You know, I get that question a lot from friends and other professionals who refer me clients but who don’t want to worry their own happily-married spouses. They’ll ask “If I walk in the door with a book about divorce, what’s my wife going to think?” Or they’ll worry, “I’m happily married; what will my husband say if he sees me reading your book, War or Peace?” I still haven’t come up with the perfect reply, other than the truth. “Honey, my friend wrote this book. Half the people we know will get divorced some day; I want to be prepared to give them some good advice about how to avoid the destruction of traditional courtroom divorce, and how best to protect their families and their assets. And you should read it, too.” I don’t know about you but I always read a book before I recommend it to someone else. So you could say, “I want to know whether I can recommend this book to my own clients, friends, and peers who might need the information it offers.” I hope you’ll agree that it’s actually, beyond the informative portion, a fun read. There are war stories in there that will chill you, and there are peace stories that will simply warm your heart. If so, perhaps you can leave me a review on Amazon. And certainly refer me folks who are looking for a more peaceful and sometimes transformative divorce process.
Bringing the Magic
I had a case in which I was retained, not for a collaborative matter, but for litigation. (Back then, I still had the reputation for being “an aggressive family law trial attorney.”)