Douglas D Nichols, Attorney

I have always appreciated being able to help people solve their problems. That is why I enjoy practicing law. It gives me the opportunity to assist people and help them to resolve issues that they have not been able to resolve on their own.

Because, over the years, I have experienced many jobs, situations and problems myself, I can readily identify with my clients when they come to me for assistance. I am told that I am easy to talk to and am a good listener.

Fortunately, if my client's problem involves a dispute with another person, my office is able to offer a number of methods to resolve the dispute. We are not limited to filing suit. We can also offer collaborative law and mediation as alternatives. You will find detailed explanations of both collaborative law and mediation on other pages of this website (see the list of other pages at the top left and bottom of this page).

As I mentioned above, my work experience has been over a broad range of occupations. In my youth I delivered newspapers, cut lawns and even waxed buses. Later I worked as a warehouseman. I have been a truck driver, driving everything from small pickup trucks to large electrical line trucks and large stake trucks. I have worked as an apprentice electrician during the installation of an assembly line in a newly built Ford plant. Later I worked as a purchasing agent. After that I worked as a surveyor and did mechanical drafting (this was before CAD programs existed). I spent 6 years in the United States Air Force and flew airborne alert missions as an Electronic Warfare Officer on a B-52 bomber. I then worked as a computer programmer, writing programs for 5 different brands of computers including the IBM 360 and the Univac 494 which was, at that time, running the first coast to coast computer system in this country. Following my work as a programmer, I became a computer systems analyst and had approximately 20 people working under me. Following that job I became both a trial attorney and a programmer and installer of computer systems in law offices in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

I then began my own private practice of law in Ludlow, Massachusetts. My law office services clients from Ludlow, Springfield, West Springfield, Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Wilbraham, Chicopee, Westfield, Palmer, Ware, Easthampton, Brimfield, Agawam, Amherst, Holyoke, Hampden, Northampton, Belchertown and all of the other cities and towns in Hampden County and Hampshire County.

Although my law office handles many different types of matters ranging from business transactions and real estate to estate planning, wills, trusts and much more (see the complete list on the “Practice Areas” page of this website), I want to discuss my experience resolving legal disputes between two or more parties.

At the time that I went into private practice I had accumulated extensive trial experience. Back in the 1970s going to trial was the only way to resolve legal disputes so that was what I used as a last resort. However, even then I could see that placing a dispute before a judge or a jury was not efficient, was expensive and often not fully satisfying for my clients. Many times the result of a trial was such that neither side was satisfied and neither side had control over the outcome. All we could do was present our best case and hope for a favorable decision.

We now have other methods to deal with this type of situation, namely collaborative law and mediation. One big advantage of both of these methods is that the parties, not a judge or a jury, have control over the final result. Another advantage is that, except in the case of divorce which in Massachusetts requires a hearing before a judge, if the collaborative or mediation approach is successful, the dispute and the nature of its resolution, can remain a private matter between the parties without requiring public disclosure, however public disclosure is an integral part of a contested trial.

I have become, not only a strong believer, but also a strong advocate for both of these alternate methods of dispute resolution. They are both eminently effective in situations where the parties will continue to have contact with each other after the resolution of the dispute. This makes collaborative law and mediation ideal for: a) divorces where children are involved or many times even if there are no children of the marriage, b) paternity matters, c) contested Probate disputes, d) disputes between neighbors, e) the dissolution of a closely held business, e) disputes between employees at the same business and f) disputes between family members.

I have been trained in, and am experienced in both collaborative law and mediation. I would be pleased to discuss either or both of these options at a free initial 30 minute conference. Further explanations of each of these methods of alternate dispute resolution are located on their respective pages of this website (see the list of other pages at the top left and bottom of this page).

I am the first attorney in Hampden County to practice collaborative law in more than one specialty.