As I tell my clients, the law does not exist to cure all the woes of mankind, or even to guarantee happiness. I've seen plenty of people who just want to get even. Or they want to whine about their lives. The law isn't compatible with any of that.

When I meet a client, I try to get to the forefront of what's on their mind, in the very first meeting. What are their core issues? Then I'll give them a primer on what happens in the divorce process in Virginia. It's a conversation, an exchange, which usually brings on a sense of relief. When they are walking out our door, clients will look over at Paula and say, "Oh, I feel so much better." That's very important to me.

But in many ways it is a different world. People are angrier today, it seems. There are times, in a settlement meeting, when a client wants the last $1,000 of a $2 million settlement. And I'll ask, 'Does it really matter?'

I think it's true these days that the richer people are, the more unhappy they are. It's a different kind of wealth today. Give me as a client a hard-working waitress or construction worker any day.

The fascinating thing about the law is that it's always changing, always challenging. In many businesses, one does reach the top, but in "practicing" law you never do. The law is dynamic; nothing is permanent in it but change.

That of course means that the practice of law is very time-consuming. It leaves little time for anything else. In some ways that's how I feel about myself. The law has been my life.