I’ve always viewed practicing law as a public service. And our work in divorce law involves many disciplines. We work with all kinds of experts - real estate attorneys, criminal lawyers, forensic accountants and, of course, mental health professionals.

Perhaps the most important experts we work with are the mental-health profession. It is the counselors, psychologists, social workers and psychiatrists that can contribute positively to the divorce process. If you’ve reduced the level of tension between the parents, you’ve accomplished something.

That’s why I am very supportive of including in agreements Parent Coordinators. After the lawyers are gone parents will need to work together for many years to co-parent their children.

It’s partly about keeping things civilized, but there are long-term issues as well: If the divorce is played out with enormous bitterness and unresolved issues, hidden grenades may be left - they’re bombs that explode later in life. Our job as family lawyers is to help clients be better parents to their children after the divorce is officially over.

Being aware of, and dealing with, the intense emotions of divorce can shorten the process. For many, the question is, do you want to settle at the beginning, or at the end of litigation and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees?

How you conduct your divorce to a large extent reflects on how you live your life. As an attorney I think we have to work at different speeds - we can’t always be running at fast forward. We have to look at each case differently. And I know our firm is very good at that.

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