Scott R. Peppet

Scott R. Peppet, Associate Professor, University of Colorado Law School, spoke on “The Ethics of Collaborative Law.” Professor Peppet specializes in legal ethics and in alternative dispute resolution and negotiation. He is the co-author of both an award winning book on legal bargaining, Beyond Winning: Negotiating to Create Value in Deals and Disputes, and a leading textbook, Processes in Dispute Resolution. Collaborative law has been developed and led by groups of lawyers who are discontented with the adversarial practice of law. Attorneys practicing collaborative law agree, for example, not to mislead each other during the course of their negotiation and not to represent their clients if the case eventually goes to trial. Their goal is to facilitate a fair and reasonable settlement of the issues between their clients. The practice of collaborative law has not been without controversy; in February 2007 the Colorado Bar Association’s ethics committee declared it unethical per se, which puts Professor Peppet’s talk on the cutting edge in this newborn field of lawyering.Watch Online