A joint retainer can arise in a situation where both parties request one lawyer assist them to deal with their matter. In the situation where the parties are amicable and have a general idea of how they wish to deal with their rights and obligations arising from either the start of a new relationship or from issues arising from the breakdown of their relationship, the opportunity to hire one lawyer to assist them is advantageous. It keeps down any costs and conflict.
More often than not, when clients ask lawyers questions about cyber or personal security, during a negotiation or disagreement, those questions find their way to me, as the general manager—mostly because it’s my job, at the firm, to know about these things. While I am not a security expert in any way, shape, or form, we decided it could be helpful for clients, and potential clients, to read an article on the general topic of security, especially when involved in a sensitive legal matter that they are considering bringing to our lawyers.
I think most people would agree that dealing with the breakdown of relationship is an emotionally draining, painful experience and probably most of you going through a divorce or separation would never consider that it could be a win-win situation. But this is exactly what the goal is when the Collaborative Law Process is used rather than the adversarial litigation process.
