It is universal

I relate the stories that come through my office, the cases I've litigated, the successes and tragedies my clients have lived through.  Those stories are universal, they are experienced by everyone on some level, at some time. But the family law stories are not confined to my practice...

Yesterday I was at the gym, a place I visit far too infrequently, when I overheard a conversation between two gentlemen of moderate age.  Before you think I was eavesdropping, guys in a gym don't tend to share secrets as they pump iron, rather what they discuss they broadcast in semi-boisterous tones without regard, or sometimes with regard, for whether the nearby weight-lifters can listen in on the conversations.  It doesn't matter whether it is politics, sex (a frequent subject) or, pertinent to my story tonight, family.

What really captured my attention was that they were talking about their sons.  Having three myself, the subject is near and dear to my heart. Their sons were now grown.  The men had both been divorced when their sons were young.  The men related how they had gone through great difficulty with their sons, but with the passing of time, things were made right.

The first man was talking, "my wife and I split up when my boy was seven.  My wife was in a bad way at the time.  I got custody. Things were rocky, hard to manage, we got by I think mostly because I ran such a tight ship, tried to make it like clockwork. I think that kept me from going crazy in those days."

After awhile, my ex pretty much got her life back together.  She finally stayed in one place for longer than six months and found a job.  My boy and I were arguing more, he didn't like my rules, like, 'do your homework,' 'clean your room,' 'be back home by 9:00' kind of stuff.  So, when he was old enough, he decided to move to his mom's.  Broke my heart.  I mean, I shouldn't have minded so much since I'd had him for seven years but it broke my heart.  And he decided right after a big argument about whether he could stay out all night with a bunch of friends, including his little girl friend.  I said no.  His mom said she didn't see a problem with it and there you go, next thing you know, my boy's living with his mom. 

"We went through a few months where I couldn't look at him, it pissed me off so much.  Then it got better, he started coming over every now and then.  I kept up with him to see how he was doing in school.  Of course his grades were tanking, but then he was in ninth grade.  Anyway, two years pass, its the summer before he's a junior and he calls me up, asks me if we could have dinner together.  At dinner he says, 'I need to be a success, and I'm just not going to be a success at mom's house.  It's too disorganized.'  You could have floored me.  I felt like I was grinning all over my face.  He moved back in about two weeks before school started.  His mom thought that was probably best, too."

Then the other man shared, "my son's momma would fuss and cuss every time it was my weekend.  She'd come up with some excuse to keep him from me like, 'he's gotta study today' or 'he's gotta mow the lawn' or some such #&*%!."  (Talk runs like that at the gym.) "Got to where I couldn't break through, I couldn't keep her back long enough to see him when I was supposed to.

"Then he became a teenager and it got even worse.  He got all angry, sullen, accusing me of ditching his momma when it was she that filed for divorce.  Got to where he wouldn't even talk to me anymore, said he was too busy.  I never really lost track of him, I just barely saw him.  It became usual to where a few months would pass when I wouldn't see him.  That became the way it was.  So he drifted away from me.

"But now he's 22, a young man.  He's got a good girlfriend.  He's finished school.  And he wants to hang out with me.  Can you beat that?  He wants to hang out with me.  He was over the other day, I had my dad there too, and my son says to my dad, Grandpa, you raised a pretty good son.  I got so choked up I gave him another beer."

Time passes, wounds heal, wisdom grows.  At least it can.

Families are a fundamental reality, they are universal and their stories, our stories, are universal.  Good or bad they are a treasure for they are the stuff from which our riches are made.  There's a blog that's getting underway, The Twisted Family at  http://www.thetwistedfamily.com/2011_01_01_archive.html  It is about blended, no twisted, families, our families.  Real people.  Real stories.  Our stories.  Check it out.

Full disclosure: my wife writes it.  Look out, she might write about our family from time to time. Enjoy.

