Family Advocate a Must for Family Law Attorneys
April 17, 2012
The Family Advocate is the “simpler” of the two publications of the ABA Family Law Section. Some issues are clearly designed for the new practitioner and are of little use to a seasoned family law attorney. That is not meant as criticism. For an organization as broad as the ABA, it is impossible to service all members at the same time.
But, the most recent issue of the Advocate does exactly that. It is dedicated to “The Difficult Client” and includes practical advice on identifying and dealing with everything from the angry client (we have had a few of those!) to the clients with a personality disorder (they are always on the other side. I wish).
Importantly, many of the articles are written by mental health experts. There is a large cross-over of expertise required in this practice and to be good at it, a family law attorney needs to read the mental health literature. Sometimes (most times?) that is even more important than the legal literature.
While this edition of the Advocate can be purchased separately, it is of enough value to warrant a membership in the Family Law Section itself.
