I am a divorce lawyer. For years, I was a very successful, family law trial lawyer. So when people ask what I do, I tell them, “I make unhappy people happy; I get them divorced so that they can have another shot at happiness.”
I think we can all agree that it’s terrible for everyone when people stay in hate-filled relationships. It’s awful when people suffer for years in an unbearable marriage. And not just for the spouses, but also for their children, their extended families, and, often, their friends and neighbors, as well.
This is why I look at it this way: divorce is not the problem. An unhappy marriage is the problem; divorce is the cure.
My JD means that I have earned my Juris Doctorate; I am a doctor.
I cure diseased relationships by removing the offending part.
But there is more than one way to sever the marital bond. I am trained as a collaborative lawyer, so I am a marital surgeon.
Traditional divorce in the courtroom is “war from the get-go,” and trial attorneys are battlefield medics, who work with hand-made tourniquets, bloody hacksaws, and hard liquor to dull the pain, in the chaos of mines exploding all around.
Collaborative lawyers work in the calm luxury of the hospital; they use sterile instruments, a team of specialists, and anesthesia administered by a professional anesthesiologist. Your surgery is comparatively painless, and certainly less stressful, and your recovery is that much faster.
Who would you rather have doing your divorce?