Michael Manely
http://www.allfamilylaw.com/CM/Custom/Attorneys.asp

So Many Questions - Family Law

I've been enmeshed in my practice for so long I sometimes forget how intricate and complicated it can be.  Some days, like today, I meet with a myriad of people who just need to get their questions answered.  They know they are facing a complex situation that therefore feels rather daunting and rather than strike out on their own with the very real chance of striking out entirely, they seek advice from one who has been in the trenches for decades - me.

Sometimes their questions are straightforward, requiring no more than a simple, direct answer that can set their minds at ease and help them chart a clear and safe course for their new direction.  Other times their questions are complex, requiring much give and take to ferret out the nuances that can alter the course of the right answer with the slightest subtlety.

Regardless of questions simple or complex, the questions, and the questioners, are welcome at my firm.  I understand that some attorneys play hide the ball.  "If you want an answer, you have to feed the monkey."  I do understand that approach.  My education and lengthy experience have value.  But I perform no service to my community if I treat my knowledge and expertise like it's off limits to all but a select few with the green in their wallets to unhinge my jaw.

If I kept my knowledge a secret, how would a client ever know that I have any knowledge at all?  I don't see a successful interview concluding, "I know exactly what I would do and if you hire me, I'll tell you."  Suppose the poor client hires that counsel and counsel then spews something idiotic.  I don't see how that works.  Perhaps I'll get a few more decades down the road and decide that potential clients should pay me for their initial visit.  Right now that just seems cheap.

So, if you have a question, come see me.  While I cannot work for free since I'm not independently wealthy, I'll gladly, and I do mean gladly, answer your questions.

Michael Manely
http://www.allfamilylaw.com/CM/Custom/Firm-Overview.asp

Family Law: is it all for show?

Reform has value.  There is probably always a better way to do things.  Family Law is no exception.  I'll say that going in.

But some reform is ill conceived and ill informed.  Every now and then there's a notion to streamline Family Law, which is to say, make it more of an administrative matter rather than a legal matter.  I think that's a bad idea.

I need to digress here.  By administrative matter I mean a resolution based upon a pre-set formula contrived to create a pre-designed result, a cookie cutter approach.  For example, Worker's Compensation uses the administrative method to achieve its ends.  By regulation your hand is worth a specific sum, your foot is worth a different specific sum.  In the end, it largely boils down to math.  There is no nuance.  There is no subtlety.  The very facts that should make a key difference do not, because Worker's Compensation has decided that it is a waste of time.  Just lower the standard and lower the result.

On the other hand (no pun intended), you have the legal method which is much more open ended.  Rather than formulas which dictate an outcome, the legal method provides a trier of fact, usually a judge, who has great discretion to do what is right.  There are norms within "what is right" as established over time and within the collective of the judiciary.  This is largely what is meant by "Common Law."  But what is right is affected by nuance and subtlety.  What is wrong in one context can become right in another.  These facts matter greatly in real life, but they can't matter if they fit outside of the formula of an administrative method.

So the reform of Family Law sometimes comes down to requiring that everyone's case fit a pre-determined model, the cookie cutter approach.  It comes down to deciding that a whole host of facts (elements of people's lives) just don't matter.

Many Family Law cases can almost be handled in a cookie cutter fashion.  There is no doubt but that this approach is the least expensive.  Uncontested Divorce cases are manageable and affordable precisely because of this approach. But not all cases can be forced into a pre-determined model to achieve a cookie cutter result.  Divorcing parties would be ill served by such an approach, and, given the low level to which administrative cases are relegated, Family Law would be ill served by being just another aspect of life that has been relegated to the administrative remedy.

I can imagine the administrative divorce. "Next," the civil servant would call from her window.  "So you want a divorce?" she would ask, reading from the form you had completed a few hours ago when you first entered the large room filled with scores of other applicants.  "Yes," you'd say, hoping that she hadn't found some defect with your paperwork.  "Fine," she might say, checking boxes on the form.  "Your wife gets the kids.  You get to see them on Saturdays from noon until three and Wednesdays from six until eight."  "But I work on Saturdays," you might say.  "I guess you won't see them, then," she'd reply.

