Family Law and Divorce Lawyers Forum

[Troianii]

I'm just putting out a feeler for questions about this area. Is this an area where lawyers get paid like public defendants? I don't need to make the big bucks, but I would like to know what I'm getting into if this is a field I'm looking into. Do family/divorce lawyers usually specialize with a certain "side"? I've heard that some lawyers always (or nearly always) represent a certain gender in divorce cases, and that seems a little bit odd to me.

Though, if nothing else, it's probably steady work.

Does anyone work in this area, or is anyone well-acquainted with it?

[A. Nony Mouse]

It's really going to depend on your clientele. You can potentially make good money in family law (though I can't quantify that) because if you're dealing with wealthy clients, there's a lot of money at stake (when a rich couple divorces, for instance). The question is reaching those clients, of course. I have no idea what is typical. Family law is state-specific law, so you tend to see local/smaller firms (or solos), rather than big national firms (maybe with the exception of wills/estates practices within some of the big firms).

I don't know if all family lawyers pick a gender. I have definitely seen family lawyers/firms (including both men and women) who sell themselves as representing mens' rights, but I've never seen any advertise as representing women specifically. However, I have seen a number of all-women family firms, and it may be that women clients are more comfortable having women attorneys.

Family lawyers who literally get paid like PDs are called legal aid attorneys.

[Troianii]

It's really going to depend on your clientele. You can potentially make good money in family law (though I can't quantify that) because if you're dealing with wealthy clients, there's a lot of money at stake (when a rich couple divorces, for instance). The question is reaching those clients, of course. I have no idea what is typical. Family law is state-specific law, so you tend to see local/smaller firms (or solos), rather than big national firms (maybe with the exception of wills/estates practices within some of the big firms).

This sounds about where I was thinking. Good money can be made, but most don't. With the money aspect I was really just more concerned about potentially making the kind of money PDs do, like around 40k/yr. Which again, is something I can live with, but it's something that I'd want to be aware of going into it.

Do you (or anyone else) have any idea if this is an area where it's easier to get started solo?

I don't know if all family lawyers pick a gender. I have definitely seen family lawyers/firms (including both men and women) who sell themselves as representing mens' rights, but I've never seen any advertise as representing women specifically. However, I have seen a number of all-women family firms, and it may be that women clients are more comfortable having women attorneys.

That makes sense. I'd heard of certain divorce lawyers almost specializing in working for a particular sex, and part of what piqued my interest in this is how often women win custody, as well as some horror stories I've heard firsthand. With the custody, this is something I find interesting and I'm curious if anyone can speak as to why women win custody cases so much - I've heard a few answers, basically from feminists and MRAs, but both answers seem at least a little lopsided.

The personal stories that kind of got my interest (and I'm not making any generalizations here, these are cases of friends and family and so its a small sample-size) where often the mother will de facto have the kids when the couple splits and use the kids as a weapon against the father, refusing to let the dad see the kids until there is a court order. I mean, I'd get that if there was abuse involved, but in these cases it was just as a weapon. Some people are f***ed up.

Family lawyers who literally get paid like PDs are called legal aid attorneys.

Oh, I was just thinking in annual earnings comparisons.

Thanks for the advice A Nony Mouse. Always helpful.

[A. Nony Mouse]

There probably are plenty of family lawyers who make like $40k a year - I just think there's a ton of variety, depending on a lot of factors.

As for custody, that's a hugely contentious issue. My take is that women tend to get custody because women still do the bulk of child care so in most cases it's what makes the most sense. I know of people who believe it's because judges are all biased in favor of women. Certainly when it was assumed that women should be the primary caregivers, it was also assumed that women should get custody (men wouldn't want it/aren't as capable of taking care of kids). So there's a long history of it which probably influences matters as well.

And the contentiousness is the problem with family law. It would be super lovely if you were always helping people with their adoptions or setting up trusts and wills for happy families. But most of the work is dealing with people at the absolute worst moments of their lives when they're treating their former family members like crap. I respect people who do it well, but I couldn't.

[basshat]

I use to work at a small family law firm (10ish attorneys) in Chicago and I believe that the starting salary was $55,000. Like a previous poster said, the salary/bonus really depends on what size firm you are at and what type of clients and cases you attract. Complex cases can quickly add up because of the hourly billing rate. I worked on a few divorces where one party owned a business and those cases were always extremely costly, as they required more discovery and retaining experts. For one case in particular, it was not uncommon for the client's bill to be around $80,000 A MONTH. So it just depends on the type of cases you work on.

Also, unless the firm specifically markets itself to one gender, most firms do not care what gender their clients are. All they care about is whether that client can pay the monthly bill.

[utlaw2007]

You're not going to make good money in Family law unless you have your own firm. And it's still not a likely result, but there is a mathematical chance you can make good money.

[bacillusanthracis]

Family law = repeat business.

This means nothing to you if you don't own the firm though. But if you do own the firm, many of your clients will be back. There are the long drawn out divorces where one side or both just want to make the other bleed. That means a lot of money for you. Then there are people who barely have a pot to piss in, but with them you can do a quicky for $2000 or so. And considering that it'll take roughly 4-5 hours of your time to do that, it's pretty damn good money.

Then there will be custody battles that occur post-divorce. Dad wants more time with the kids, mom says no. Boom! $XK to you in fees depending on on the extent of the battle.

There are also a lot of harassment suits in family law.

Importantly, it's field full of highly emotional clients and if you have the people skills, you'll get referrals. And that's something that simply is not taught in law school. PEOPLE SKILLS. In a family law environment, if you can deal well with emotional people and make them feel better, they're yours for life. That's good for you because of repeat business and referrals and it's good for them because they have the peace of mind that they have a professional they can trust.

But again, if you're going to work for another firm and just get a salary, none of the above matters one bit.