The new and revolutionary British Columbia Family Law Act is something all family lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, parenting coordinators, collaborative practitioners and mental health professionals should note.
It is the best reflection of current family law needs in the country.
It goes farther than any other to make clear that the old way of doing family law— court proceedings, adversarial pleadings, affidavits, motions and trials— is dead.
My excellent team of coaches in Vancouver.
And, most importantly, it tells everyone in the family law business– including lawyers– that they have a responsibility to try to keep their clients safe.
The statute acknowledges what all of us in the divorce business know: we are working in a danger zone.
Its emphasis on identifying, assessing and managing power imbalances and family violence is unprecedented.
Everyone in the family law business knows, or should know, that domestic murders and murder-suicides occur most often in the context of separation, that these cases have predictable characteristics, and that they are often preventable.
And the research tells us that unless lawyers, mediators, parenting coordinators or arbitrators ask specific questions about coercion, control, intimidation, abuse and violence, there is an excellent chance they will completely miss a dangerous dynamic. This void can lead to procedural choices that expose clients and their children to risk of harm and/or poor outcomes based on undetected coercion.
The new Act therefore requires ALL family law professionals, including arbitrators, to meet with their clients before agreeing to take the case, for the purpose of “screening” for family violence and power imbalances. If family violence is detected, the professional must assess any safety risk facing the client and his or her family, and take steps to design a process that will address such risks.
To do so, family law professionals will need to learn the various types of violent relationships, how to differentiate among them, and what dispute resolution process choices are best able to keep parties and their children safe. They will also need to understand the research generally on power imbalances in family law cases, and how the various process options can be designed to manage such imbalances.
This responsibility extends to lawyers, mediators, arbitrators, parenting coordinators and family counsellors meeting potential clients.
The Act also requires family dispute resolution professionals– mediators, arbitrators, parenting coordinators– to take a 14 hour course in Screening for Family Violence and Power Imbalances.
I was in Vancouver in January to deliver this training on behalf of CLE BC– the organization that delivers legal training to the province’s lawyers. I trained two groups of lawyers, mediators and arbitrators (including one bencher and one judge), along with a group of lawyers and mediators who acted as coaches in the training. It was quite something to engage in the reflective dialogue that took place during these workshops.
It will be interesting to see if other provinces follow the B.C. lead…. stay tuned!
