He's got your whole world in his hands

Further to this, this and this:

Back in Montreal in the 1960s and 1970s, it used to be said that there were only three divorce lawyers in town: my sister, and her buds Sid Cutler and Ben Greenberg.  Needless to say, if I had had need of a lawyer, I would have used my sister then.

More than the price was right.

In 1983, she became a judge in the Superior Court. Ben, who had been appointed to the bench shortly before, and his wife threw a lavish party to celebrate my sister's appointment in their home. I was happily married then but, being a pragmatic person and a bit of a joker, I thought, hmmm, maybe I better nail down the last great divorce lawyer in town.

So I sought out Sid, in my husband's presence, and said, ''Here's a dollar. You're on retainer.''

We all laughed.

But I still remember Sid's words to me at the time. They went something -- and I am most definitely paraphrasing -- like this:

What makes a good divorce lawyer is not how far he's prepared to go to win, not how much he fights, not how much he stomps the other guy. The best divorce lawyer he said, as he spread out his arms and looked left and right, recognizes that the warring parties are here and here, far apart.

His job is not to get to the other side the other guy to your side but to ensure both people meet here, in the middle.

Any other guy, who allows a client to declare all-out war, will end up with more of the loot than either client/spouse.

That's great legal advice. And it's free.

You're welcome.

Comments

[sooey]

People are funny. Divorce is the more likely outcome of marriage and yet we still vow "til death do us part".

[johnnykap]

Sooey, it depends who the participants are in the marriage. In the specific cases of you and Antonia, your statement would appear to have some validity.

As for you, Antonia, shouldn't you be doing something to help promote and foster marriage? Your free advice will no doubt lead to real marriages being broken up that otherwise wouldn't have been.

Oh, I forgot. You're a feminist. You can't be in favor of marriage, unless it's of the gay variety.

[The Stygian and his Shemitish Dogs]

Actually, Hey Johnnie Cope and Sooey Sweetie, here's some simpler legal advice, from a non-lawyer, albeit not as big a twit as most lawyers seem to be, based on a comment from MAD is a different context.

"In a divorce, you either LOSE, or you REALLY LOSE."

I was lucky just to lose.

[Keith]

Women found guilty of attempting to hire someone to killer her husand.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090112/METRO/901120433/1361

Feminists always quote the statistic that more women are killed in DV cases than men. The women in the story above was caught prior to getting her desired results. How many more don't get caught before hand? Or when those that are caught in murder for hire after the fact, would those cases even be classified as DV murders when they probably should. The difference between murdered male DV victims and females is a mear handful that could easily be swayed because these type of cases are not called DV cases when it sure sounds like they should be. Murder of an intimate partner is the ultimate form of Domestic Violence.

[sooey]

Silly rabbits, I'm still married. That's the key to divorce - don't.