Volume XVI, Issue IV
December 2002

Proud to be a Member of the WSBA Family Law Section

To some, the notion that practicing family law is beneficial and noble sounds incredible and incomprehensibly wrong. The legal profession pays much attention to defining, explaining, and publicizing, both to itself and to the public, the societal virtues of the practice of law. The Bar often publishes articles about the importance of the system of law in a free society, and the role lawyers play in preserving our freedoms and keeping our private and public institutions functioning. Unfortunately, these same attempts to educate often ignore, and sometimes denigrate, family law attorneys. 

Recently, a president of the Washington State Bar Association wrote in the Bar News how proud he was to be a lawyer, and mentioned that he did family law work in his early days in practice. His reference to family law was stated as if it were an indiscretion of youth, which he fortunately outgrew. His pride was in the lawyering he did after his unfortunate early dalliances with family law. 

The reality, of course, is that family law, when practiced well, is more complex than many other areas of law. Family law attorneys regularly deal with complex legal issues. These issues require not only knowledge of a complex array of state and federal statutes, cases, and court rules that are unique to family law, but also require abilities in other areas of law, including taxation, bankruptcy, tort, real estate, contracts, secured transactions, employment benefits, ERISA, and others. In addition, family law attorneys regularly confront complex social and personal issues in their cases. One practitioner who handles both business litigation and family law cases says that if the business litigation case is analogous to slicing a tomato, the complex family law case is analogous to making a salad. 

Lawyers get blamed for lots of things. Some even blame family law attorneys for causing divorces. Family law attorneys often provide an important societal function of preventing abusers from having their way with their victims, and allowing children to live in poverty or neglect. The wrongs leading to divorce will not disappear if lawyers do not represent parties who seek a better and safer life. Blaming family law attorneys for divorce approximates blaming personal injury attorneys for automobile crashes. Lawyers make popular targets, but even minimal analysis exposes the fallacy in such blaming. It is a fact that some people will be in intolerable relationships - marital and otherwise. They will have children about whose care they cannot agree. They are going to separate for a variety of reasons, including in some cases for life-threatening reasons. In these circumstances, the adults and their children will usually need the help of the law to protect and defend their children, their assets, and even their lives. Society gains by having good, caring, family law attorneys available to help people.

So, what is a good family law attorney? Family Law Section membership is part of my definition of a good family law attorney. My experience with members of the Family Law Section is that they care about their clients as people with problems to solve, not just cases to be handled, or parties for whom to advocate. (This is a large part of my definition of a "professional".) Section members know the law and the rules. They follow them, and try to see that their clients follow the law and rules. Section members are part of an organization that works to draft and pass court rules and legislation to make the lives of their clients and their clients' children, safer, simpler and more predictable.

What is it about the Family Law Section that helps enable good attorneys to be good family law attorneys? What benefits does section membership provide to encourage and enhance being a good family law attorney? Benefits available to Section members include several Newsletters each year, Hot Sheets during the fall and winter to address legislative issues, a Listserv, Doug Becker's amazing Quick cites, a brief and article bank at the Section website, and discounted and relevant CLEs. All benefits are available for one basic membership fee of just $30 per year.

The Newsletter contains articles on a variety of topics, including case and statutory updates, practice tips, policy discussions, and information on expected future legislation.

The "Hot Sheet", which always has hot news and is hot off the press, brings timely updates on issues such as the status of pending legislation. The Hotsheet also often includes information on new statutes just enacted, and may also include important new court decisions or court rule revisions. The Hotsheet is a summary of information that the good family law practitioner needs to know right away. 

Continuing legal education training (CLEs) sponsored by the Section helps the new lawyer and the experienced practitioner. The Section generally sponsors two CLEs each year. The annual two-day Skills Training combines lectures, interactive discussions, demonstrations, and mock court presentations by participants. It creates a unique opportunity for lawyers to learn the "big picture" and hone their skills, and is especially valuable to new lawyers who get the opportunity to have their work critiqued in a supportive environment by experienced family law attorneys. Many of the state's most seasoned family law practitioners recall with gratitude the early help they received at Skills Training years ago. The Section's three-day Annual Meeting and Seminar, generally held at a resort area, provides a diverse array of seminar presentations. While these programs are available for nonmembers, Section members receive substantial discounts for these CLE programs.

Section membership makes participation in the legislative process effective and meaningful. (When is the last time the legislature met without changing family law?) Most good family law attorneys come to care (sometimes passionately) about the statutes and how those statutes affect the participants. The Family Law Section actively participates in the legislative process. The Section enjoys a reputation with the Legislature established by its careful deliberation of proposed legislation without being driven by a special interest other than wanting to make the system work fairly. The Section participates in meetings with the Legislature and testifies before various committees. To help the Section formulate positions, members are often polled through the use of the Hot Sheet. Additionally, members' views are considered at Family Law Section Executive Committee meetings.

The members-only website provides a wide and expanding range of information and data to help family law practitioners. The website contains downloadable forms and briefs. The available downloads include sample interrogatories, questions for experts, and client questionnaires. "Quick Cites" is an updated outline of Family Law with case citations that was developed and is updated by Doug Becker for the Section. The web-site also contains many links to related sites. No attorney is too experienced, or inexperienced, to benefit from the information on the Section website. 

The Section Listserve for members is a constant online discussion by hundreds of family law attorneys. It is a perfect place for question and answer session with family law attorneys around the state. The information presented is fascinating, whether or not you actively participate in the exchanges. The topics cover a wide range of matters, including how to deal with various types of clients, office procedures, child support calculations, relocation, motions procedures, contempt, bankruptcy, jurisdiction, local procedures, specific judges, property valuations, experts, attorney fee collections, DSHS, and anything else the many participants believe to be relevant to their practice. Attorneys regularly seek and receive help analyzing their cases, finding authority for their arguments, and even commiseration for a bad result. If you practice family law, issues you deal with will be on the Listserv, and provides you the opportunity to share your wisdom – by posing questions or providing answers.

The practice of family law is a noble profession. It is a profession where every day we help real people with real problems. We deal with a wide array of laws, constantly changing statutes and case law. While family law practice is commonly misunderstood, the Family Law Section advocates for its members and their clients. Family Law Section membership helps lawyers' practice. Section membership is only $30 per year. The benefits available to members far exceed the membership dues. If you are not already a member, it is easiest to join the Section at www.wsba.org/lawyers/groups/familylaw/.  If you are a member, be sure to sign up at the same address to join the Listserv and access to all the forms on the website (both available only to members at no additional cost). Increased membership broadens participation and provides additional financial resources so the Section can continue to provide quality benefits and offer new services.

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