Collaborative Law Allows Everyone to Be Heard while Streamlining the Process to a Peaceful Resolution
People feel they have no choice in their divorce process – that they have to fight and “go to court” in order to be protected. It is just what you do. In my experience, what most people truly want is to be heard and feel secure in the decisions that are being made. There is this mistaken belief that is what happens when “you get your day in Court”. In reality, you have no control. Litigation is like a blunt knife – there is no room for sorting through feelings or complicated family dynamics. It is aggressive, focuses on just the numbers, and is dragged out. The judicial process is an adversarial process, making you and your partner rivals. The Court makes the decisions.
Collaborative Law is like a rainbow on the horizon. The collaborative process gives each of you that space to be heard and a smart coordinated approach to financial matters. We focus on your goals and interests and your family globally. We streamline the process by working as a team getting the job done quickly and with satisfaction. Your team is made up of: you and your Collaborative Attorney advocate; your partner and his/her Collaborative Attorney advocate; the Communication Specialist (trained Mental Health professional) keeping us organized while affording everyone space to be heard; and the Financial Professional who works as a clearinghouse for financial matters, helping parties with budgets, business evaluations, and a marital estate inventory. This global approach is what you really want. You will be heard, and you will get your “day in court” – just not IN court. You will feel like you have control of your process, that your voice matters, and that you have all the right tools for decision-making as YOU make the decisions. Most importantly, you will feel satisfaction in knowing you helped yourself and your family in a humane fashion, addressing everyone’s needs and moving on in a compassionate way. No wins, no losses, just genuine civility and respect in moving forward to restructure your life.
Liane Davis Anderson, Esquire
Liane Davis Anderson focuses her legal practice exclusively in the area of family law through advocacy, mediation, and collaborative law in Montgomery, Philadelphia, and Bucks Counties. She handles all phases of settlement, negotiations, and litigation if necessary. Liane’s primary focus and philosophy is to focus on client’s broader goals and interests in moving them forward with compassion and understanding, hopefully bringing them to a peaceful resolution.
Liane graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1986 with degrees in International Politics and Latin American Studies and went on to the Peace Corps serving as a volunteer in Guatemala. Thereafter, she attended Temple University where she continued her focus on helping people working in the Temple Legal Aid Clinic and the Homeless Advocacy Project, graduating in 1993. Post law school, Liane worked with the Fair Housing Council of Montgomery County fighting housing discrimination. Liane has an interest in truly helping people – her work is not just a job.
Liane first trained to become a mediator in 1998 with the Good Shephard Mediation Program and has mediated hundreds of family matters – divorce and custody to family disputes – preferring to help families work towards resolution rather than get stuck in positions. Liane is a Supervisory Mediator on the Montgomery County Custody Mediation Program, with hundreds of hours of training, and has mediated hundreds of custody matters privately and through the program. Liane more recently has been trained in Collaborative Law where she finds her mediation skills are a perfect fit. Liane often wears her Ruth Bader Ginsburg earrings to ground her in doing her work, not for herself, but in the service of others.
Liane is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association (Family Law and Collaborative Law Committees), the Montgomery Bar Association (Family Law Section, Collaborative Law Committee, and Mediation Committee), the Doris Jonas Freed American Inn of Court, Pennsylvania Council of Mediators, the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals, and the Collaborative Law Professionals of Southeastern Pennsylvania.