HI HB626

Enacts the Hawaii Uniform Collaborative Law Act to authorize disputants to resolve disputes without tribunal intervention through signed collaborative law participation agreements.

Requires parties in a collaborative process to make timely, full, candid, and informal disclosure of information related to the matter without formal discovery procedures.

Disqualifies collaborative lawyers and their law firm associates from representing parties in tribunal proceedings related to the collaborative matter, with limited exceptions for approving agreements or emergency orders.

Establishes collaborative law communications as privileged and inadmissible in evidence, subject to exceptions for public records, threats of violence, criminal activity, and professional misconduct claims.

Takes effect July 1, 2012.