HCBA Lawyer Magazine No. 31, Issue 1 | Page 24

welCoMeFroMyourCollaborativeSeCtionCo-CHairS! collaborative law Section Chairs:­Cory­Brandfon­–­Harris­Hunt­&­Derr,­PA­&­Shannon­Green­–­Westbay­CPAs inadditiontothetraditional panelsofferedinprior years,wespecificallywant tohighlighttheroleof technologyandcollaterals inthecollaborativeprocess. Shannon and I are excited to serve as co-chairs of the HCBA Collaborative Section for 2020 – 2021. Given the challenges associated with COVID–19, and the new landscape in which collaborative meetings are being held, we see this year as an opportunity to highlight the advantages of the flexible nature of the collaborative process. Given the uncertainty surrounding future in-person hearings, parties to family law proceedings will be looking more than ever for non-conventional ways to efficiently resolve their cases. We believe that through the programming we will offer in the upcoming year, we can help empower practitioners throughout Hillsborough County to offer their clients meaningful alternatives to litigation. In addition to the traditional panels offered in prior years, we specifically want to highlight the role of technology and collaterals in the collaborative process. Also, to the extent these past months have brought to the forefront new challenges, we call on the HCBA’s most experienced and accomplished collaborative practitioners and ask that they share the insights they’ve learned and solutions they’ve crafted in response to parenting, financial, and mental health issues, among others. Throughout the year, we will have presentations from attorneys, financial neutrals, facilitators and collaterals. Some examples of collaterals we may have present include a substance abuse evaluator, psychology evaluator, child specialist, financial advisor, vocational evaluator, parenting coordinator, and real estate professional. We expect to have presenters from several of these disciplines. We will explore the expansion of the collaborative team to include a collateral and discuss situations where it may be helpful to bring an additional professional into the process. We hope our presentations will help you understand the roles of collaterals in the collaborative process and how they can be utilized to achieve the best result for the clients. Our attorney, financial neutral, and facilitator presenters will speak about their roles in the collaborative process as well as the differences between a litigated family law case and a collaborative family law case. They will discuss the challenges in switching hats and the different approaches they bring to collaborative cases. Our presenters will speak about their experiences in collaborative matters and identify what has been successful for them and what has not. We will set aside time to have our presenters do Q&A sessions at the end of their presentation, so that your questions can be addressed, and so other attendees can have the benefit of hearing your question and the answers as well. We are very excited to hear at these presentations about the issues you are facing in your collaborative cases and from other professionals about possible solutions. Please mark your calendars and reserve the following dates and times for anticipated CLEs: November 18, 2020 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m.; February 17, 2021 from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m.; and April 28, 2021 from 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. We look forward to a full year of valuable content and programming and we thank you for your continued active involvement in the Section. n Authors: Cory Brandfon – Harris Hunt & Derr, PA & Shannon Green – Westbay CPAs join tHe CollABoRAtive lAw seCtion At HillsBAR.CoM. 2 2 S E P T - O C T 2 0 2 0 | H C B A L A W Y E R