And so on, and so on. It's not a pretty picture.

The legal approach is, at its core, flexible.  It can be fraught with drama, with intrigue, with high level diplomacy and skulduggery.  It can be inefficient.  But it is also effective, thorough and to an incredible extent, tailor made to the circumstance.  Given the enormity of the legal institution, it is amazing that the system can be as flexible as it is.

And few people feel that their lives, their circumstances, their wants and their needs are ordinary, are average or appropriate for cookie cutter solutions.  Given the weight of issues that arise everyday in Family Law, few are.

So, the art, the practice of Family Law is not all for show, though there is a fair bit of show to it.  But, as the drama of human life goes, it calls for the show to give it the attention it deserves and to get it right.

To me, then, the bottom line: leave Family Law flexible.  Don't try to make a round peg fit into a square hole or vice versa.  Individually crafted solutions work.  Institutional, administrative orders that apply to no one, don't.

Michael Manely

"On Behalf Of"

One of the last things I do at night before I turn in, is sit before my laptop and compose the post I want to write, what I would like for you to read.  It is my message to the readers, followers, potential clients, existing clients, and old friends who just want to see what I'm thinking these days. 

I hope my writing is fairly readable. I hope it is somewhat entertaining. I hope it is sufficiently informative.  One thing I know, however, is that my writing is deeply personal.  I write what I am thinking, what I am feeling, what I see happening in the world of family law.  I write about the reality of a family law practice, the real world experience of real world people fully engaged in their personal family law stories.

In a family law practice the different firms are certainly distinct from one another.  Each firm has its own personality, its own approach.  Each firm sets its own tone.  Our firm web site is built around illustrating our uniqueness.  My blog is intended to convey that, as well.

That's why I write my blog, or the other attorneys at my firm sometimes write on my blog.  It is always personal; it is always from us, it is always the real world stories that comprise our practice.

For that reason, I am not surprised by the recent increase in family law blogs.  There is probably no better way, short of a one on one interview, to convey who we are and what makes us tick.  But that's why I am suprised by the recent surge in family law blogs that are not written by anyone associated with the firm.  You can instantly recognize them.  The are written "on behalf of " the firm.  They are incredibly sterile, even antiseptic.  The topics cover celebrity divorces or fairly acrane or distant issues like, "what's New Jersey doing in divorce today?"   Today they might be concerned about some NBA star's custody battle.  Tomorrow they might address how many women in Los Angeles are seeking prenuptial agreements. 

But how does that impact you?  And what does that tell you about the firm?  What does that tell you about how the firm will help you?

You might say that "on behalf of" doesn't tell you anything about the firm, that this anonymous ghost writer gives you no sense of the attorneys who handle that firm's family law matters on a daily basis.  But unfortunately, I think it does.  I think it speaks volumes.

So, I'll keep writing my blog, expressing myself, hopefully giving you a very good picture of who I am and how I go about this practice.  And the other guys who keep their thoughts to themselves yet want to represent people at their most intimate and vulnerable moments?  I guess they'll just stay anonymous, as they prefer.

As for me?  I think it is better that you know quite well who I am.  I think you deserve that.

Michael Manely
http://www.allfamilylaw.com/CM/Custom/Attorneys.asp

Why Free Consultations Are Worth The Money



Shelia Manely, Business Manager



Tonight's blog post is written by Shelia Manely, Business Manager for the Manely Firm, PC.

I’m not a lawyer . . . yet.  But, I am a law student, mother of a blended family of five, business manager of our growing law firm and wife.  (That’s the order my husband suggested.)   I can’t give legal advice, but I can give lots and lots of advice.  Just ask anyone who knows me.  I just can’t help myself.  I figure I’m being very helpful if I share everything I know with anyone who asks.  I know you didn’t ask, but, you are reading, which sort of implies consent.  So, here I go.

