Sorry for just disappearing last week. One of my very good Trenches friends and I went to San Antonio to attend a three day conference on military divorce issues. I took my tablet instead of my laptop, and discovered.....I can't really get here from there. So, good intentions, but reality intervened.
The conference was wonderful. I learned a lot of tips to help my military clients, both servicemembers and their spouses. I also learned a lot of things that make me just gosh darn nervous. There are a lot of traps out there for the family law attorney fairly wise in the ways of the military and divorce. For those attorneys who don't know what they don't know, well, I am a more than a bit frightened for them and their clients. This brings me to today's subject and another tip for choosing a family law attorney. There are clients out there who work in highly specialized fields with their own language and their own rules, like the military. There are also clients whose culture is very different from what most of us consider the norm, again like the military, but also national and religious cultures. When choosing an attorney to represent a client in the Trenches, it's obviously important to pick one who knows and understands the law of divorce and custody. It is important to pick an attorney with whom the client relates well on a personal level, and whose advocacy style is compatible with the client's. It is, however, also very important to have an attorney who understands the client's culture and its rules, and also has a working knowledge of any specialized fields of work. As one of our speakers this past week said: "Military personnel don't speak 'court'; courts don't speak military." That statement can apply to cultures, areas of employ and lifestyles other than the military. Don't they all need attorneys who speak their language, as well as that of the courts? Look for them, they're out there. Here in the Trenches.
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