Family Lawyering: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

Family law practice in the United States has changed dramatically in the past fifty years due to major social and legal changes. Family courts have had to deal with increased caseloads and they have provided or required a broader range of services including child advocacy, parent education, mediation, child custody evaluations, early neutral evaluation, parenting coordination, and services related to domestic violence. The cost of divorce has increased along with the number and complexity of legal issues in these cases. Family lawyers have responded to the social, legal, and procedural changes with initiatives to promote constructive advocacy including publication of ethical guidelines, provision of unbundled legal services, and development of Collaborative and Cooperative legal practice. Family lawyers now operate as part of interdisciplinary professional workgroups solving family problems in addition to acting as advocates of their clients’ rights and interests. This article concludes with recommendations for family lawyers to deal with these changes. It argues that it is increasingly important for lawyers to be effective client counselors. Lawyers should develop good working relationships with their clients because the clients must manage their own issues on a daily basis. Lawyers should help clients consider the full range of dispute resolution procedures that might be appropriate for their particular cases and make well-informed decisions about how to handle their cases. Because family law issues have many subtle, long-term implications, family lawyers should not only deal with the clients’ current problems, but they should also help clients plan to deal with foreseeable future legal issues. Key Points for the Family Law Community: • Family law practice has changed dramatically in the past fifty years due to many social and legal developments. • Family laws often require courts to make difficult decisions using vague legal standards calling for broader judicial discretion than in the past. • Family courts have had to deal with increased caseloads and have provided or required parties to use a broad range of services. • Family lawyers have developed initiatives to promote more constructive advocacy. • Family lawyers more often operate as part of interdisciplinary professional workgroups. • To be effective, family lawyers must be good client counselors to help clients make good decisions. • Lawyers should help clients make well-informed decisions about dispute resolution procedures that might be appropriate for their particular cases. • Family lawyers should help clients plan to deal with foreseeable future legal issues to resolve disputes and prevent future conflict.