Having practiced for over a decade most people know what I do for a living. However, it is easy to be classified as a “family law” attorney or a “domestic attorney” (I prefer domestic diva, but alas, I digress LOL). Your family needs an attorney. No, not necessarily a family law attorney, but a family attorney – someone your family calls whenever you or a friend or coworker has a legal issue or potential legal issue arise. That attorney needs to be someone you know and trust, someone who has done work for you that you are pleased with and more importantly, an attorney that readily recognizes your name when you call and knows the basics about your family. Why is that important you may ask? There are a million attorneys out there and a quick surf of the web will lead you to whatever practice area you desire but a nice website does not necessarily equal competency.
The reason you need a family attorney is because that special family attorney will care about you and will care about maintaining your confidence in him/her because you refer that attorney clients so that your attorney can keep the doors open and lights on. Example, if a friend calls me and has designed a new product and needs a patent I am savvy enough to know: 1.) I am not a patent attorney; and 2.) My friend needs his/her interests protected. I am going to go above and beyond to link my friend with the right patent attorney- researching him or her, calling the attorney myself to vet the attorney and his/her competence level. This protects my friend from walking in cold to an attorney’s office. Another “perk” to having an attorney who is committed to your family is that he/she will often look over documents, write letters for you on minor issues and be a good sounding board for areas such as career change, start-up businesses, estate planning and/or end of life planning. So even if you don’t have an active legal need – chances are you will at some point and make sure you have someone you can trust.