Family Law Reimagined

One of the law's most important and far-reaching roles is to govern family life and family members. Family law decides who counts as kin, how family relationships are created and dissolved, and what legal rights and responsibilities come with marriage, parenthood, sibling ties, and other family bonds. Yet despite its significance, the field remains remarkably understudied and poorly understood both within and outside the legal community.

Written by Jill Elaine Hasday, Family Law Reimagined is the first book to evaluate the canonical narratives, examples, and ideas that legal decisionmakers repeatedly invoke to explain family law and its governing principles. These stories contend that family law is exclusively local, that it repudiates market principles, that it has eradicated the imprint of common law doctrines which subordinated married women, that it is dominated by contract rules permitting individuals to structure their relationships as they choose, and that it consistently prioritizes children's interests over parents' rights. In this book, Jill Elaine Hasday reveals how family law's canon misdescribes the reality of family law, misdirects attention away from the actual problems that family law confronts, and misshapes the policies that legal authorities pursue. She demonstrates how much of the "common sense" that decisionmakers expound about family law actually makes little sense.

Family Law Reimagined uncovers and critiques the family law canon and outlines a path to reform. Challenging conventional answers and asking questions that judges and lawmakers routinely overlook, it calls on us to reimagine family law.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law #Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw

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New WordPress Book

If you have been to my hardinglaw.com website or my California Divorce Blawg you have seen what we do with the WordPress software.  I did not build these sites, my friend Rodney Warner at Connective Web Design did.  However, I do tinker around within the sites, and I have come to appreciate and love all that WordPress has to offer.  It is very powerful software.

If you aspire to be your on WordSmith master, the ABA's In One Hour for Lawyers library has a new offering for you.  Written by attorney Jennifer Ellis, WordPress in One Hour for Lawyers will explain how to get create your firm s website quickly and easily with WordPress software. In just one hour, you will learn to:

• Choose a web host


• Select and set up a domain name


• Install and customize WordPress software


• Create a look for your website


• Add content, functionality, and images to your website


• Improve your website with Search Engine Optimization techniques


• Understand the ethics issues of legal websites


• And much more!

Click here for more information.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

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The Redbook

Regular readers of this blog know that it is about more than technology (i.e. tech & practice).  I love to write, and I love the art of writing.  Writing is the craft of the lawyer. Despite the fact that it is the bulk of what we do, as a group we don't do it very well.  We get frozen by habit and custom even if that means producing a product that is less than it should be.  Conventions control because it has always been done that way.

Bryan Garner is one of my writing heroes.  A lawyer, he is known first and foremost as the editor of Black's Law Dictionary.  Garner has also taken on the courageous challenge of making lawyers better writers.  To that end he has written a shelf's worth of books, and I own many of them.  My favorite is The Redbook, A Manual On Legal Style (Third Edition, West, 2013).  This 614 page manual is a great tool for making your writing better and contemporary.

Some examples:

The modern trend is toward less capitalization. Sec. 2.1.  

Attest is used as the appropriate verb in the prepositional phrase attest to .  Sec. 12.4.  

A typical affidavit identifies the affiant, attests to the affiant's qualifications for making the statement, and records the affiant's statement of facts or opinion.  It should also include a clear statement of the affiant's purpose, such s to support a motion or to serve as evidence.  Sec. 20.1(c).

The Redbook is not a replacement for The Bluebook or other citation systems.  It is different.  It is about writing.  What is especially exciting about The Redbook is Garner's educating the reader to improvements in writing that are the product of computers and word processors.  For example, "Today, word processors can automatically use the correct curly marks known as smart quotes (" . . . "). There's no excuse for still using the ugly straight quotes, which are typographical blemishes that don't match any font."  Sec. 1.29.  There is even a section on writing better e-mail messages.  Sec. 16.

If you care to improve your writing, The Redbook could be a valuable tool to help you.  Check it out.  Price varies depending on the vendor.  It is available at Amazon, West, and other sites.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

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Family Law Trial Evidence Handbook

Chicago family law lawyer Steve Peskind has a new book out.  The Family Law Trial Evidence Handbook: Rules and Procedures for Effective Advocacy is published by the American Bar Association.  Unfortunately I don't rate high enough to get a courtesy copy to review but I can assure you of this, if it is written by Steve and published by the family law section of the ABA, it is a top notch book.

