In re Mabray
Court of Appeals of Texas
2010 WL 3448198 (2010)
Mary (plaintiff) and Gary (defendant) Mabray, along with attorney Keen, signed a cooperative law dispute resolution agreement to assist in dissolving their marriage; when their resolution efforts failed, Keen continued representing Gary, and Mary sought Keen's disqualification, arguing this continued representation violated Texas's collaborative-law statute. Gary argued the statute didn't apply because the parties had entered a cooperative-law agreement rather than a collaborative-law agreement, and under a cooperative-law agreement the lawyer wasn't required to accept disqualification in a subsequent divorce proceeding; the trial court agreed with Gary, and Mary appealed.
Whether Texas's collaborative-law statute, which requires attorney disqualification upon failed settlement negotiations, governs an agreement the parties themselves structured as a cooperative-law rather than collaborative-law agreement.