Andrew Woolley on Practice Management

Do we "process" our clients?

When a client comes into the office and says "My husband has left me and I've had enough" I think most family lawyers are trained to think:

1. 1. Divorce unless...
2. 2. Reconciliation.

We can't help with item 2. So unless they say they intend to reconcile we talk about and start to explain the divorce process.

I wonder if clients at that stage really care less about the divorce process? I wonder if we've been so well trained to identify legal issues that this is all we do?

I suspect that what clients want is to feel supported comforted and given reason (if true) to feel less scared about the future. Maybe they want counselling about how to cope or how to make efforts to save the marriage. Maybe they are not ready to proceed yet.

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