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Family Law Practice Group

The Family Law Practice Group meets to foster a warm and welcoming environment for education, growth, and support.

Welcome to the family law practice group (FLPG) home page! King County Collaborative Law's Family Law Practice Group meets regularly to provide training, discuss issues that concern practitioners and work on projects.

Meeting Dates and Time

Meetings are currently open to both members and non-members of King County Collaborative Law.

We meet the third Tuesday of every month:
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Helsell Fetterman
1001 - 4^th Ave., Suite 4200
Seattle, WA 98154

Our theme - the 100th Monkey

Can you believe that we have over a 100 members now?  Our theme for the year is the "100^th monkey," which is a contemporary metaphor based on scientific observations of monkey colonies in Japan.  Scientists left yams on the beach to lure monkeys from the trees to observe them.  A female named Imo began washing her yams in the sea, perhaps to remove sand and add salt.  Imo showed her playmates and her mother.  The playmates showed their mothers.  Soon all monkeys on the island washed their yams.  What was fascinating to scientists was that this behavioral change was widespread despite the fact that the monkey colonies on different islands had no direct contact with each other.

What does this mean for us?  The metaphor suggests that an individual seemingly anonymous monkey can tip the scales for the whole culture.  We are quickly reaching a level of expertise in our community that is being recognized nationally.  We hope to apply the principle of the 100^th monkey by having seasoned collaborative practitioners show us how they "wash their yams" to accelerate the growth and development of our collaborative community as a whole.

Calendar of Events

FLPG is sponsoring a year to remember!  We've put together a program for the full year which we hope will be meaningful to KCCL members at every stage of practice development.  We consider each meeting a time to celebrate and share so you will notice the holiday theme each month.  By June 2009 when our season closes, we hope we have fulfilled the message contained in the 100th monkey story - where the knowledge of the few is transformed into the wisdom of the many.  We also consider the Family Law Practice Group to be a "superpod" which will give people a chance to develop more widespread camaraderie.

Members Only Practice Forms

These forms are samples and are not warranted to be complete or appropriate for any specific situation.

Attachment to Retainer Agreement Word version (21 K DOC) or PDF version (8 K PDF)

Participation Agreement Word version (44 K DOC) or PDF version (27 K PDF)

Collaborative Law Groundrules Word version (318 K DOC) or PDF version (14 K PDF)

Sample Meeting Agenda Word version (21 K DOC) or PDF version (8 K PDF)

Progress Notes Word version (25 K DOC) or PDF version (8 K PDF)

For More Information

We look forward to hearing from you!  Feel free to contact the co-chairs of the Family Law Practice Group:  Karen Nakagawa at (206) 545-0070 / karen@khnlaw.com or Jeff Shushan at (206) 298-9555 / legacycounstrain@mac.com

These meetings are not to be missed!