I had the chance to sit in on a presentation given to fellow law students by the founding attorney from a family law firm with their sole office in downtown Atlanta.  To prove what a great attorney he is, he touted how many speaking engagements he’s had, how many TV appearances he’s made and how dependent upon him the local news channels are for his professional advice.  He said he always makes himself available to the media, not just for paid appearances, but also for free consultation and  advice.  After all, he says, those guys are journalists, not attorneys.  They want to know they are getting their story straight and using the right terminology.  Sometimes, he says, I’m disappointed when I don’t get credited or I get edited out of the piece, but that’s OK.  I still help.  I want them to call me again.  I want to keep those opportunities coming!

He also bragged about how much he charges an hour (over $500) and why he never, ever gives free client consultations.  He advised over twenty-five future attorneys to never, ever give free client consultations.  Here’s his reasoning: 

 If I charge for consultations, people will think I have enough business that I don’t have to give free consultations to get business.  Free consultations say, “I’m desperate.” 

 If I charge for consultations, I won’t be giving away my time to some people while billing my time to others.  Free consultations say, “I’m putting my paying clients aside to do free consultations.”   

If I charge for consultations, people will feel really good about what I tell them because they’ve paid for it.  Free consultations say, “my advice isn’t worth anything.”  

And then there is the kicker:

If someone pays for my time and also gets a free consultation from another attorney, they’re not going to pick the do-gooder who gave them their time, because they’ve already invested over $500 bucks in me!  Free consultations say, "pick me and you've wasted the money you paid the other guy."

Well, it’s hard to argue with him because he is very successful.  He has lots of famous clients to show for his efforts.  And rich, famous clients need a good attorney just like the rest of us.  But, wait a second…don’t the rest of us need a good attorney just like those rich, famous people?  

At The Manely Firm, PC, we've had our share of media attention and we do give free client consultations.

               We are not desperate.  We open over 200 cases a year and that number keeps climbing.

               We do not put our paying clients aside to do free consultations.   If we have more work than we can do while giving free consultations, we hire more attorneys.

               If people thought our free advice wasn’t worth anything, they wouldn’t hire us by the hundreds.  And finally,

               If a person prefers to pay for advice they may never use, from an attorney they have yet to meet with a firm they may never hire, I say let ‘em.  I prefer our clients be sane.  They’re easier to represent.

At The Manely Firm, PC, we make ourselves available to potential clients, not just the media.  And, not just for paid appearances, but also for free consultation and advice.  After all, our potential clients are just people, not attorneys.  They want to know they are getting their story straight and using the right terminology.  Sometimes, we are disappointed when we don’t get hired, but that’s OK.  We still help.  We want them to call us again.  We want to keep those opportunities coming!

So, the advice?  If you need a successful, experienced family law attorney, visit us for a free consultation.  If you need a celebrity, it'll cost ya'.

              

Why Not Expand the Pie?

Tonight's blog post is courtesy of Kairi Smith Gure, who is our Associate  in our Lawrenceville office.



http://www.allfamilylaw.com/CM/Custom/Attorneys.asp

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I am in the process of earning a masters degree in the Science of Conflict Management.  I am in my first semester of a four semester program and I have already begun to view most of life’s experiences as a series of negotiations, some simple, some complex.

In my negotiation's class we are learning about different types of negotiations.  Before a couple of weeks ago I really didn’t think that there was more than one way to negotiate.  I thought, like most, about negotiations as the classic exchange where both parties have competing interests and each gives up as little as possible and, in a best case scenario, each side walks away with 50% of what they wanted.  Both parties are usually leave the negotiation disappointed that they didn’t get more.  But, in some cases, if one party was more savvy (or conniving) than the other party, they are able to “win” and walk away from the negotiation with more than 50% (or maybe all) of what they wanted.  This is what I have know come to know as Zero Sum negotiating.

