Family law is rewarding and challenging at the same time. As a new family law lawyer, not only are you learning the ropes of practicing law, but you are also practicing in a unique area of the law where you will face difficult situations in helping separated families, children and vulnerable individuals. To provide you some insight and guidance, we put together the following Top 10 Tips for New Family Law Lawyers that we hope you will find helpful and insightful.
1. Build Relationships and Network
Building relationships and networks is essential to your career success and well-being. A robust network includes not only lawyers but also other family law professionals, such as parenting educators, mediators-arbitrators, mental health professionals, and financial professionals. These other professionals will provide you with invaluable insights into your clients’ needs and the services that are available to support them and their children. They can also be an important referral source. Strong relationships with other professionals can also help with long-term business relationships and obtaining clients through referrals. In family law, where emotions can run high, lawyer and nonlawyer colleagues can also provide emotional support and a sounding board for difficult cases. Therefore, investing in relationship-building and networking (by attending network and social events, in-person conferences, inviting professionals out for coffee/lunch) should be a priority for any new family law lawyer seeking to build a successful and fulfilling legal career.
2. Get a Mentor
All lawyers have faced challenging and unfamiliar situations at some point in their career. When you are starting out as a new family law lawyer, there will be times where you will be faced with situations that you did not learn about in law school or during your articling term. You will benefit from guidance from experienced family lawyers. A mentor can provide you with invaluable advice and encouragement as you progress in your legal career. You may be able to find a mentor through your articling position, a volunteer opportunity, or you can seek out a mentor by approaching a senior family lawyer or non-lawyer professional and ask if there are any research opportunities you can assist with, meetings/attendances that you can shadow and in exchange receive their guidance and mentorship. It is also important to let your mentors know how appreciative and grateful you are for their guidance, and be able to ‘pay it back’ and mentor other new lawyers when you are in a position to do so.
3. Let Your Own Experiences Guide You
You may have heard lots of stories and received lots of advice as a law student and as an articling student. While it is important to learn from what others have experienced and take that into account in your practice, it is also important to allow your own experiences to inform and guide you. There is not one “right” way to practice family law. While it is always helpful to get advice from senior practitioners, it is also important to develop your own style that is true to your personality/values and to trust your own instincts. Keep an open mind. Everyone experiences situations from their own perspective, and it is important that you recognize that your own experiences are important too.
4. Don’t Engage in Emotional Communications for Responses
It is essential to avoid engaging in emotional communications when responding to clients, opposing counsel, or anyone involved in a case. Allowing your emotions to guide your responses can escalate the conflict between your client and their former spouse, undermine your relationships with your clients and colleagues, and ultimately harm your client’s case. It is crucial to remain calm, professional, and objective in your communications; otherwise, it is not possible for you to effectively advise and advocate for your clients. Furthermore, a pattern of emotional outbursts and intemperate responses may permanently damage your professional reputation. It is also important to remember that a lawyer who responds calmly in an emotional charged situation is modelling appropriate behaviour for their clients, which may assist them in dealing with their former partner as they co-parent their child(ren).
5. Show Empathy for your Clients
Clients come to us during one of the most difficult, painful, and challenging times of their lives. They not only have to deal with the legal world of ‘family law’, which is new for them, but they are also dealing with the impact of the breakdown of their relationship and potentially separation from their children. Individuals who are in the throes of a separation are often not presenting their “best selves” to the world, and will need your empathy and compassion as well as your legal advice. You are being trusted with one of the most important aspects of your client’s life. To best serve them, it is important to balance your role as a legal advisor and your role as an understanding and sympathetic counsel. At the same time, it is critical that you not become over-invested in your client’s situation, as this will compromise your ability to provide them with objective and dispassionate advice.
6. Take a Personal and Tailored Approach to Each Client
One size does not fit all, especially in family law. Each client’s situation is different and unique and as an advocate, you are required to assess each case and each client individually. While there may be commonalities in the legal issues or even the facts, no case is the same because no person or family is the same. One of your roles as a strong advocate will be to determine what each client needs in order to effectively represent them and advance their legal issues in a productive way. As counsel, you need to be mindful not to excessively rely on precedents, as it is important to tailor your work product to your client’s situation. For example, when drafting a motion, you should be mindful of the relief that accords with what your client actually needs or may be entitled to. It is also important to check-in and assess your client’s situation throughout the case and determine what is further needed to assist them and move their case forward to a positive resolution.
7. Prioritize Self-Care
It can be easy to get caught up in the demands of the job and neglect your own well-being. However, prioritizing your physical, emotional, and mental health is critical to your long-term professional success. Working in family law can be emotionally taxing, and taking care of yourself can help you manage stress, reduce burnout, and increase job satisfaction. Making time for activities that promote self-care, such as exercise, mindfulness, hobbies, taking vacation (or even a staycation but having time where you are ‘off’ from work), setting protocols for disconnecting from your email/phone, and spending time with loved ones, can help you recharge and perform better in your job.
8. Take leadership and Initiative
Taking leadership and initiative in your projects and assignments will help you to succeed and advance in your legal career. You can do this by spotting tasks that need to be completed or pursuing relevant lines of research, without waiting to be asked. Or, for example, coming up with a solution and running it by your supervisor (instead of going to your supervisor with a question), and actively seeking out opportunities to learn and practice new skills or areas of law. This will demonstrate your commitment to cases you are working on and the clients you are helping, and will allow you to stand out.
9. Don’t Burn Bridges
It is essential to maintain a professional reputation and not burn bridges in your legal career. In family law, relationships matter, and maintaining positive relationships with clients, and colleagues can have a significant impact on your success. Burning bridges can damage your reputation and lead to missed opportunities, including referrals, professional relationships, and career advancement. While it may be tempting to engage in unprofessional behavior, such as gossiping or engaging in conflict, it is important to remember that your reputation is your most valuable asset. Judges will also take note of disrespectful and unprofessional behaviour, or animosity between counsel, and this will also affect your professional reputation. Instead, focus on building and maintaining positive relationships, even in difficult situations. Treating others with respect and professionalism, even when you disagree, can help you establish a reputation as a trusted and reliable legal professional, leading to long-term success in your career.
10. Focus on Settlement
It is important to focus on settlement as a primary goal in resolving family law disputes, where a negotiated resolution is appropriate. While Court Orders may be necessary in some cases, it is often expensive, time-consuming, and emotionally taxing for all parties involved. Settlement, on the other hand, is usually more efficient, more cost-effective, provides clients with more control over the outcome, helps to preserve relationships and reduces the emotional toll of litigation. Focusing on settlement can also help you establish a reputation as a lawyer who prioritizes client interests and seeks to resolve conflict in a collaborative and constructive manner.
By: Imran Kamal, Counsel, Ministry of the Attorney General and Golnaz Sara Simaei, Simaei Law Professional Corporation