Family Law Attorney - Denver?

[Anonymous]

Long shot, but any recommendations for a family law attorney in Denver?

[Anonymous]

I am a lawyer and I will offer my two cents. First, don't take any recommendations from this forum. Seriously, read some of the posts on here, do you really want those people recommending someone for you?

Here's how you find a good family law attorney. Find someone that has been practicing for eight years or more. Find someone that does exclusively family law (not a generalist who does family law, T&E, DUIs, etc.). Find someone that writes for publications or teaches CLEs. Generally, if someone is good enough to get published they will be a decent attorney as being a good writer is a strong proxy for ability as an attorney. I would not go to anyone that offers a free consult, generally speaking the better attorneys are busy working on paid matters and don't give their time away for free like that. That model works for personal injury firms for various other reasons. Finally, find someone that has done cases like yours. Low income/low assets compared to high income/high assets will require a different approach. Remember that you want a good attorney but you don't necessarily need the best attorney (unless you have a ton of money, then disregard).

Other suggestions. If you want to keep your costs down avoid all the BS (i.e. what a jerk your spouse is) and focus on the nuts and bolts. Avoid asking your attorney a million questions in a million different e-mails because it will get very expensive. Try to group your questions and be concise or, alternatively, schedule a call with a batch of questions since discussing things will be quicker than typing them out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a lawyer and I will offer my two cents. First, don't take any recommendations from this forum. Seriously, read some of the posts on here, do you really want those people recommending someone for you?

Here's how you find a good family law attorney. Find someone that has been practicing for eight years or more. Find someone that does exclusively family law (not a generalist who does family law, T&E, DUIs, etc.). Find someone that writes for publications or teaches CLEs. Generally, if someone is good enough to get published they will be a decent attorney as being a good writer is a strong proxy for ability as an attorney. I would not go to anyone that offers a free consult, generally speaking the better attorneys are busy working on paid matters and don't give their time away for free like that. That model works for personal injury firms for various other reasons. Finally, find someone that has done cases like yours. Low income/low assets compared to high income/high assets will require a different approach. Remember that you want a good attorney but you don't necessarily need the best attorney (unless you have a ton of money, then disregard).

Other suggestions. If you want to keep your costs down avoid all the BS (i.e. what a jerk your spouse is) and focus on the nuts and bolts. Avoid asking your attorney a million questions in a million different e-mails because it will get very expensive. Try to group your questions and be concise or, alternatively, schedule a call with a batch of questions since discussing things will be quicker than typing them out.

I'm not an attorney, but I'm a client who is in a horrible post-divorce ongoing custody nightmare with a sociopath and I have not been able to be without an attorney on retainer for years (because of the constant BS from ex). As awful as my situation has been, I was very careful selecting my attorneys (different attorneys for divorce and post-divorce due to moving to a different state) and that has made all the difference. The above is great advice. Everyone who is starting this process should read this.

Also adding: divorcing someone with a cluster B personality disorder (diagnosed or suspected, or has the traits) requires special skill from a family law attorney. Not all of them know how to handle this.