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Family Lawyer Magazine PDF

67 Pages·2013·13.82 MB·English
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FAMILY LAWYER SPECIAL EDITION WINTER 2014 MAGAZINE Mercedes-Benz Family Law? Working with High-Profile Clients Control Your Firm’s Finances When “Friends” Complicate Trial National Conference on Divorce Succeed with Your Financial Expert The Perils of Pretexting Becoming a Better Negotiator Protect Clients’ Digital Assets Table of wContenwts | Pwrofess.ioFnal Laistinmgs ilyLawyerMagazine.com | 1 Settlement 2 | Table of Contents | Professional Listings Table of Contents LEGAL MATTERS 10 When “Friends” Complicate Trials by John Browning 12 How to Succeed with Your Financial Expert in Court by Tracy Coenen 14 The Perils of Pretexting by Marshall Waller 16 Servicemember’s Civil Relief Act by Karen Robbins FINANCIAL MATTERS 23 Common QDRO Pitfalls by Mark Altschuler 25 Irrational Financial Decisions by Justin Reckers and Robert Simon 27 Discovering Hidden Income by Kim Onisko and JB Rizzo 30 A Look at QDROS and Liability Issues by Timothy Voit 32 Standard of Value by Shannon Pratt and Alina Niculita PRACTICE MANAGEMENT / DEVELOPMENT 6 When High-Profile Clients Come Knocking by David Sarif 8 Controlling Your Firm’s Finances by Mark Powers and Shawn McNalis 34 Children Held Hostage by Stanley Clawar 40 Mercedes-Benz Family Law Division? by Dan Couvrette CONTINUING EDUCATION 19 The National Conference on Divorce 39 Becoming a Better Negotiator by Gregg Herman TECHNOLOGY 21 Protect Your Clients’ Digital Assets by Nicholas Himonidis 54 The Future of Law: Focus on Mobility by Chad Burton WORK-LIFE BALANCE 57 A Kerala Vacation: The Perfect Therapeutic Destination by Mel Borins PROFESSIONALS & SERVICES DIRECTORY 60 Listing of Family Lawyers and Related Professionals and Services Table of Contents | Professional Listings www.familylawyermagazine.com | 3 Letter From the Publisher Challenging Your Thinking CEO/Publisher Dan CouvreƩ e, 866.803.6667 Ext. 124 One Article at a Time Table of Contents | Professional Listings | 5 Client Relations By David G. Sarif, Family Lawyer When High-Profi le Clients Come Knocking Cases involving high-profile individuals may involve unique challenges, complexities and potential pitfalls that attorneys must be aware of in order to ensure proper representation, a positive result, and a happy client. Identifying High-Profile Clients Identifying and recognizing potential meeting someone famous and if so, clients as high-profile is a critical, yet whether you can keep it under con- Before getting into the potential pros an often overlooked step of proper and trol. and cons of representing a high-profile effective representation. For if an at- 3. Whether you can properly handle client, it is prudent to define who ex- torney fails to identify a client as high the media and press that will likely actly qualifies as a “high-profile” cli- profile, he or she could make a critical follow the case. ent. For most people, the first thing mistake that could severely compro- 4. Whether you can deal with the inter- that comes to mind when they think mise either the privacy of the client, or mediaries throughout the process of a high-profile person is a celebrity, even circumvent a favorable outcome that often run high-profile clients’ such as a movie star, television actor, in the case. lives such as other attorneys, agents, singer, or professional athlete. How- financial advisors, business manag- ever, there are also plenty of non- A few issues for attorneys to consider ers, significant others, and/or mar- famous yet “high-profile” clients who when deciding whether or not to un- keting specialists. may also require special or unique dertake such representation include: treatment, such as successful business 1. Whether you are in business to meet Further, although high-profile cli- owners, executives, community lead- famous people or to make money. ents often have a higher ability to pay ers, public officials, and politicians. 2. Whether you are intimidated by than the majority of people, some will 6 | www.familylawyermagazine.com/article-category/client-relations Table of Contents | Professional Listings nonetheless expect either free or dis- documents in your presence, not their counted services, citing the publicity agent. Remember, it is alright to reject and attention they bring by virtue of Ultimately, you must or fire a client who is unwilling to coop- them being your client (i.e. some will erate with such simple requests. Ulti- feel that you “owe” them for choos- ask yourself whether you mately, you must ask yourself whether ing your firm). In the end, only you can you are willing to risk your reputation decide whether the publicity that the are willing to risk your simply to allow a high-profile client to high-profile client brings with them is bend the rules. worth it, and whether the high stakes reputation simply to and expectations involved are overly Like with all cases and clients, acknowl- burdensome or exciting, challenging, allow a high-profile client edging and preparing for potential and rewarding. challenges and complexities ahead to bend the rules. of time will help ensure a positive ex- High-Profile Representation perience for both the client and the Strategies attorney alike. While these are all man- ageable challenges that should not If you ultimately determine that you (i.e. text messages) can leak out at any necessarily prevent you from accepting want to undertake representation of a time and cause irreparable damage to the representation, they are issues that high-profile client, there are certain nu- both their image and to the case. you must be