Each year more than 2 million Americans get divorced, and most of them use a lawyer. In closed-door conversations between lawyers and their clients strategy is planned, tactics are devised, and the emotional climate of the divorce is established. Do lawyers contribute to the pain and emotional difficulty of divorce by escalating demands and encouraging unreasonable behavior? Do they take advantage of clients at a time of emotional difficulty? Can and should clients trust their lawyers to look out for their welfare and advance their long-term interests? Austin Sarat and William L. F. Felstiner's new book, based on a pioneering and intensive study of actual conferences between divorce lawyers and their clients, provides an unprecedented behind-the-scenes description of the lawyer-client relationship, and calls into question much of the conventional wisdom about what divorce lawyers actually do. Divorce Lawyers and Their Clients suggests that most divorces are marked less by a pattern of aggressive advocacy than by one of inaction and drift. It uncovers reasons why lawyers find divorce practice frustrating and difficult and why clients frequently feel dissatisfied with their lawyers. This new work provides a unique perspective on the dynamics of professionalism. It charts the complex and shifting ways lawyers and clients "negotiate" their relationship as they work out the strategy and tactics of divorce. Sarat and Felstiner show how both lawyers and clients are able to draw on resources of power to set the agenda of their interaction, while neither one is fully in charge. Rather, power shifts between the two parties; where it is achieved, power is found in the ability to have one's understandings of the social and legal worlds of divorce accepted. Power then works through the creation of shared meanings. Divorce Lawyers and Their Clients examines the effort to create such shared meanings about the nature of marriage and why marriages fail, the operation of the legal process, and the best way to bring divorces to closure. It will be fascinating reading for anyone who is going through a divorce, or has gone through one, as well as for lawyers, judges, and scholars of law and society.

Two Adventures With Mom and Dad is a children's book about divorce. The book introduces young children to the concept of divorce and separation. The author, family law attorney Kelly Chang Rickert, and illustrator Tanya Campbell encourages separating parents to read this book together to their child.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

The authors look at how divorce lawyers work to address the question of legal professionalism in practice. Through a systematic study of legal practice at the micro-level, they show how lawyers create their own controls over work through their social relationships, formal and informal norms, common knowledge, and shared values. While much of the research on legal professionalism centers on the formal standards of the bar as reflected in codes of professional responsibility, the authors show how the discretionary judgments that lawyers make, and the choices they face, are actually understood in relation to norms and standards of other lawyers with whom they interact or compare themselves.

It's Hope's first Christmas after her parents' divorce. Helping her Dad decorate for Christmas this year, Hope finds a broken snow globe. She recalls the shouting and yelling shortly after she broke the snow globe last year. Hope is convinced that she can bring her parents back together if only she can repair the snowglobe. In the end, her courageous efforts at repairing the broken snowglobe helped her achieve acceptance of her new family arrangement. Holidays after divorce or separation can be very hard on children. This book was written for them. The story is intended to reassure them that none of this is their fault, and though there may be different living arrangements, both Mom and Dad still love them, and always will.

A lawyer and a psychologist offer a groundbreaking divorce strategy that protects both your finances and your family. From your first thought of divorce through the final paperwork, Your Divorce Advisor takes you step by step toward a divorce that dissolves the marriage but not your dignity, your sense of family, or your financial security. Whether you hire a lawyer or a mediator, or do it yourself, this practical, direct, and empowering guide offers you the wise counsel you need for both the legal and the emotional processes of ending your marriage. Your Divorce Advisor shows you how to: -Keep a healthy perspective that leads to a successful legal strategy and recognize when emotions threaten your case -Protect your assets without destroying your family Offering: -Detailed coverage of all your legal options and guidance through every legal step, including anticipating the emotional repercussions of your decisions -More information on custody than any other divorce book, including age-appropriate custody schedules -A sample divorce agreement explained one paragraph at a time Your Divorce Advisor helps you set yourself and your family on a positive course toward a new life.