Zero Sum negotiating works on the idea that one party has to get less of what they want (or need) for the other party to get more of what they want (or need).  When you are zero sum negotiating you are working with a “fixed pie” meaning that you are focused on the idea that there is not enough to go around and, in order to “win,” the other party has to “lose”.

I propose that Zero Sum negotiating, while definitely the way to approach many negotiations, is not the best fit for resolving most of the conflicts that take place in realm of Family Law litigation.  Integrative negotiating would provide parties with more satisfying, durable, and successful agreements, bringing them one step closer to resolving the family conflict that brought them to court in the first place.

Integrative negotiation is based upon the idea that if both of the parties approach the negotiation with the thought that they can both “win,” the focus of the negotiation will create an agreement that achieves the goals of both parties.  Ideally this would happen because the parties could think outside of the box and come up with creative solutions to meet everyone's needs and/or goals.  This process would in turn “expand the pie” so that there was enough for everyone.

I know that emotions run high for the parties when dealing with Family Law conflicts because the stakes are generally very high.  As I work with my clients I do my best to facilitate an approach to their negotiations that “expand the pie,” so that long after the day the agreement was created and emotions are no longer raging, they are still satisfied with the outcome.  To me this it what it means to “win”.

Kairi Smith Gure

Practicing Desperation Law

Last night I wrote about the attorneys who practice family law as though it was were a tenet of faith.  Tonight I write about the attorneys who could care less.

On the opposite end of the spectrum from the zealot who imposes her convictions on you lies the "I just don't give a damn attorney."  They have more important things to do, like anything else that comes through the door.

By and large, family law is considered a peculiar specialty, as if those who practice it exclusively have an affliction.  As I wrote last night, who would sign on for this misery?  So family law cases are considered a blight, though perhaps a necessary evil for the general practitioner who handles anything that comes through the door.  They handle personal injury, bankruptcy, criminal law, commercial litigation and, yes, somewhere in there, family law.  I contend that they practice "Desperation Law." They seem to state, "I just want a retainer.  Any retainer."

Family law has its own rhythm, its own groove, certainly its own body of law, and its own bar (for those few of us who practice it exclusively).  Whether we practice in the same frame of mind or approach the subject from quite different perspectives, the exclusively family law lawyer generally knows the other exclusively family law lawyer.  We usually know each others strengths, weaknesses, quirks and pecadillos.  We speak the same language.  We understand the issues without a learning curve.

For those indecisive or disinterested souls who do anything for a buck, they are forever cast on the howling winds of rapid and irreconcilable change.  One morning they are representing a criminal defendant, wrapped up in the Fourth Amendment.  The next morning, they are knee deep in a contractual clause about non-competing burger stands, and the next morning they attempt to be immersed in a bitter custody dispute.  Jack of all trades, master of none.

I know this scenario all too well.  At one time I practiced this scenario.  And family law drove me nuts.  But I learned, it drove me nuts because I wasn't just practicing family law.  I'd attend a criminal calendar call as disinterested as I could be.  I was engaged in the sport, but the passion was non-existent.  I'd attend a commercial litigation calendar call and everyone there still seemed asleep and wishing they were on the golf course.  Not a happy crew.  Then I'd attend a family law calendar call and everyone was animated, involved, deep in discussion, negotiation, maybe resolution.  All of it meaningful.  All of it vitally real.

Eventually I determined that I should only practice family law.  I won't call it a calling, hence I would run afoul of the malady I cited last night.  No, it was my passion, my skill and my drive that directed me.  That, and family law attorneys are in court most often, second only to prosecutors.  My attorneys and I are often in Court three to five times a week.  A personal injury attorney is lucky to see the inside of a courtroom three times a year.  As I've said often, I live in the Courtroom.

So family law is home.  This is where I thrive.  This is where I can do the most good. 

I don't practice desperation law.  I won't handle anything that comes through my door, except family law.  So if you have a criminal case, you can call me because I know some great criminal lawyers to refer you to.  But if you have a family law case, call me or anyone who practices exclusively in family law.  Our passion and our practice shows.

