How to deal with these questions of Divorce Law. Custody. Finances. Marriage.

Okay you have decided to take control, whether its because your brain is mush or because you are really angry, whatever the reason is it doesn’t matter, you are going to be in control and you are going to get the help you need.

As I said in my first article I am going to write this from the female perspective because after all I am one, there are plenty of male writers who can objectively and subjectively write on behalf of men. I am going to assume you are going to be the main carer for your children if you have any.

I thought I would share with you my knowledge of the legal world, and the lawyers in it, a knowledge only an insider would have, some of it may surprise you. Some of it will not. Remember there are always the exceptions, you need to find a Lawyer who is the exception. I am going to start with the ten things lawyers do not want you to know.

1. Lawyers think they are very important people, lawyers have big egos as the world continually applauds their status as a potential lawyer from the moment they go to Law school, this attitude is taught to the lawyer. They are told they are the top percentage of the population. Lawyers are aware of the need for client care, they throw around these buzzwords in their websites all the time however there are few lawyers who achieve good client care because they are not really interested in what you think about them.
2. They do not like clients who know too much about the law and really are not interested in hearing what you have to say. When they are you will be able to tell.
3. They do not like clients who want to know too much about the law in case they are challenged.
4. Lawyers often say it would be a great job if it wasn’t for their clients.
5. Most of the work on your file is done by a paralegal/ legal secretary who are often far more competent than the lawyer.
6. Some lawyers, for example, in real estate read the file papers only when the client is about to walk in the door for the final interview everything else in the file has been prepared by a paralegal, this includes all phone calls to the other solicitors, all searches and title checks.
7. Some lawyers, for example, in criminal law read their papers on the train on the way to court. They do not prepare for your case. You can tell this has happened when the lawyer is reading when he is talking to you. It is different if he is asking you questions based upon what he has read, you can tell he has looked at the information beforehand.
8. Most of the legal process is procedurally complicated and unnecessary, this is self serving for the lawyer. They have a vested interest in keeping the law complicated. lawyers have a vested interest in blinding their clients with science by refusing to challenge or streamline procedures. With the onset of technology the legal process could and should be simplified, most work is undertaken by the use of standard documents, however the computer has complicated the process by enabling the lawyer to generate more paperwork quickly and therefore quite simple procedures are now unnecessarily complicated. This again reinforces the myth of the law being complicated.
9. Lawyers have no interest in sharing their legal knowledge with us, how many legal websites can you find which are a genuine attempt to share that knowledge. When I look at these legal websites they are all lacking in the finer detail. This is deliberate. Some even miss out important sections of law which can only be because they refuse to share a particular peice of information with us which would enable us to have a true understanding of the area of law we need information about. I know what information is missing so I know how important that part of the jigsaw is.
10. Lawyers are under intense pressure from their firms to meet hourly billing targets. they are driven to account for every hour they work and are required to have targets usually in excess of 8 hours of billable hours a day. This means they must bill a client for time worked on their file. Lawyers make up time, round up their time and they bill for work undertaken by their paralegals. Law firms also charge for the time their articled lawyers work on a file. For the first six months their work is usually of no value to the file as they are learning the law yet their bill out rate is usually over $100 an hour.

Interesting reading isn’t it.

In my next article I will show you what to look for in a lawyer, those tell tale signs you need to know and how to find a good one, I will recommend an excellent Divorce and family lawyer in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and further articles will help you prepare yourself for your first meeting.