Maryland Uniform Collaborative Law Act

The act governs collaborative law, a voluntary process in which parties and their lawyers commit, through a signed participation agreement, to resolve a dispute by negotiation rather than through contested proceedings before a tribunal. It sets the conditions under which the process may be used, how it begins and concludes, what must be disclosed to and consented to by participating parties, and the disqualification of a collaborative lawyer — and of other lawyers in that lawyer's firm — from representing a party in a related proceeding if the process ends without resolution. It also makes communications made during the process confidential and subject to a privilege against disclosure, with defined waivers and limits, while preserving a tribunal's authority to enter emergency orders, approve any resulting agreement, and respond to noncompliance.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.