One reason I was drawn to this work is that divorce law requires a level of expertise from many areas of the law. My business background, for starters, really helps - we deal today with cases involving complicated financial assets and business valuations. Estate and tax issues are common as well. And I have spent some years representing clients in criminal defense cases - you'd be surprised how often criminal matters can intertwine with domestic-relations cases.

At the beginning of any case, from the first conversation, the most critical thing we can do is find out what is important to our client - the reasons why they are important to them, and set their expectations based on those initial meetings. As your lawyer, I really need to dig into what your goals are, so we can strive to achieve them from Day One.

Sometimes clients will come in with blinders on. Some will say, "Well, my friend got this in his settlement." So there is a certain amount of education - every circumstance is different, and so is every outcome. I am pretty meticulous about being upfront with my clients, and from the start. That's very important.

So I will tell my clients, best I can, what their options are, and how, based on the facts as we know them, their case is going to play out.

There are of course various approaches - collaborative, mediation, or simply negotiating a settlement, all of which is an alternative of going to court. I'll explain that here is a likely outcome if we do it this way - hear are the other options if we take another course.

I already have a good degree of courtroom experience, and based on this we try to understand how a judge in our jurisdictions will look at an issue. Since I started - not all that long ago - there's be significant turnover on the bench - only a handful (certainly less than 30%) of 13 Circuit Court judges in Fairfax County in 2009 are still there. And in almost all cases, experience with each and every judge, new or senior, certainly helps your clients.

People need to remember, though, that the court cannot order someone to do certain things: To pay for your children's college tuition, for instance. Those are the kinds of things you have to work out, to negotiate, in an agreement. And that's why, in many instances, out-of-court settlements are preferable - and why understanding what is important to a client is critical.

Our firm is very good at working through and developing a strategy for every case. We come up with a unique game plan for every case, for every client. My colleague David Roop has set an example that way, that developing a strategy is critical, and doing that has a way of setting realistic expectations. In our firm we constantly collaborate to utilize our collective expertise. We've all heard of lawyers who try to sell a bill of goods, and then can't deliver. That's just simply not us.

One subject that comes up a lot with clients nowadays: Social media. If we are in the middle of a case, don't post anything you wouldn't want your kids reading. Post something as if you knew a judge was going to read it. If you post something like "My spouse is a jerk," (or worse) I promise you the other side will not only see it - they will use it against your client. One more thing: If we are in litigation, don't post anything at all - because if you delete it, you are destroying evidence, which has its own consequences.

I'm a naturally competitive person, and I love what I do. But it is high-stress work - it's important that you enjoy the people you work with. And I do. We represent good people in tough times - and we get them through it.