State of Family Law: The Dangers of Dabbling

This post is part of a series in which LinkedIn Influencers analyze the state and future of their industry. Read all the posts here.

Many of the posts by my fellow Influencers will certainly discuss the business angles, financial forecasts and general overview of their respected professions. Unfortunately, the forecast of the need for family lawyers seems to remain consistent so I prefer to discuss the future of the profession as it may impact clients, those going through a divorce or other family law matter. Those are the folks for which I am concerned.

There are lots of fine divorce lawyers but what happens when the economy forces real estate lawyers out of their specialty? Or others? Many turn to family law simply because, as I mentioned above, there is no foreseeable end to the need for family law attorneys. So they "dabble". Some lawyers who have never touched a family law case do amazing jobs their first time around. But my concern for our profession is that there will always be a lawyer who takes on a matter that is over his or her head and is too proud, vain or naive to turn it down or to associate another lawyer whose experience could really be a benefit to the client. And because a law degree typically only requires three years of law school (much less than is required of doctors, psychologists, certain accounting specialties, etc) and passing the bar exam, there are more and more lawyers practicing each year. That means there is less business around, so more lawyers seem to be accepting cases that perhaps are beyond their comfort zone.

And not just in family law. While experience is no guarantee that a lawyer is better, there are some things that simply cannot replace experience. Things like understanding when to really have a heart-to-heart with your client about unrealistic expectations and how to explain to them that the judge will view their situation through much different lenses. Someone once told me a story about a woman who complained about a $10,000 bill from her brain surgeon for a 30 second surgery (he only had to make one surgical cut). His response was that the surgery was not the expensive part, the only expensive part was knowing where to cut. Similarly, knowing when to argue, when to settle, when to object (and when not to, even if there is a basis to object) are all skills that come with repetition. And when lawyers dabble in areas they are unfamiliar with, whether it's family law, corporate law, criminal law or any of the many other areas, the client is at risk of not being presented with all the options and guidance an experienced lawyer might provide. And again, it may work out fine, but the older I get, the more I realize the invaluable nature of significant experience in a chosen area of the law.

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Enjoyed this post? Read what other Influencers had to say:

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