Tag Archive: Marie Nickle

1. The Collaborative Process: A One-Stop Shop for Resolving…

   March 14, 2014 4:40 pm Comments Off on The Collaborative Process: A One-Stop Shop for Resolving…

   

   Marie Nickle LL.B LL.M Acc.Fm

   The Collaborative process is my favourite alternate dispute resolution process. Unlike mediation, it is a one-step model.  Mediation requires two steps: one to reach a consensus with the mediator; and two, to receive independent legal advice from lawyers who will also turn the Mediation Report into a legally binding agreement or court order.

   The Collaborative process is a full service model as it includes all necessary professionals, including lawyers. When lawyers have been involved from the outset they understand the thought processes that went into the construction, unlike many mediations where lawyers are not present during the mediation sessions and are handed a Mediation Report cold, without any context as to what is important to the parties and how the agreement captures the optimal results, crafted by the parties themselves.

   Throughout the Collaborative process, the lawyers are ensuring the agreement meets all the necessary legal requirements and that the clients are legally protected, while the other professionals are providing other necessary and valuable services for the parties. The Collaborative process can be thought of as the process that is a one-stop shop for resolving family conflict upon separation.

   Marie B. NickleThe Galleria 204-1715 Lakeshore Rd. West Mississauga, Ontario L5J 1J6

   Profession: Family Law Lawyer, Mediator, Collaborative Trainer Tel: 905-823-1232 Fax: 905-823-7104 mariebnickle@bellnet.ca www.mbnlegalresolutions.com

2. The Collaborative Process: A One-Stop Shop

   June 19, 2013 2:42 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Marie Nickle

   
   By Marie Nickle, LL.B., LL.M, Acc.Fm.

   The Collaborative Process is my favourite dispute resolution process because lawyers are present in the process to not only problem solve for clients but to protect their individual legal interests throughout. Mediation is a good process, but lawyers are often not present so that when the parties attend ultimately to obtain independent legal advice, because the lawyers’ thought processes have not gone into the construction of the Agreement, they are more likely to find problems due to their lack of understanding of what is ultimately important to the client.

   The Collaborative process is a “one stop shop” and accordingly, more effective. If Mediation included the lawyers more often, it would be a better process, in my opinion. I base this on a recent experience where I facilitated a mediation that included the lawyers, who were extremely helpful in narrowing the issues and helping to generate some options. The lawyers then went on to work together to generate a legally binding agreement for the parties. They worked extremely well together and both parties appreciated the “service” provided to them by their lawyers in helping them to resolve.

   Marie B. Nickle

   The Galleria
   204-1715 Lakeshore Rd. West
   Mississauga, Ontario L5J 1J6
   Profession: Family Law Lawyer, Mediator, Collaborative Trainer
   Tel: 905-823-1232
   Fax: 905-823-7104
   mariebnickle@bellnet.ca
   www.mbnlegalresolutions.com

3. Moving On…

   February 19, 2013 2:57 pm Leave a Comment

   

   By Marie Nickle

   We have to accept, as Collaborative Professionals, that the Collaborative process is not a panacea.  There are many individuals who simply just want to remain in conflict and all the helping to communicate and constructive problem solving we, as conflict resolution experts, can muster will not work.  There is one simple condition needed to assess whether the Collaborative Process is fitting for the case and that is whether the parties are ready to move on from the conflict.  Simple, in that this is the one condition needed, yet not so simple to ascertain.  Of course, most will say they are ready to move on, but behaviour will dictate otherwise.  Absent influence, intimidation, and so on, a party’s readiness to be objectively reasonable is the indicator as to whether that party is ready to move on from the conflict. As lawyers advising our clients, it is as equally important to direct our clients correctly on process, as on the substantive legal issues. If the Collaborative process is the right process, then the client needs to know.  However, the client also needs to know if it is not.  Regardless, due to the last twenty years of sweeping ADR (Alternative Dispute Resolution) trends, lawyers need to be apprised of what is out there so they are in a position to properly advise and be responsive to their clients’ needs.  This has resulted with more up-front work needed by the lawyer with the client.  This simply forms part of the new way to practice law, and in particular, Family Law.  If done well, the lawyer will understand whether the client is truly ready to move on…or not.

   Marie Nickle is a lawyer and mediator.  She also trains lawyers and other professionals in the Collaborative Process of Dispute Resolution.

   Marie B. NickleThe Galleria 204-1715 Lakeshore Rd. West Mississauga, Ontario L5J 1J6

   Profession: Family Law Lawyer, Mediator, Collaborative Trainer Tel: 905-823-1232 Fax: 905-823-7104 mariebnickle@bellnet.ca www.mbnlegalresolutions.com

4. Involving Collaborative Lawyers in the Mediation Process

   December 14, 2012 12:20 pm Leave a Comment

   

   by Marie Nickle LL.B LL.M AccFm

   One of the problems with the mediation process is that the independent legal advice lawyers are not involved in the thought processes or the discussions taking place in the mediation sessions.  The option generating that takes place in mediation involves in-depth thought and discussions of the practicalities of any given arrangement, being the things that make sense in the day-to-day lives of the parties.  Nor have the lawyers been involved in the discussions that take place concerning the parties’ concerns and values and how these expressed concerns and values play a considerable part in arriving at agreements.  The mediation process concentrates on many things for the parties, including legal obligations and entitlements.  However, the ILA (Independent Legal Advice) lawyers are advising only on legal obligations and entitlements after completion of the mediation and often, agreements reached are scuttled, leaving parties frustrated and angry at having paid for a process that didn’t deliver.  The result is that mediation is brought into question as a viable alternative dispute mechanism.  As well, the reputation of the mediator is not well served.

   As an example, I was involved in a case, giving ILA to a wife on a comprehensive mediated agreement.  The mediation had taken place 3 years earlier by a very well known and respected mediator.  The parties, although advised by the mediator to obtain ILA, did not.  Instead they procrastinated and lived within the spirit of the mediation report for 3 years, at which time circumstances dictated the need to conclude and turn the terms into a legally binding document.  In my conversations with the ILA lawyer for the husband, he(the lawyer) proceeded to malign the mediator, offering comments to the effect that the mediator should face consequences for assisting the parties with what he viewed to be an imbalanced agreement in my client’s favour.  He (the lawyer) was not prepared to “allow” his client to sign the agreement.  The result was that the negotiations had to start afresh between us on behalf of the parties.  Both parties felt they had wasted their money in the mediation process and neither were prepared to recommend it.

   A way to resolve this is to have the parties represented by Collaboratively trained legal counsel at the outset of the mediation process.  The lawyers do not necessarily have to be involved in every meeting, although this would be ideal.  At a minimum, they would be available to provide their respective clients with legal advice and input along the way, ensuring no surprises at the end of the process.

   The cost is still less than a court process, which is the only meaningful comparison when discussing the cost of any resolution process.

   Marie B. NickleThe Galleria 204-1715 Lakeshore Rd. West Mississauga, Ontario L5J 1J6

   Profession: Family Law Lawyer, Mediator, Collaborative Trainer Tel: 905-823-1232 Fax: 905-823-7104 mariebnickle@bellnet.ca www.mbnlegalresolutions.com