IS THERE A BETTER WAY?

“Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated” or words similar to Mark Twain’s lament apply to me. But, since my last blog entry, I’ve been working on growing my family law practice. At times, I’ve felt like Moses wandering in the wilderness trying to find the Promised Land, a better way of practicing family law.

My practice until now has been based on the conventional wisdom that if both sides of a case believe that they got the short end of the stick, the Process Worked.

The Process Worked? Worked for whom? If the Process ended in a final trial and the decree of divorce was signed off by the judge, then the court coordinator gets to close the file and reduce the caseload - and back log – by one.

If the lawyers and any expert witnesses get paid, then the Process Worked. But only if they get paid.

All too often, the clients and even the attorneys leave the arena with a bitter and sour taste in their mouths.

Clients gasp in horror as they see all that they hold dear being torn asunder. Their children – their hope for the future – are left confused with more emotional pain than they should be made to bear.

Family ties with extended families and even with ex-in-laws are strained and broken. Friends unwittingly have to choose sides, so they choose neither.

The clients’ financial world is severely damaged if not destroyed.

In short, their entire universe is turned upside down.

But the Process Worked.

There has to be a better way. I think I have a line on a way that may help.