October 2nd & 3rd: Basic Interdisciplinary Collaborative Training

Join Montana Collaborative Professionals to learn the power of the team model for collaborative divorce. We invite attorneys, mental health professionals, and financial professionals to attend this interdisciplinary training.

Collaborative Practice is a voluntary dispute resolution process in which parties settle without resorting to litigation. It is a multidisciplinary approach involving attorneys, mental health professionals and financial specialists.

This Basic Interdisciplinary Collaborative Training in an introduction into Collaborative Process including the philosophy of collaborative practice, skills development, ethics and practice development, and other practical considerations with an emphasis on team building between professionals. It provides the minimum standards for basic training set by the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP).

Benefits of attending:

• Learn the fundamentals of the Collaborative Law model and how to apply it to Family Law cases
• Learn skills and procedures to manage a Collaborative Case
• Learn about the role and function of mental health professionals and financial specialists in the Collaborative Process
• Develop results-oriented techniques to help clients reach successful resolutions to disputes
• Sharpen your skills in interest-focused negotiations

Attendees will receive 12.5 CLE for attorneys, 12.5 CUE credit for mental health professionals, and 12.5 CE credit for financial professionals. CLE currently pending

October 4th & 5th: Advanced Interdisciplinary Collaborative Training

Join Montana Collaborative Professionals for this multidisciplinary workshop to address advanced collaborative topics such as case screening, remaining in professional roles, resolving team conflict, brainstorming and option generation, coaching clients through rigidity, handling “touchy” subjects with clients, and exploring the child specialist role. This training provides attendees with the opportunity to both observe demonstrations of techniques, and practice putting those techniques into action.

Requirements: Must have completed a Basic Interdisciplinary Collaborative Practice Training that meets the minimum requirements for the IACP. If you attend(ed) the training on October 2-3, 2019 you qualify to attend this training.

Benefits of attending:

• Apply the concepts learned during practice or the introductory training to real-life scenarios
• Delve into professional roles and responsibilities
• Practice brainstorming and option generation
• Practice screening clients prior to recommending the collaborative process
• Explore the child specialist role
• Opportunity for case consultation with experts
• Ask the trainers your burning questions!

Attendees will receive 12 CLE for attorneys, 12 CUE credit for mental health professionals, and 12 CE credit for financial professionals. CLE currently pending

Faculty

LINDA SOLOMON is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She has been in private practice in Dallas, Texas for 30 years. Her work with individuals, couples and families has focused on relationship issues and addictive behaviors. She is actively involved in the collaborative team approach, working as a Neutral Mental Health Professional and was instrumental in the development of the role. She is also trained as a Mediator and a Parenting Coordinator.

Linda has presented training on coaching, collaborative practice and team concerns nationally and internationally. She has presented at numerous IACP Forums on such diverse topics as The Role of the Neutral Mental Health Professional, Balancing Neutrality in the Process and A Comparison of the One Coach and Two Coach Team Approach.

She is a member of the Lone Star Collaborative Training Team and serves as a mentor to other mental health professionals in various parts of the world. She is a former board member of IACP and The Collaborative Law Institute of Texas. She served as Co-Chairman of CLI-TX Collaborative Conference in 2010 and was Chairperson of the conference the following year. In addition, she has served on the planning committee for the conference several times. Linda is the 2015 proud recipient of The Gay Cox Collaborative Spirit Award in The State of Texas.

Linda continues to be committed to helping collaborative practice spread throughout the world with particular focus on the team approach. She is passionate about her profession having a clear understanding of the role on a collaborative team and helping the other professions understand how mental health professionals will contribute to the process.

MELINDA EITZEN, recently recognized by D Magazine as one of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas” and one of the “Best Family Law Mediators in Dallas”, is an attorney on the forefront of the collaborative law movement in Texas, is a partner in the Dallas-Fort Worth area based family law practice of Duffee + Eitzen.

Focused on multimillion-dollar divorces, custody modifications, paternity cases, and premarital agreements, Melinda Eitzen is highly experienced in all facets of family law, and well versed in managing high-profile cases. She is the daughter of beloved retired Judge, Merrill Hartman, who was a Dallas District Judge for 22 years on both the Civil bench and Family bench.

Melinda Eitzen has utilized her expertise in the practice of Collaborative Law to pen lectures, articles, and books on the subject including co-authoring “Divorce The Collaborative Way. Is It The Way For You?” and “Considering Divorce? Critical Things You Need to Know.” In addition, she has presented dynamic lectures on many family law issues and the practice of family law. She has received the distinction of being a “Super Lawyer” multiple times by Texas Monthly Magazine (every year from 2003-2006 and every year again from 2009-2017) and one of the “Best Lawyers in Dallas” by D Magazine. Melinda is the recipient of numerous awards, particularly for her pro bono work and for teaching others how to do pro bono work.

Melinda has served as President of the Collin County Bar Association and as a Member of the Board of Directors of Texas Lawyers for Children from 2011-2013, as President of the Plano Bar Association, as a chair of the Collaborative Law Alliance of Collin County, Vice President of the Collin County Bar Association, chair of the Good Works Committee of the Collin County Bar Association, director of the Dallas Association of Young Lawyers, director of Texas Young Lawyers Association, and chair of the Family Law Section of the Collin County Bar Association.

Melinda Eitzen has a true passion for helping people through difficult times. She has an exceptional mix of both compassion for her clients and an unyielding toughness on her opponents in the courtroom. This unique blend gives her clients someone to talk to and someone they can depend on to protect their interests and get them everything they deserve.