Every trial lawyer with even a few years of practice develops set procedures to prepare for hearings and trial. In my case there are separate procedures for contested temporary hearings and for trials. Both will involve drafting my client’s financial declaration and obtaining the documentary evidence to justify the figures used in that financial declaration. For temporary hearings, I will also need affidavits that support my client’s goals and hinder the other party’s goals on contested issues. For temporary hearings, I will need to fill out a temporary hearing background sheet and, if custody or visitation is at issue, a proposed parenting plan. If my client seeks fees, I will need to draft a fee affidavit.
For trial, I will need to make sure witnesses are under subpoena, that we have produced all exhibits we intend to use at trial, listed all witnesses we intend to call at trial, and have testimony outlines prepared and trial exhibits copies and collated for each witness at trial. If I intend to designate portions of the other party’s deposition to use at trial, that needs to be prepared too.
All of these tasks are things South Carolina family law attorneys are aware need to be done. Good attorneys develop set procedures to ensure these tasks get done timely and well. These procedures differ by attorney and are likely refined with experience. However, no attorney can have separate preparation procedures for each client without undermining the vital goals of ensuring preparation is complete and timely.
Furthermore, family law tends to be a collaborative process between the client and the attorney. This is especially true in custody cases, where there are few limits on what evidence might be both relevant and favorable. No attorney can do this trial preparation without the client’s substantial involvement. Without the client supplying context, it is hard to know what documentary evidence is useful and why it is useful. The client has lived experience co-parenting with the other parent that no attorney can fully understand. Thus, the client needs to develop and organize the relevant information before the attorney can even begin refining it.
My temporary hearing procedures are designed to ensure that the court can understand the basis of my client’s position on all contested issues and to give the court sufficient information for my client to achieve at least some of his or her goals. My trial preparation procedures are intended to ensure that witnesses know when they are expected to appear and what questions they can expect to be asked. My trial preparation procedures are intended to ensure that documentary evidence we want the court to consider is introduced into evidence and explained through competent and credible testimony. My trial preparation procedures are intended to ensure my client says what he or she believes needs to be said on contested issues, with documentary evidence corroborating this testimony when possible. My trial preparation procedures are intended to ensure the opposing party is questioned in a manner that undermines that party’s goals when those goals conflict with my client’s goals. Over thirty years, I have refined this procedure; I cannot be reinventing it for every trial.
When my clients won’t follow my procedures but attempt to invent their own, they essentially stall the preparation process. This is true for any attorney-client relationship. While the client gets to set goals, the attorney needs to set procedure. Clients who will not follow their attorney’s procedure are undermining their own case.
I will never understand why people pay legal fees and then don’t do what I say.