Most Satisfying Moment as a Family Lawyer

Tell us about your most satisfying moment as a family lawyer. Worst lie you caught in a divorce court proceeding? A “Perry Mason moment” from court you will share? Divorce war story?

Below, we have a list of the attorneys, their respective cities, and their contact information.

Q: What Has Been Your Most Satisfying Moment as a Family Lawyer?

Barry Gold:

My most satisfying moment as a family lawyer is when I’m concluding an adoption.

Family lawyers, we joke with people, although it’s kind of joking through the tears. People don’t stop at the divorce lawyer’s office and say, “Gee, my marriage is going great. I thought you’d just want to know,” any more than they typically go to the doctor’s office and say, “I feel wonderful. I just thought I’d share that with you.” They’re here because something that they never wanted to happen has happened. They’re filing, or they need to file, or they’re being filed against. And so, we see so much pain and sadness.

But when you help to bring a family together or expand a family, like adoption will, that’s a really gratifying moment. So, the adoption really is the most gratifying, but let me give you a close second. And this also will sound unusual. Close second is when we have a divorce case that has begun, and the parties reconcile, and the case is dismissed and they’re able to go forward with their marriage. That’s pretty satisfying.

Randall Kessler:

My most satisfying moment as a family lawyer is when you see someone years later. It’s not in court. It’s not that “Yahoo, high five, we did it, we got all the money we wanted.” It’s when you see a client a few years later, like I have many times. You see them at the mall, at a ball game, and they look at you and you know you were there when they were at their lowest and now, they’re doing okay. It’s satisfying when you see them and forget that they were clients. I just think of them as friends that we shared a moment or we shared a year, or we shared a couple of years that were really hard for them, but we got through it, and they respect me, and I respect them. Those are the good ones.

The other moments are when I see judges who tell me, “I know that was a hard case and you did a great job for your client,” no matter how the result came out. Earning a judge’s respect is probably the highest honor, highest praise we can get.

Scott Friedman:

My most satisfying moment as a family lawyer is when I am successful in helping people achieve their goals that are primarily related around their children.

If a client of mine has a desire for something to occur, legally, with respect to a child or children, the best moment is when we make it happen and it’s successful.

Steven Peskind:

Probably my most satisfying moment was the first time I argued a case in the Supreme Court and was successful and changed the law on the issue of child relocation. I remember I had won the case in the trial court. I lost the case in the appellate court. Then I took it to the Supreme Court, and they accepted it. I won in the Supreme Court. The oral argument went well. And before I got my ruling in the Supreme Court, I remember that morning having an intuitive sense that was going to be coming. I was out to lunch with my wife when we got the ruling, and it was a successful ruling. Needless to say, I was pumped up because of that.

I remember distinctly, the next morning I was cleaning out my bird’s cage. I had a parrot, and I was cleaning out his cage thinking, you can never get too big of a head when you’re cleaning out bird shit. So, I remember that.

Joe Booth:

Finding satisfying moments as a family law attorney is not that difficult. We’re known for having been mired into conflict sorts of issues, but there are so many things that we do, and once in a while, it’s the small things.

A good example was a case in which I became aware that a client of mine’s stepson was in transition. A gender identity issue. He had a name that was quite odd and quite feminine, and the child didn’t want to do things like get a driver’s license and was delaying graduating from high school. Those sorts of things, because all of those benchmarks would’ve been under the effeminate name that he didn’t like. And name changes are really not that hard, especially if both parents agree for a minor. You just simply, more or less, put together a piece of paper for the judge to approve. And we did that.

So, with probably 30 minutes of being thoughtful and caring and 15 minutes of work, I was able to change this kid’s life. And this child actually blossomed, was excited about graduating, got his driver’s license, got a job, everything turned on.

We don’t think how important it is for objective names and how they can change our lives. But that’s just one example of many, many things you can do.

Miles Mason:

My most satisfying moment as a family lawyer came following a deposition of a business valuation expert. That expert had made a number of mistakes in his valuation report, and more importantly, the process. During his deposition, he complained about me and all the things that I failed to do for him in the business valuation setting, which is not that unusual.

So, I pull out of my file two letters that I wrote him following our meetings regarding the business evaluation. And I said, “Dear expert, if there’s any other information you need, or if we’ve not answered your questions fully, or if there’s additional documentation you need, please let me know.” I had two of those letters in there. So, at the end of the deposition, I showed him each of the letters and asked him, “Did you try to contact me about needing any additional information or documents?” And at that point he just put his head down and said, “No.” And I ended the deposition on that tone.

Now, this was a very large business with hundreds of employees, clearly marital property, so the valuation was by far the most meaningful asset in the marital estate. At that point I knew we were going to win the negotiations over the value of that business.

But to have somebody attack me personally, make accusations about my character, and my lack of thoroughness, when obviously we’d given this person every piece of paper that they’d asked for and answered every question during that process. So, it was very satisfying to have that victory for both my practice, my firm, the people working on that case, as well as for our client.

Thank you for contributing your experience and expertise to our “Top Family Lawyers Answer Divorce Questions” video series.  You are the best!

Randy Kessler
Atlanta, Georgia
Kessler & Solomiany, LLC
ABA Family Law Section, Past Chair

Melissa Avery
Indianapolis, Indiana
Broyles Kight & Ricafort, P.C., Of Counsel
ABA Family Law Section, Past Chair

Joseph W. Booth
Lenexa, Kansas
Law Offices of Joseph W. Booth
ABA Family Law Section, Co-Chair of Publications Board

Scott N. Friedman
Columbus, Ohio
Friedman & Mirman Co., L.P.A.
ABA Family Law Section, Past Chair

Stephen N. Peskind
St. Charles, Illinois
Peskind Law Firm, PC
ABA Family Law Section, Author

Barry L. Gold
Chattanooga, Tennessee
McWilliams, Gold & Larramore
TBA Family Law Section, Past Chair

Miles Mason, Sr.
Memphis, Tennessee
Miles Mason Family Law Group, PLC
ABA Family Law Section, Author