Day in the Life of a Family Lawyer: 20 Tips for a Family Lawyer

Day in the Life of a Family Lawyer: 20 Tips for a Family Lawyer

From discussions on the same over at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, a family lawyer works within a firm or practice and represents clients whose problems include divorce issues -whether marriage breakdowns or the end of civil partnerships – and prenuptial agreements, along with cases involving child maintenance and matters of inheritance. If you are considering going down this path career-wise, and are wondering what a day in the life of a family lawyer is like, then this article has got you covered.

Emails

When you get into the office in the morning and get your coffee fix, then the first task of your day should be to check your emails and messages. As per RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, if something came up overnight, you need to know about it before proceeding with your day.

Planning and prioritizing

After getting caught up with your emails and messages, the next activity is to plan, review your tasks, and prioritize the activities you have lined up for the day to ensure you are prepared for the day ahead. You need to plan and prioritize so that the most important tasks get done.

Working hours

As a family lawyer, you will typically need to get into the office by 9 in the morning, and the day ends between 6 and 8 in the evening according to RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, depending on the amount of work one has to get through.

Communicating with clients

On a typical day, you will spend a large amount of time communicating with clients as a family lawyer. These include clients whose cases are ongoing, as you will want to discuss the outcome of hearings and each client’s next move.

New clients

Meeting up with clients isn’t restricted to existing clients alone. A portion of your day will be taken up by meetings with new clients seeking for you to represent them on their cases. You will meet with them during appointments and interview them to gather details of their cases.

Colleagues

As articulated at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, family lawyers don’t work in isolation as they work within a team at their practice. This means that, on a typical day, you will be working closely with colleagues, discussing cases with them.

Experts from outside your practice

In addition to working closely with team members, you might also correspond with other experts in your field from outside your practice. This will most likely be necessary when looking for input when dealing with especially complex cases.

Office work

Unlike criminal defense lawyers who spend a lot of time in court as captured at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com, much of your day as a family lawyer will be spent in the office, where you will divide your time between the routine answering and checking of correspondence and the organization and drafting of work.

Research

Having met with clients, you will need to do some research on cases to ensure you have a plan in place. You will, therefore, need to set aside a few hours of your day researching parts of a specific case to pull together the arguments to be made in court.

Court

On many days, you will have to attend court to argue your client’s case before a judge, which is something you need to keep in mind. Therefore, before appearing, you must ensure you have thoroughly prepared and outlined what you plan to say.

Time factor when it comes to court

It is worth noting that a hearing can take a lot of time as covered at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. Additionally, there will be times when you will wait in court only to find that the hearing is to be moved to a different day.

Mediation

As any family lawyer will tell you, days of mediation are among the most interesting as well as tedious ones. Given that turning to courts for conflict resolution builds up more uncertainty and higher risks, convincing clients to consider mediation is something many family lawyers prefer, even though some cases will still end up in court.

Dispute resolutions

You will also have days when you will have Financial Dispute Resolution (FDR) hearings described at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. These hearings often take unexpected turns and require lots of research and work from the lawyer’s end. FDRs are arguably the most challenging phase of most divorce cases as while both parties are seeking an end to the dispute, they seldom want to settle without resistance.

Drafting important documents

Back at the office, your day will offer more structure and scheduling. Part of your tasks will be completing and drafting important documents such as wills and child custody documents. Child custody documents will require your undivided attention given the implications.

Aiding adoptions

Family lawyers also play an important role in aiding adoptions, especially when it comes to filling and mailing adoption requirement papers. This is one of the most fulfilling parts of the job as a family lawyer as you will be helping people build their families.

Proofreading

As the day winds up, your paralegal will likely bring you legal documents they have drafted for you to proofread as discussed at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. This is where you use your experience and grasp of family law to ensure that everything is in order before you proceed to forward said documents to your client to review so you can discuss it further.

Emotions of the job

Family lawyers find the direct and involved relationship that they have with clients to be a double-edged sword. Most of the time it is the best part of the day, but as emotions run high, things can get stressful and difficult.

Supporting children

Divorces, child support, child visitation, and property division are common cases for family lawyers as outlined at RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com. While you are tasked with putting your client’s needs first, you also need to act as an advocate for children who are part of any case you take.

Late nights

It is also important to note that family lawyers are known to work early in the day and into the late night, bouncing between hearings, depositions, meetings, researching, writing, and paperwork. This is something you need to prepare for.

Finishing up

At the end of the day, it is time to look back on the day’s activities and ensure that all your ducks are in a row. If you have tasks you were supposed to do but didn’t, this is the time to ensure you either do them or schedule them for first thing in the morning the following day.

These are some of the things to expect when it comes to a day in the life of a family doctor, with the excellent RunRex.com, guttulus.com, and mtglion.com having you covered when looking for more on this and other related topics.