How to Pick a Divorce Attorney
Victor J. Medina in the New Jersey Divorce and Family Law blog offers some good guidance in how to select a divorce attorney. I agree with Medina when he states a client should look for a divorce attorney who is flexible in style.
I think all divorce attorneys hear some client question during at the initial consultation:
“Are you a fighter? I need a bulldog on this…” or “I really need someone who is collaborative…can you work with my ex’s attorney?”
My response, like Medina’s, is I can be whatever the situation requires. An effective attorney needs to be practical, pragmatic, creative, and re-active. Seemingly contradictory, it is possible to be both firm and conciliatory or aggressive and fair. Like a good boxer, a matrimonial attorney has to know how to bob and weave to avoid the punishing blows, to jab to wear down opposition, and be willing and able of throwing a knock out punch.
A matrimonial case is not one dimensional- the issues are financial, legal, emotional and psychological. The fight, sometime, may appear to be about money, but it may really be about rejection or control instead. Other times, the dispute may really be just about money. The good attorney will discern which the case is and his adjust strategy accordingly to achieve a result in an expeditious and cost effective manner.
Daniel - Thanks for the comment. I like your boxing analogy a little better than my armed forces analogy because it speaks to being both proactive and reactive to a particular situation. I used to practice a martial art that had as its foundation the ability to work with what an opponent gave you. At times, the best move was to meet the attack by accepting the energy and re-directing it. Other times, the best play was to resist with hard force. I think the trick to being a top practitioner (of the art or of law), it being able to identify which is called for in a given situation and acting accordingly.
Or to continue mixing our metaphor's- you have to deal with the cards you are dealt.
Daniel Clement