Every great divorce or custody lawyer does one thing really well. They ask really good questions and then . . . they listen. Doctors call it patient history and lawyers call it case summaries.
The problem is, clients don't usually know what matters to lawyers so they give us a lot of facts that are interesting but not "diagnostically relevant." But if you think about it as if you were going to a doctor, it isn't that hard.
With a doctor, you want to make sure he or she knows as much as possible about your
physical history: birth weight and complications; immunizations; childhood illnesses and accidents; medications; allergies; family history of illness and on and on it goes. The more your doctor knows about your
physical history, the better treatment you
will get.
Divorce and custody lawyers are the same. We need to know as much as possible about your
family history. If you don't tell us about your alcoholic parent, we are not going to know how to handle it when the opposing party says you are depressed (even if you aren't) because of what your parents did to you. If you don't tell us about the baby you gave up for adoption when you were 16 we might be surprised when the other side says you shouldn't win custody because you have a history of abandoning your kids. If you don't tell us about the domestic violence case you filed against your last husband, we may not be able to help you when your current boyfriend says you have a history of filing false domestic violence cases.
When you come to see me for an initial office conference, tell me everything that has to do with your
family history and I'll be much better able to tell you what the real problem in your divorce or custody case is likely to be and how I can help you handle it.
