A review of the excellent news reporting from Allyson Bird at the Charleston Post and Courier, regarding the adoption case involving two year-old, Veronica, her prospective adoptive parents, Matt and Melanie Capobianco, and her Cherokee birth father, Dusten Brown, demonstrates a misunderstanding when a “best interests of the child” standard is applicable. For custody cases [...]
Archive for the ‘Not South Carolina Specific’ Category
WTF does the restraint against exposing minor children to “age inappropriate entertainment” actually mean?
I sometimes think there is some hidden law titled, “The South Carolina Family Law Attorney Full Employment Act,” which requires family court judges to issue child-related restraining orders so vague that, in theory, an infinite number of attorneys could spend an infinite amount of time arguing about whether that restraint has been violated. Such is [...]
The Citadel sexual abuse cover up(s)
I find myself in an awkward position in which my friend, Charleston Post & Courier reporter Glenn Smith, is investigating and writing about a colleague and former office mate, Citadel General Counsel, Mark C. Brandenburg. Glenn’s an outstanding reporter, investigating and breaking numerous important local stories that are too small to interest the national media. [...]
The custody witness few ever think to call
There are lots of obvious witnesses in a custody case: the child’s teachers; the child’s coaches; the child’s mental health professionals; the parents of the child’s friends; the parent’s adult child(ren). But the best witness can often be someone that few ever think to call: the parent’s ex-spouse. The nature of family court is that [...]
What They Don’t Teach Law Students: Lawyering
Interesting article in today’s New York Times, What They Don’t Teach Law Students: Lawyering, describing what’s wrong with law school methodology and how law students graduate lacking the ability to do even basic legal practice. Law firms are now taking upon themselves to teach their first year associates how to practice law. Some are even foregoing having [...]
Thank you
I opened my law practice exactly eighteen years ago today. Unlike many of the young attorneys I admire, such as Jenny Moser, T. Ryan Phillips or Anna Galle, it wasn’t a first choice but more of a last resort. I’d been unhappy in my two previous associate positions and decided not to accept a third associate [...]
Thinking about Pareto optimization as a tool to achieve settlement
Few math majors go into law and those who do rarely go into family law. I’m one of the rare family law attorneys who often thinks in mathematical constructs. A question from last night’s “newbies” class demonstrates the benefits of sometimes thinking like a mathematician when practicing family law. A newbie asked for advice in [...]