursuing the
end of a case while maintaining
28
a reasonable
position.
My belief
is that the goal
of any divorce
lawyer in any
case — litigated
or collaborative
— should be to
get the case to
the finish line
as quickly as
possible. What
client wants to
update his or
her financial
disclosures
every 60-90
days for two
years? What
client wants to
wait 18 months
© Can Stock Photo / AnatolyM
Positions cause people
to shut down lines of
communication, but
perhaps even worse,
they create expectations
that make our jobs as
attorneys more difficult
as we try to facilitate
a final settlement.
JAN - FEB 2018
for a final
parenting plan?
After years of
practicing family
law, I have learned
some important
lessons about how
people feel during
divorce litigation,
and I know this:
being in a divorce
case — especially
a litigated one —
is not a healthy
place for any
mother, father,
or child.
Having now
developed a
Continued on
page 29
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HCBA LAWYER