What NOT to do with your child during visitation!

This probably goes without saying, but having your nine year old daughter act as your designated driver during your weekend visitation with her is not such a hot idea. Apparently, however, one guy was not aware of this:

Dad Charged With Child Abuse

The saddest part of all of this is that from the story, it truly seems this is not the first time this little girl has had to care for dad in such a way. She asked the officer who pulled her over, "Why did you pull me over? I was driving good." 

Just when you think you've seen it all...

Why Newly Admitted Family Law Attorneys Should Invest in GAL Training

I am scheduled to be a co-presenter at Charleston School of Law’s Solo Practice Seminar on Friday, August 26 for students and alumni. I also spoke at a similar half-day seminar back in June, and one of the topics most attendees seem most interested in is marketing a new solo practice. My colleague, Attorney Greg Forman, has also approached me about presenting a short talk to his newly formed “Newbie Class” of Charleston family law attorneys in the coming weeks as his observations of my growing and busy practice have piqued his interests into what I’m doing that other new attorneys may not be doing. 

There’s a quote I have read several times since setting my sights on the goal of opening my own practice over two years ago:

"Most successful men have not achieved their distinction by having some new talent or opportunity presented to them. They have developed the opportunity that was at hand."
-- Bruce Barton (emphasis added)

I truly believe one of the “secrets” to the steady line of business I have been able to enjoy since I opened my practice last year is the fact that I "developed the opportunity that was at hand" immediately upon my swearing-in. That oppotunity is the South Carolina’s Bar’s Guardian ad Litem Training CLE. 

The live version is held every January and is organized and moderated by Mr. Greg Forman, but is also recorded and available for credit throughout the year as a distant learning online seminar.  The price tag of $245.00 may seem a bit steep to the new attorney who probably doesn't have the first paying client yet, but this annual price tag not only gives a newly admitted attorney six CLE credits (probably the only six credits a new attorney will need during the first full year of practice, if s/he has already completed Bridge the Gap) it also qualifies the attorney to serve as a paid Guardian ad Litem in private divorce and custody actions.

Since I was a December graduate and sat for the February 2010 bar exam, I wasn’t sworn in until mid-May 2010. Thus, my first “earning year” of practice was actually only six months long according to the IRS.  I knew of the GAL training CLE as it was explained during my session of Bridge the Gap and I had heard about it extensively during my service as a Volunteer GAL while in law school, so I made up my mind early on that even if I wasn’t earning any money yet, I would invest the $245.00 during the first year and see what happened.

The CLE required a six-hour time investment, on top of the monetary cost, but I dedicated my first full weekend in my new office to this task. The training was fantastic and included a PDF version of the original CLE materials which included sample pleadings, reports and other documents required for GAL investigations and documentation. And what’s more, by mentioning my completion of the CLE to only a couple of close attorney friends, I was appointed to my first private (a.k.a. PAID) GAL case within one week of completing the certification CLE.

I’m not sure I can underscore enough to my fellow newer attorneys the result this one relatively small investment has made to my business’s success.  I don’t have to sit and run the actual calculations to be able to safely say that by the end of 2010, I had already recouped my initial investment well over thirty times – and that was after only six months! That’s a rate of return even Warren Buffet would be proud to claim.

The benefits to your new career extend far beyond just the monetary, however. Here are just a few ways GAL work benefits your new practice:

1. GAL work requires you to work with at least two attorneys at once, but not necessarily in an adversarial capacity. This is great for forming connections within the legal community and allowing established attorneys to get to know you and the quality of your work and judgment without the pressure of advocating entirely opposite positions.
2. As a GAL, there will sometimes be several different types of hearings that you will be required to attend on behalf of the children you represent. You gain a front row seat to observing more experienced attorneys argue their positions on fact patterns that are sure to appear in your own practice. Take the opportunity to learn everything you can.
3. If you’re like me, working with children is, more often than not, the best work I can do in my practice. If you commit to doing your job as GAL well, the parents of the children will usually recognize your efforts and equally appreciate them, even if they agree on little else involved with their case. They say that a happy client is the best marketing an attorney can hope for and when you apply this rule to your GAL work, with two appreciative parents, you’ve just doubled your positive word-of-mouth marketing with one case.
4. Equally true, if two clients are happy with your services, you probably have a decent chance that their attorneys are also pleased with your service and abilities. Thus, two new professional referral sources are born.  These attorneys may refer to you actual litigation clients or may add you to their preferred GAL lists and request your appointment on their future cases. The point is your name and reputation is taking root without spending the first dollar of your “marketing” budget.

This list certainly isn’t exhaustive and I would suspect that others have found a number of positive benefits that I’ve yet to come across myself.  Personally, I took the training in the hopes I would one day be lucky enough to be appointed to a GAL case simply because I love the work and I truly feel it is some of the most important work that goes on within the family court.  The fact that I can actually support my family and my business with the work I love doing, was an unexpected and unintended benefit which I hope my peers will enjoy, as well.