By Steve Mindel, AAML

On a daily basis, as family law attorneys we face parenting plan situations where our clients express to us how the other parent is causing problems with the parent plan. Our first response is to immediately jump on the side of our client. After all, as advocates we want to please our client.

Robin M. Deutsch, PhD, ABPP (Massachusetts), and Dawn Smith, Esq., Partner, Evolve Family Law, LLC (Georgia), explored how parenting challenges are rarely one sided and are the result of a multitude of factors. Like the county song, “I might be the problem, but you might be the reason.”

Their lively presentation involved a discussion combined with an interesting interactive survey. Dr. Deutsch and Smith discussed how lawyers must balance strong client advocacy with protecting children’s best interests.

They left us three wonderful takeaways.

• Lawyers are equally advocates, educators and expectation setters.
• Most disputes involve multiple factors.
• If winning the battle for your client does not consider the negative implications for the children, it will likely result in long-term harmful consequences that can show up in adulthood — and we pay later.