April 28, 2011
I was in a mediation earlier this week in which my client was seeking a requirement that his children’s mother consult with him before making
Why I no longer accept service of rules to show cause
April 2, 2011
Yesterday two different attorneys asked me about accepting service on behalf of a client for rules to show cause. While I will routinely accept service
(Don’t) throw me in the briar patch
March 19, 2011
It’s a shame that Joel Chandler Harris’ Uncle Remus books are considered racist nowadays due to their trickster tales and use of plantation-era African American
Revealing or shielding a family court attorney’s itemized statement of time spent
March 19, 2011
An attorney’s itemized statement of time spent on a case can be a valuable piece of information for an opposing party and that party’s attorney.
When attacking the opposing party is counterproductive
March 7, 2011
Perhaps because the legal process involves the resolution of conflict, and because conflict requires parties to be in opposition, folks involved in litigation reflexively believe
Sandbagging opposing counsel: don’t do it
February 28, 2011
A colleague came to me today seeking advice. Opposing counsel had served her client with a rule to show cause but the service hadn’t been
Making the defendant testify in the plaintiff’s case-in-chief
February 12, 2011
I have never understood the general preference of litigants and attorneys to be the plaintiff in family court proceedings. “You get to go first,” is
Playing the jerk to encourage dispute resolution
January 22, 2011
Sometimes a guardian ad litem can assist resolution of a custody dispute by doing things that initially make the parents unhappy. This won’t render the
