What is the Worst Kind of Family Law Attorney Your Spouse May Hire?

Family Law Attorneys and the Worst Kind Your Spouse May Hire

You are concerned because your spouse has hired a family law attorney that has a reputation for being unethical or overaggressive. You don't know where to go and whether you should respond in kind or search out an ethical and honest divorce lawyer.

We understand your stress. We will also let you in on a little secret. The good lawyers just don't know the law and are familiar with the judges. We also know our opponents. In a perfect world, all the family law attorneys would be reasonable people who have their client's best interest in mind and the goal of a fair and swift resolution of the family law case.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of unreasonable, overaggressive or bad lawyers who practice family law. Fortunately, we generally know from experience who they are and how to handle them. This gives our family law clients a distinct advantage because not only are we able to tell our client and educate him or her on the law and strategy during the course of the divorce case but will also be able to help them understand the kind of attorney that represents their spouse and what our client can reasonably expect to see and hear.

Let's go through the types of family law attorneys that attempt to cause problems and the way we handle cases against them.

1. The reasonable and experienced family law attorneys:

When we have a reasonable family law attorney on the other side of the case, the case usually settles and does so quickly and at a very affordable price for both spouses. That is because reasonable family law attorneys do not put up fights over non-sensible issues, do not create unreasonable expectations for their own client or take issues to court that they know or should know have little chance of prevailing on. These family law cases typically involve our law firm and the opposing law firm narrowing the issues that are in dispute, if there are any, with the help of our respective clients, identify the issues that can settle quickly and, if there are family law issues that the parties reasonably cannot agree on, present those issues to the family law judge assigned to the case at either a settlement conference or a trial.

These types of family law cases can be resolved from beginning to end in a significantly shorter period of time and at an affordable cost.

2. The unreasonable fee churning family law attorneys:

I wish these types of family law attorneys did not exist but unfortunately they do.

These types of attorneys have a well earned reputation of caring very little for their clients or the family as a whole but instead create more problems than almost any other type of divorce lawyer.

These types of family law attorneys will file unnecessary and often frivolous motions and other requests with the court, take tenuous or extreme positions that any competent lawyer would know the family law judge would likely not grant and, all the while, bill (and overbill) their clients incessantly until the client either fires them or the attorney quits because he or she is not being paid.

We know who these lawyers and law firms are and when we take on a case that has this type of opponent we create a careful strategy to make sure that we expose the attorney or law firm's client to attorney's fees and sanctions for the churning lawyer's conduct. Since it is rare to be able to get sanctions (which is a form of monetary punishment) against lawyers (although there are exceptions), getting the attention of the client the attorney or law firm represents with sanctions against him or her usually wakes up that person who realizes their attorney is doing them a tremendous disservice in the case.

We are proud to say that very rarely do these types of family lawyers last through a case we handle. Sooner or later, the other spouse gets it and changes strategy to something more reasonable. Whey he or she does not, we work hard to prevail at trial and get lawyer's fees on top.

3. The emotional family law attorneys:

This type of lawyer generally takes on the emotions of the case.

I have literally seen family law attorneys in become their clients, as if all of the bitterness, anger or frustration that is sometimes apparent between spouses going through a divorce has to be worn by the attorney.

The biggest problem with attorneys like this is that they become relatively ineffective in their representation of the client. In other words, they are unable to give their client objective advice that gives the client options that are based on the facts, the law and a common sense budget as opposed to illogical and emotion driven choices. Coincidentally, these types of family law lawyers often inadvertently churn the file through their unnecessary billing of the case and are therefore handled the same way as the other type identified in number 1, above, except we make a concerted effort at the beginning of the case to make sure that our client does not antagonize or fan the flames of the emotions that are running hot in the case.

We have had tremendous success representing husbands and wives whose spouse was very emotionally driven by bringing a sense of calm and order to the case despite the other spouse's highs and lows and that of the spouse's family law lawyer.

4. The dishonest family law attorneys:

Lawyers should not lie. Lawyers should not exaggerate.

Unfortunately certain family law attorneys have not learned that lesson, have little regard for their reputation and are willing to misrepresent facts and sometimes even the law to gain an advantage.

These types of tactics do not work against a law firm like ours. If we see that the attorney we're going up against is dishonest or we know he or she has a reputation as such, we simply ensure that any communication we have with that attorney is in writing or, if it is a verbal indication, is confirmed in writing. Bluntly, dishonest attorneys are the easiest lawyers to go up against because the games rarely if ever gain them any advantage and often costs them in front of the family law judge, especially experienced ones, to the detriment of their own client.

We are here to help you with the family law matter

We are experienced, knowledgeable, and honest divorce and family law attorneys who care for our clients and work hard to achieve for every one of our clients, big or small, results that are consistent with the law and within a budget that each client can afford.

To see some of the successful case results we have achieved for clients as well as client testimonials in cases that were not always easy and did involve an opposing spouse and an opposing family law attorney who was difficult, dishonest or attempted to churn the file, visit our case result page as well as our client testimonial page of this website.

As always, we hope to hear from you. We offer an affordable initial consultation to discuss your case. Together we will put together a strategy and budget that makes sense for you and get you started on the right track.

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