"Meitheal" - The Second European Collaborative Law Conference is set for May 2-3, 2008 in Cork, Ireland

By Patricia Mallon

On behalf of the Committee of the Association of Collaborative Practitioners in Ireland, I have great pleasure in inviting you all to the Second European Collaborative Law Conference which is taking place in the Sheraton Hotel, Fota Island, in Cork on the 2^nd and 3^rd of May, 2008.

In March of last year, ten delegates from Ireland attended the First European Collaborative Law Conference in Vienna. This was a wonderful success and it gave us an insight into the value to practitioners of a conference both in terms of learning, by attending the plenaries and workshops, and networking with the international community of Collaborative practitioners who were incredibly generous with their expertise and knowledge.

Having all the audacity of newcomers, and in circumstances which have been embellished in the retelling, we succeeded in securing the privilege of organising the Second European Collaborative Law Conference in Ireland.

We have spent a lot of time in our planning sessions considering what would give most benefit to delegates. After a lot of consultation and thought, we arrived at the title "Meitheal" (which is pronounced Meh-hal). This is an Irish word which has to do with community and common purpose.

In planning this conference we have focused our attention on various aspects of the theme of communication and community. There will be pieces on the voice of the child, theme-based work, communication in all its forms, and negotiation, to name but a few. As a type of "leitmotiv," we will also focus on forms of non-verbal collaboration in its widest sense. You will, however, have to sign up for the conference and come to Ireland to see the full expression of non-verbal collaboration. We think that you will be as enthused as we are in its creation.

We have been very fortunate that the President of Ireland has agreed to open the conference. Her Excellency Mary McAleese is making herself available at 11:00 am on the first day. The timing of that day will thus be very much centered around the President's schedule. We also hope to have members of Government and the Judiciary in attendance.

In terms of speakers, we are pleased to welcome Stu Webb and Pauline Tesler as well as Chip Rose and Jennifer Jackson. Ron Ousky, the incoming IACP Board president, will also address the conference. A host of workshops have been arranged and to date we have presenters such as past IACP Board President Rita Pollak, Susan Miller, Richard Sharp, Karen Richie, Susan Gamache, Nancy Cameron, and many more. We are proposing to do a pre-conference day on the subject of commercial and civil collaboration, civil collaboration and marketing. If time and interest permit, we are also considering a workshop directed at people who have been trained but who are not yet practising.

The programme should be finalised in the early part of the New Year. We hope to have a judicious mix of high-end content as well as a strong accent on the social side. We have organised a wonderful evening with a sit down dinner in a beautiful period mansion called "Fota House," and on the second night we will enjoy the conference banquet, where taking part in traditional Irish dancing is a "must" for adventurous delegates. Culturally there is much to see and do in Ireland. One of the excursions we will organise is a trip to Cobh, which is the point from which emigrants departed during the devastating years of the Great Famine, bound for North America.

We urge you to set aside these dates and come to Ireland, where you will be greeted with "one hundred thousand welcomes." For more information and registration, please go to http://www.acp.ie/