In August 2017, I lectured at the Charleston School of Law on “Preparing for a Family Court Trial.” The lecture outline has never been published. Some might consider it a handy trial preparation cheat sheet. Those who do are welcome to download it.
Archive for the ‘Not South Carolina Specific’ Category
Defending the client’s deposition
An attorney tasked with defending a client’s deposition is doing most of the work prior to the deposition. While I have a frequently asked question on how a deponent should act at his or her deposition, the basic gist is: understand the question before you answer it; don’t lie; answer the question asked (but don’t […]
The Silver Anniversary of my law practice
Today, November 18, 2018, marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of opening my own law practice. It was a somewhat compelled decision that ended up being among the most consequential–and best–of my life. A quarter century of doing anything encourages reflection. This blog is my attempt to share insights into the path from hopeful-but-terrified greenhorn to contented […]
Better behaving clients
Earlier this week I received what may be one of the bigger complements of my career. A fellow member of the local family court bar was discussing two recent cases we’d had against each other. In both of these cases my clients had been represented by other attorneys prior to retaining me and in one […]
Even in South Carolina, corporal punishment is becoming highly problematic
When I first started practicing family law in South Carolina a quarter century ago, “Spare the Rod; Spoil the Child” was a biblically sanctioned cultural meme. Not only would family court judges approve of corporal punishment as a method of disciplining children, many believed that failing to use corporal punishment for a thoroughly misbehaving child […]
The pessimistic defendant’s attorney
I suspect I lose a lot of business by projecting a pessimistic outlook when first meeting with Defendants in family law cases. While many litigants prefer the primacy of being the Plaintiff, and thereby going first, I’ve never seen a clear advantage in trial to representing the Plaintiff or the Defendant. However experience teaches that […]
Should I stay or should I go?
With Hurricane Florence slowly approaching Charleston and with South Carolina’s northeastern coast under a mandatory evaluation order, I’ve spent the past few days with my office closed fielding a number of questions from current clients regarding evacuation and visitation in the midst of unpredictable weather conditions. Most of these questions address visitation issues and my […]
Can non-custodial parents delegate their parenting time to third-parties?
An issue that commonly arises in interpreting custody orders is whether the non-custodial parent is allowed to delegate his or her (in this culture, mostly his) visitation to third-parties during his custodial periods when the custody order is otherwise silent on the issue. South Carolina case law remains silent on this dispute. However, while acknowledging […]