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Level the Playing Field With Collaborative Law

October 6, 2016 by West Coast ADR

It is the duty of an attorney to represent a client to the best of his or her ability. This means using whatever knowledge and skill one possesses to best advantage, and the needs and wants of the opposing counsel are not the first priority. The annulment proceedings of a high-power Canadian couple highlight the possible impact of such a situation and make a compelling case for the use of collaborative law, whether the separation is here in British Columbia or anywhere across the country.

Eleanor McCain, an heiress to the McCain Foods company, filed for an annulment to end her brief marriage to Jeff Melanson, the former CEO of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, in March 2016. More than half a dozen lawyers are now involved in the separation, and it has become a bitter dispute between the former spouses. But the focus of McCain’s fight is currently on Melanson’s attorney.

His lawyer has previously been involved with three McCain family divorces, and McCain believes he may be privy to private and potentially damaging information about her gained from the early cases. Specifically, she and her team are concerned about testimony given by psychologists and mediators during her last divorce, a divorce in which he represented her now ex-husband, Greg David. Her lawyers are arguing to have him removed from the case, and a recent hearing ran for eight and a half hours.

With so much attention being given to her estranged husband’s lawyer, no progress is being made on the annulment itself. It seems likely that a large amount of time and money will be expended on this process. And though it is an extreme situation, it illustrates the unpleasant path that a litigated separation can take when former spouses take out their frustrations on each other. The alternative route for couples in British Columbia who wish to part ways is to agree to use collaborative law, and consult with a family law firm to help them settle matters together.

Source: National Post, “McCain heiress wants to disqualify husband’s “nightmare” lawyer because she fears him, court told“, Victor Ferreira, Sept. 29, 2016

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