Michael Manely

Play it again, Sam.

Tonight's entry is written by Jeremy Abernathy, an Associate of The Manely Firm, P.C on weekdays and jammin' musician on the weekends.
http://www.allfamilylaw.com/CM/Custom/Attorneys.asp

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On Saturdays, I rehearse with my church band. All musicians are required to bring suggested songs for Sunday service. Typically, the songs suggested exhibit all of the various musical instruments in the band. This approach allows all to contribute in some fashion to the total production.

My role is to play the drums and set the tone. I serve as the “heartbeat” of the song.

Drums, however, can overpower a song and disrupt its harmony and balance. I must stay cognizant of balance and my duty to “glue together” the moving parts of the band. This helps yield the songwriter’s intended effect.

Practicing family law is analogous to playing the drums. When dealing with the moving parts and fluidity incident to litigation, I must listen for the rhythm of a case. My role then shifts to “feeling” the perfect moment to subtly inject a “new rhythm.”

“Injecting a new rhythm” means adding an additional fact for the Court to consider before making its ruling. It means kindly interrupting opposing counsel and holding their feet to the fire to produce a statute or case that supports their view of the facts. It also means respectfully contending with a zealous mediator.

At The Manely Firm P.C., we take pride in setting the tone for our clients. Even when hired at the “eleventh hour” we smooth out disconcerting family law conundrums.

We look forward to helping you achieve a balanced “life rhythm.”
 
Jeremy Abernathy

Out with the Old, In with the New

Tonight's Blog Post is by Associate, Jeremy Abernathy.  Click Here to learn more about Jeremy.

Our firm is located in the heart of the Marietta Square.  Our office has great views.  I see the hustle and bustle of city life.  I see Glover Park and witness the flowers blooming in Spring.

I also hear the racket from the Marietta City construction taking place.  The noise is loud, pounding, and continuous.  Recently, however, the usual banging that I hear had a different ring to it.  The noise was high- pitched and screeching- comparable to a cat slowing etching their claws into a chalkboard.

I got up and peered out the window.  I noticed long sharp rails being yanked from about four feet below the surface (my measuring point was a 6 foot tall man whose head was about two feet above the pavement).

I called my fellow associate, Elizabeth Marum, to take a look. She, immediately suspected that the objects were trolley rails. (Elizabeth has vast miscellaneous knowledge!)

Mr. Manely, nearby as we were briefing and updating him on cases and hearings, confirmed Elizabeth’s suspicion and even provided the history of the trolley rails. (In the early 1900's the Atlanta trolley system extended to Marietta and the trolley turned around by circling the park.)

This journey back in time reminded me of horror stories I have heard about the history of Marietta regarding racial and religious intolerance.   I must say that it is gratifying to see Marietta in it’s current state.  I see all races and nationalities entering in different restaurants, movie theaters, and other establishments.  I see diversity embraced.  I see change welcomed.

It’s now one week later and I notice that the large hole from which the trolley lines were being pulled has been patched up.  Cars pass over the hard, re-surfaced planes covering the holes.

Family law is like Marietta construction and Marietta history in this respect.   The old wounds between opposing parties are deep and bruising (sometimes literally).  The parties have contentious histories.  The sundry horror stories outnumber the words in a Harry Potter or New Moon novel.  Thus, construction (or reconstruction) is necessary.

As counsel for our clients, we must “do construction” in our clients’ lives.  After the  excavation of past wounds (the post-filing, pre-trial discovery process), we must lay the road for productive, fruitful travel (a successful settlement agreement or judicial decision).

At The Manely Firm P.C. we take pride in getting our clients off to the best start possible on their new life journeys. We care about the strategic, intelligent “re-paving” we do for our clients’ futures.  We welcome re-constructing the “messy family law issues.”

Gwinnett Mediation Process – What is it? How do we get there?

