The Cost of Court Inefficiencies
I felt compelled to document on my blog the Facebook status update I posted while in court this morning for people to more easily find. The posting was as follows: I’m in court to walk a stipulated judgment through. It is now 9:52 a.m. and the judge has yet to take the bench for the
Confusion of Terminology Is to Blame for the Mediation Confidentiality Debate in California
On January 13, 2011, in Michael Cassel v. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County , the California Supreme Court held that mediation confidentiality prevents the admissibility of evidence relevant to a legal malpractice claim if that evidence involves attorney-client communications “for the purpose of, in the course of, or pursuant to” mediation. Since that
The Importance of Putting Feelings First in Negotiations
” A legendary hostage negotiator put feelings first … Feelings can cloud our judgment.” IMAGINE THAT! “The very good negotiators, I think, are the ones with the life stories,” he concluded.” SURPRISE! An “empathetic negotiating style” enables tapping into another’s “life experiences.” WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT? You should “deal with emotions first [in order] to
Litigation Is One of Life’s Most Stressful Experiences
On September 13, 2015, I received an email that said in pertinent part the following: “The big stress items in life are often listed as marriage, divorce, birth, death, and moving. Litigation should be included. Wow. You can ‘know’ it, but until you live it you can never really ‘know’ it.” Truer words have never
“Mediation” as an “Alternative Form of Litigation”
Last night, someone was telling us that she “mediated” her divorce many years ago and that her ex-husband failed to comply with the “mediated” agreement. I then told her that I found that odd because the research is very clear that when people enter into agreements in mediation through self-determination, the compliance rate is significantly
Family Law Cases Are the Vampires of the Legal Field
On May 27, 2015, I attended the Beverly Hills Bar Association’s monthly Family Law Section meeting. The topic on that date was “Post-Judgment Spousal Support: Creating Predictability on an Unpredictable Issue.” One of the presenters, the Honorable Robert A. Schnider (Retired), commented that family law cases are considered the vampires of the legal field because
Denying Others Their Human Dignity Based Upon Your Religious Beliefs Is Unconstitutional
On August 31, 2015, the United States Supreme Court ” ruled against the Kentucky county clerk who has refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses.” Let’s decipher what occurred: The full U.S. Supreme Court denied the stay without comment. Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky clerk’s request for “asylum for her conscience” that was filed by
Fear and Anger Guarantee Aggressive Lawyers a Secure Future
I don’t see why unnecessarily aggressive family law litigators should feel threatened by those of us who are assertive and yet psychologically-minded and child-centered in our approach, especially considering the power that “fear” and “anger” hold on us (if we allow such a hold). For example, last week, someone contact my office for a consultation
Response to “Is It Time For A National Divorce Law Too?”
On July 12, 2015, Laurence Kotlikoff published an article in Forbes titled ” Is It Time For A National Divorce Law Too? ” In that article, Mr. Kotlikoff describes just how arbitrary our laws are from state to state and how that impacts people who are divorcing, for example. He demonstrates how spousal support that
Commentary on “Boy is cut off from friends”
Boy’s mother referred to him as “my son” three times, “our son” once and “our kids” once. When she used the phrase “our son,” it involved the court battle with his father over custody. When she used the phrase “our kids,” she was referring to kids she has with her husband, in addition to this