Are you a Florida family law attorney who needs professional guidance as you handle your own divorce or a family member’s divorce?
If you are looking for professional guidance on your Florida case, I am available for consultations. I have worked for over 20 years as a family law attorney in South Florida. I bring my experience as a mediator, a child support prosecutor, and a family law magistrate as well.
Let’s talk lawyer to lawyer here.
We both know the reality of court: if you, as an attorney yourself, hire a divorce attorney, the judge will see two attorneys pitted against the non-lawyer party, and it’s a not a good look. The judge will probably not care if you only practice real estate law and consequently know nothing of family law, a practice area that tends to be a world unto itself. The judge sees two lawyers against one.
Additionally, once you hire a divorce lawyer, you are more likely to pay for your ex’s attorney fees.
You, as a lawyer who is getting divorced, face the unique hurdles above. But my consultation services can reposition you on the playing field more securely.
If you practice in some area other than law, and you still want to represent yourself without any guidance, you fail to realize that legal realism matters in this context: you can study for hours in case law and statutes, but family law unfolds in the ways that social interests, politics, and public policy intersect. Unless you have some direct experience in the workings of the family court system in a given location, you may be unwittingly choosing an unnecessarily difficult road.
If you are undeterred by the prospect of paying your ex’s attorney’s fees or by the judge having a less sympathetic view of your case, then consider this adage: “A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.”
Admittedly, you know your case – your marriage, yourself, your ex – better than anyone else. But your knowledge won’t necessarily translate into leverage, especially since this situation is the equivalent of surgeons operating on themselves or on a relative. For your divorce, I can create and maintain emotional distance from the trauma for you. You don’t know yet how you’ll feel when you must keep up your caseload and your kids’ schedules while representing yourself in divorce proceedings. Even representing a family member may set you up for longer, harder hours than you anticipated with a rougher emotional toll than the cases you handle for clients at arm’s length.
My problem-solving considers the interests of everyone in your case. Over my career, I have sat in all three chairs in the courtroom: being a prosecutor, a defense attorney, and a magistrate judge results in a uniquely multifaceted viewpoint.
Whether you hire me as a consultant or choose someone else, remember that it’s hard to get perspective on the cases that are closest to you. It’s not the most legally complicated case you need to worry about. It’s the one that’s closest to you, and that’s when you need an experienced professional to provide insight, a counterpoint, and case management.