Tonight'g blog post is authored by Stephanie Steele, Associate and Supervising Attorney for Gwinnett County.  Click here to
learn more about Stephanie.

You may have heard the phrase “Alternative Dispute Resolution” or “ADR”.  This simply refers to a variety of methods used to resolve legal cases without a Judge hearing and deciding the case.

As the Gwinnett Superior Court ADR’s website aptly explains, “There are three primary processes [of alternative dispute resolution] available.  Mediation, the most requested method of ADR in Gwinnett County, is a process in which a neutral third party facilitates settlement discussions between parties in conflict.  Case evaluation is a process in which an experienced attorney gives advice on the strengths and weaknesses of each party's position and may make an assessment as to how a judge or jury might react in the case.  Arbitration is more similar to a trial.  The arbitrator issues a decision on the case following an abbreviated hearing under informal rules of evidence.”

In family law, we use mediation almost exclusively as an alternative way of resolving cases.  In some Metro-Atlanta counties, you are required to attend mediation before the court will allow you to schedule a hearing.  In other counties, it is an optional process.  In still other counties, such as Gwinnett, the Judge decides whether domestic cases assigned to him/her must go to mediation prior to a hearing.

Once you know your case will go to mediation, the next step is to select a mediator.  Every Metro-Atlanta county has a list of approved domestic mediators.  These mediators are often, but not always, attorneys with at least 5 years practice in domestic cases.  They are all trained extensively in conflict resolution.  Don’t be fooled, though, as with most professionals, not all mediators are created equal!

In selecting a mediator, rely on your attorney’s advice.  She or he knows you, your case, the opposing attorney, possibly the opposing party and the mediator.  When choosing a mediator, it is important to keep in mind the personalities and proclivities of each person who will be involved.

For example, if you are a father seeking primary custody of your children, you probably would not want to use a mediator who advocates mothers obtaining primary custody.  Another example would be if you are a shy person, it may be difficult to work with a mediator who has a very strong personality.  Again, though, it depends on the individuals involved.

If the parties cannot agree on a mediator, the Judge will assign one.

When you arrive for mediation, check in with the friendly folks in the ADR office and let them know you’re there.  They will wait for both attorneys, both parties and the mediator to arrive and then lead everyone to a private room for the mediation.

Later this week, I’ll post another blog explaining what exactly goes on behind the closed doors of mediation.


For more information on Gwinnett County’s ADR processes, visit their website at Gwinnet County ADR


Here are a few other helpful ADR websites: 
Cobb County ADR
Fulton County ADR
DeKalb County ADR

The Personal Side of Law

Please welcome guest blogger, Stephanie Steele.  Stephanie is Supervising Attorney for The Manely Firm, PC in Gwinnett County.  Her office is located in Lawrenceville, Georgia.  Stephanie handles all aspects of family law and has developed special expertise in adoption law.
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Recently, someone came to my office and wanted to understand his options about adopting a little girl from his relative.  I explained the overall legal process, detailed what we must show the court to be successful and discussed the financial aspects of such a case.

We explored the possibility of the mother consenting to the adoption.  At that point, the man looked at me and earnestly asked, “How do I approach her about giving up all her rights to this beautiful child?  What do I say?”

Being an attorney is not just about knowing the law and how it applies.  Being an attorney is also about knowing and understanding people.

There were a number of strategies that came to mind, but in that moment, what I saw and felt most was the desire of this man to take care of a child who needs someone to care for her.

Although some think of law as a cold, unfeeling set of rules, I see the law as a tool for helping people in a very real way.  I see my job as much more than explaining or using rules in a dispassionate manner.  I see each case as a unique opportunity to help make the world a better place, one child and one family at a time.

Sometimes what is ‘right’ and ‘just’ and ‘better’ is unclear, but thinking about transitioning from here and now to where you want you and your family to be clarifies things.  Caring about your family, expeditiously cutting to the core of the matter and resolving your case in a way the helps you and your family move through the here and now to the next part of your lives is the guiding principle for how we handle cases.