willing to deal with from ances and strategic decisions that must the outset. be considered apart from the normal Recognizing High-Profile scope of representation. As an initial Challenges David G. Sarif is an As- matter, you must understand who in sociate at Kessler & Solo- your client’s personal life will and will Other challenges attorneys are likely minay, LLC. Mr. Sarif has not be most helpful to your represen- to face in representing high-profile cli- been honored as a Geor- tation. For example, people like the cli- ents include potentially intense media gia Super Lawyers Rising ent’s mother or father will usually be scrutiny of your client and the case, po- Star in multiple years, and very helpful, given that generally there tentially high-maintenance clients with has represented numer- is a much lower probability they have an overinflated sense of self-worth, ous high-profile entertainers, musicians, their own agenda. On the other hand, competition from other attorneys will- and professional athletes. He devotes groupies and entourage members are ing to tell the client whatever they 100% of his practice to family law. www. not likely to provide much, if any, help want to hear just to get their business ksfamilylaw.com at all, given that they are typically only (including second guessing your work around for their own interests rather in the media), and defending your cli- More Related Articles than the client’s. ent from disparaging internet gossip. Further, you must recognize that there Courtroom Tips From the Top There are several strategic decisions are many different personality types We asked five renowned lawyers to address early in the representation and it is very possible that you will have from the Faculty of the Houston whenever possible. Understandably, to deal with some extremes, either Family Trial Institute to share some high-profile clients are often concerned with the client or their representatives. of their insights on courtroom skills about their information, especially fi- Also, keep in mind that their family and and strategies. nancial information, being leaked to representatives are often there to pro- www.familylawyermagazine.com/ the media or made available for public tect and shield them from the outside articles/courtroom-tips-from-the- scrutiny. Accordingly, depending on the world (including their attorneys), which top individual circumstances of the case, a makes it more difficult to deliver advice confidentiality order is often appropri- that the client needs to hear since they An Interview with Stephen ate, and obtaining one by agreement are so accustomed to being in control Kolodny: Lawyer to the Stars with the other side is ideal. Also, to fur- of any given situation. By Dan Couvrette ther assist your client in realizing his or Stephen Kolodny discusses how to her goals, engage proper experts, such Another difficulty presents itself in situ- properly prepare for trial and deal as financial and custody experts, as ations where the client does not want with high net worth divorce cases. early as possible. Furthermore, be sure to be involved in the case. This issue www.familylawyermagazine.com/ to remind the client that everything could be either positive or negative, but articles/an-interview-with-stephen- they put on social media is public, and regardless, the fact remains that the cli- kolodny-lawyer-to-the-stars that anything they say in digital form ent must be the one to sign off on all Table of Contents | Professional Listings www.familylawyermagazine.com/article-category/client-relations | 7 Managing Your Firm “If I was good at math I would have become a doctor,” joked one of the attorneys we began working with recently, in response to Gain Control of Your a question regarding how he managed his firm’s finances. Like so many of the attorneys we work with he was a highly skilled legal practitioner, but his practice management skills were weak. In Firm’s Finances with his case, he had flirted with financial disaster often enough to finally seek help. a Financial Dashboard Fortunately, he had a part-time bookkeeper on board who want- ed to assist. Unfortunately, she was making the situation worse By Mark Powers & Shawn McNalis, by flooding him with too much information. On a monthly basis she’d deliver a stack of reports to his office. Overwhelmed by all Practice Advisors of the detail, he’d glance at the pile and tell himself he’d look through it all when he had the time. But in fact, only when a fi- nancial crisis loomed would he give his bookkeeper the opportu- nity to discuss corrective actions. He managed his firm’s finances in a highly reactive manner, never able to properly predict cash flow. Operating this way left him feeling out of control and he was motivated to change. We recommended he take a systematic and proactive approach so he could have the information he needed, but in a more di- gestible form. We instructed his bookkeeper to keep running his monthly reports, but then to summarize the key financial data and put it into what we call a financial “Dashboard,” which displays the firm's key financial information similar to the way the gauges in the console of a car display speed, battery charge, and fuel. By prominently displaying your key financial indicators, the finan- cial Dashboard serves the same purpose and allows you to either keep moving forward at your current course and speed, or stop to make important adjustments. The Advantage of Using a Dashboard The form is basically a bottom-line summary of several different reports which provides a snapshot of a firm’s financial status. It gathers the most essential data from your profit and loss state- ment, your hourly billing report, your expense report, your ac- count receivables report and your financial operations report. Added to this are your monthly marketing statistics as it’s impor- tant to see the trends developing in this area as well. Marketing activities drive business in the door, which serves as fuel to the firm. If the number of activities starts to decrease in the market- ing categories, it will negatively impact the firm’s finances down the road. Here’s a brief overview of the sections of the Dashboard: 1. The Revenue Section: Divided into two areas, shows the fees and costs that were billed for the month, along with costs and interest payments that were collected for the month. 