5/17/23 Courtney Story, Kevin Scudder and Joanna Roth will share their experiences within collaborative mediation.  There are many options as we match process to cases.  Understanding what is possible and what is expected within the different modalities is important to provide clients with an efficient and robust process. 

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4/19/23 With all the recent changes in the housing market, itʻs time for a panel of members with experience in various facets of the housing industry.  Cheryl Hubbell, Bodil Stevns, Karloc Paden and Mihaella Bayla join to tell of us trends, common missteps, and possible solutions in a shifting market.

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3/15/23 Miles Yanick leads us in a practical discussion as we think through how we have approached cases with complicated power dynamics.  What has worked, and what ideas do we have about why?  Miles also has thoughts on the use of mentalization from both the clientʻs and the professionalʻs perspective.

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2/15/23 Karen Bonnell joins us for a conversation about navigating difficult dynamics in Collaborative cases.  Karenʻs books on healthy co-parenting and the art of creating a blended family are a go-to resource for many divorce professionals.

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1/18/23 We'll start the new year off by discussing how we manage our intakes.  What forms have we developed, and what questions do we find helpful?  Do we screen people in or out of Collaborative practice, and how do we determine which processes to recommend to clients?

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12/21/22 Mark Weiss, longtime leader of Collaborative practice, will discuss with us the origin of our Participation Agreement (PA).  The PA was created before the UCLA, and practice has evolved significantly since it was created.  Are there ways we have adapted our practice to the PA?  And what is the future of the PA?

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11/16/22 Heather Harman will share with us her deep knowledge of parenting in separate households.  How have parenting roles changed in the course of our practices, and what values and priorities do we assume in our cases?

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10/19/22 Carol Betts will lead a discussion on masculine culture and Collaborative practice.  What themes have you noticed in your cases around gender?  What gender assumptions do we bring into the room?  How can we deepen our understanding and curiosity around gender and gender culture?

 

9/21/22 We will open the new Coho season with a twist on an earlier exercise.  Find a picture that represents you on a Collaborative case.  It doesn't have to be anything literal, free associations are welcome.  We'll share our images with each other, describing how the image relates to our work.  We'll then imagine how all these different approaches and experiences interact on cases.

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6/15/22 Conversation with Rachel Felbeck on feedback.  At one point in our local Collaborative practice, feedback was an expected part of our interdisciplinary work.  What worked, what didn't, what are we doing now, and what do we miss? 

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5/18/22 Group discussion of neutrality.

 

As Inigo Montoya put it in Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”  So, what does neutrality mean?  What do clients hear or expect from a "neutral"?  What do we expect from our "neutral" colleagues? 

 

The ABA model rules for mediators refer to "impartiality" rather than "neutrality."  What is gained or lost in this distinction?

 

The Washington UCLA does not mention neutrality, yet we think of neutrality and related concepts as integral to collaborative practice.  Are they?

 

The IACP Standards and Ethics refer to neutral professionals, which seems to exclude attorneys, but does not define the term.  What happens if attorneys attempt neutrality, or are specifically excluded from acting as neutrals?  Are there shades of neutrality?

 

If you're on the WSBA ADR section list-serv, you have received notices that our very own Carol Betts is facilitating a book club, and the first book is Bernie Mayer's "The Neutrality Trap."  So if you're wanting extra credit, read a chapter for our meeting, and finish it off with the WSBA ADR section.

 

For the super eager beavers out there, mediate.com has a series of essays, videos and comments on neutrality.

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4/20/22 Discussion with Collaborative Coaches Tim Peterson and Kim Dean regarding the nature of collaborative work.  How do we assess the suitability of collaborative cases?  Should we be screening people out?  Or in?

 

3/16/2022 Group conversation reflecting on the 2022 Collaborative Professionals of Washington annual conference: what we learned, and what piqued our interest.  Also, as a follow-up to the February meeting, we shared images that represent how we function on a collaborative team.

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2/16/2022 Conversation with Trevor Slocum, local psychotherapist.  How do groups form and develop?  How do we relate to each other effectively to accomplish a joint task?  How do we learn through our group work in service of our clients?

 

1/19/2022 Authority in Collaborative Practice: Conversation with Gwen Mathewson, a well-respected colleague.  How do we delegate power and authority within Collaborative teams?

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12/16/2021 Conversation with Mike Fancher, founder of Seattle Divorce Services, and a longtime force within the Collaborative community in Washington state.

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11/17/2021 Housing, financial goals and settlements: Conversation with Cheryl Hubbell, the go-to mortgage consultant for divorcing clients.

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10/20/2021 Discussion with Rachel Felbeck.  Rachel brought Collaborative Law to King County, and we're delighted to consider with her the arc of Collaborative Practice.

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9/16/2020 Real estate update: Discussion with Dominik Musafia.  With his background as a real estate broker and attorney, Dominik will lead us in a discussion of common pitfalls and hidden opportunities in transferring property during divorce.

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7/15/2020 Implicit Bias:  Discussion with Jamie Clausen, including an overview of the social science, the impacts, and actions to recognize and disarm our biases.

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6/17/2020 Covid-19 and Parenting: Discussion of examples arising in our practices.

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5/20/2020 Spousal Support: Looking back and looking forward.  Discussion with Comm. Steve Gaddis.  An in-depth look at the recent history of spousal support, and how we treat spousal support in a time of economic uncertainty.

 

4/15/2020 Collaborative practice in the age of COVID-19.  Discussion with Roy Martin, Attorney at Law.

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3/18/2020 Interdisciplinary practice.  How do we engage as a collaborative team with the financial neutral?  Discussion with Maryann Nelson, CDFA.  

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2/19/2020 Reflective practice as a learning tool.  How do we learn skills in real time?  Collaborative practice differs significantly from litigation in nature, and requires interdisciplinary teamwork.  

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1/15/2020  Using Zoom for professional meetings.  We will spend about an hour going over the features of Zoom as we will use them in the pod.  With virtual meetings becoming more commonplace, facility with Zoom could be generally useful as well.  No advance readings for this meeting.