2. The Monthly Billing Section (for hourly billing practices): This section lists the total hours billed for the month by each timekeeper. CONTINUED ON PAGE 49 88 | | w ww.familylawyermagazine.com/article-category/managing-your-firm Table of Contents | Professional Listings Reaching “Generation Ex” Market your practice to those who need your service now Divorce Magazine 50+ pages of divorce related articles • Covering legal, financial, emotional, and children- related isues • Featuring expert advice from local family lawyers Divorce Magazine and divorce professionals Published 2 times a year • One print version with regional editions for Illinois, California, New York/New Jersey and Ontario • 2 digital versions for EVERY state and province Feature your practice and expertise here • Demonstrate your authority in divorce through your profile advertisement, articles and FAQs www.DivorceMagazine.com 4,000 pages of divorce-related articles • Featuring expert advice from local family lawyers and divorce professionals • Editorial covers legal, financial, emotional and children’s issues Highly targeted audience • Who are either considering divorce, separated or in the proces of divorce • They are in need of your service right now Feature your practice and expertise here • Demonstrate your authority in divorce through your profile advertisement, articles and FAQs Contact us about featuring your practice in Divorce Magazine & on www.DivorceMagazine.com 866.803.6667 x 124 Ethics When “Friends” Complicate Trials When does a judge’s use of social media violate canons of judicial ethics? By John Browning, Trial Lawyer ost lawyers — and many clients Most of the states to address this sub- Judges Should Proceed — have heard the old saying “A ject, along with the ABA Formal Opin- with Caution Mgood lawyer knows the law; a ion 462, have given a cautious “thumbs great lawyer knows the judge.” But in up” to judges wishing to venture onto In Lacy v. Lacy, a 2013 custody case this digital age, in which over 72% of sites like Facebook and Twitter. While from Georgia, a father appealed three all adult Americans have at least one they remind judges that existing can- different trial court orders (from three social networking profile and sites like ons of judicial conduct will still apply in different judges). Regarding one of the Facebook boast more than 1.12 billion cyberspace, these opinions simultane- orders in this contentious case, Mr. Lacy users worldwide, what are the conse- ously acknowledge that being a judge’s argued that the trial judge should have quences when a lawyer or even a party “friend” on Facebook doesn’t indicate recused himself sua sponte on grounds happens to be Facebook “friends” with that one has a special relationship and of bias toward Mrs. Lacy. As support a judge? position of influence with that judge. for his argument, Mr. Lacy produced a copy of a comment on his Facebook Recent Challenges An exception to this pragmatic ap- page — allegedly made by the mother proach is Florida, whose Supreme weeks after the hearing in question — The family law arena has been the Court Judicial Ethics Advisory Commit- in which she boasted “Judge Parrot and scene of recent challenges to judi- tee takes a much more draconian view my dad had a meeting the week before cial impartiality based on Facebook of judges and social networking. Not our case and guess what, you lost your “friendship,” even when the online only does Florida not permit judges to kids.” But the appellate court was not relationship is an attenuated one. At have Facebook “friends,” an attorney’s persuaded that such an accusation held least ten states — New York, California, “friend” status with a judge is automat- any merit, holding that “the mother’s Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida, Okla- ic grounds for that judge’s disqualifica- reference on Facebook to a meeting is homa, Maryland, Massachusetts, Ohio, tion. See, for example, Domville v. State not evidence that the judge obtained and Tennessee — have issued judicial of Florida, a 2012 Florida appellate information relevant to the case from ethics advisory opinions providing guid- case that rationalized that because an extra-judicial source, much less that ance on judges’ social media activity. In “judges do not have the unfettered he based his ruling on any such exter- addition, in February 2013, the ABA social freedom of teenagers,” maintain- nal information.” It’s also worth noting Standing Committee on Ethics and Pro- ing “the appearance of impartiality re- that this same case was so rife with fessional Responsibility came out with quires the avoidance of entanglements disparaging comments being made by Formal Opinion 462 on “Judges’ Use of and relationships that compromise that Electronic Social Networking Media.” appearance.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 45 10 | www.familylawyermagazine.com/article-category/ethics Table of Contents | Professional Listings

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