As Steve explains:

I wrote this book as a true trial handbook: a quick counsel table reference for matrimonial trial lawyers. The goal of the book is "how to get it in and how to keep it out." While the book relies mainly on the Federal Rules of Evidence, many states (including Illinois) follow them closely if not exactly. 

The topics I cover in the book include:
Chapter 1    Trial Process and Procedure
Chapter 2    The Fundamentals of Evidence
Chapter 3    Relevance
Chapter 4    Evidence of Character and Habit
Chapter 5    Other Miscellaneous Relevancy Issues
Chapter 6    Hearsay
Chapter 7    Hearsay Exceptions
Chapter 8    Judicial Notice and Presumptions
Chapter 9    Authentication of Writings and Other Tangible Evidence
Chapter 10  Original Writing Rule and Rule of Completeness
Chapter 11  Competency of Witnesses
Chapter 12  Evidentiary Privileges
Chapter 13  Expert Witnesses
Chapter 14  Examination of Witnesses
Chapter 15  Tendering Exhibits, Objections, and Offers of Proof
Chapter 16  Procedures for Streamlining Admission of Evidence
Helpful information includes the procedure to admit social media, such as Facebook pages, websites and other digital evidence.

Check it out by clicking here.

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iPad For Litigators

Family law lawyers are litigators.  Think about it...  After prosecutors and public defenders, who is in court more than family law lawyers? No one.  For today's post that means we get to talk about a book written for litigators.

The ABA  has released the latest in its popular One Hour series:  iPad In One Hour For Litigators. 

Written by iPad superstar Tom Mighell,  this book will walk technology novices through:

• A New Case – Managing Details and Deadlines
• Discovery – Documents and Depositions
• Preparing for Trial with the Right Accessories
• Legal Research on your iPad
• Picking a Jury, iPad Style
• Evidence Presentation
• Tips for Using the iPad in Court – advice from lawyers who are using the iPad in the courtroom every day

Check it out by clicking here.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law

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Visual Note Taking

True story.  Some years ago I was handling a multi-day family law trial.  We were fighting over which spouse would have day to day control of the family owned winery.  I was representing the wife.  The husband was represented by a friend of mine.  He was, and still is, an icon of our family law bar.  He had associated another lawyer who "specialized" in civil trial work (I never understood why because she was not nearly the trial lawyer that he was).  During the trial the husband's family law lawyer and I were sitting right next to each other at the crowded counsel table.  On the third day of trial that "trial specialist" was pouring through financial statements with the husband's accounting expert.  I was bored.  The judge was bored.  Apparently the husband's family law lawyer was also bored.   I looked over at his legal pad, and he was fast at work drawing a sketch of a military jet plane zooming in to bomb a tank.  It was the kind of stuff I remember drawing when I was in the fourth or fifth grade.  What was different was that scattered on the page he had written keywords and brief snippets and notes of the direct examination that was being conducted.

"Having fun?" I whispered in his ear.
"My trick for staying focused" he whispered back, looking at me with a grin.
He saw the quizzical look on my face.  "Sketching keeps me moving.  I am not really aware of what I am drawing.  But somehow it helps me to listen.  When I hear something important I write it down.  Then for some reason the artwork helps me to remember the notes."

This fascinated me.  I tried it.  He watched.  (Note: we both knew what the witness was going to say, so it was not as if I was missing anything, or sharing any secrets with him).  I didn't have my friends forty years of experience as a lawyer, so the "important stuff" wasn't as easily perceptible for me; but the sketching really did not compromise my ability to pay attention to what was going on.  Rather than drawing airplanes and tanks I drew bunches of grapes, and dollar signs, and a tractor like the one they had at the winery....

This was my earliest adoption of visual note taking, and it would become a skill that I would apply to everything I do as a lawyer.  It would also evolve into my adoption of mind maps as a thinking and practice tool.  Some may say I am making an excuse to try and be a comic book illustrator.  I am not.  Visual note taking is a serious tool!

Mike Rohde has written a book entitled The Sketchnote Handbook: the illustrated guide to visual note taking.  In fact, he even has a website and videos dedicated to visual note taking.  His book and website offer solid examples and methods of developing the technique for visual note taking.  If you want to expand the power of your brain, you should check this stuff out.  Click here to visit Mike's website.  This is good stuff!

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

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Facebook Book

Lots of colleagues ask me for my thoughts on facebook.  I tell them I engage on it, but that I am not overwhelmed with it. Mine is just one opinion, and the fact that facebook has about a billion members would suggest that it has some cache (eve3n if the stock price continues to wither and advertising revenues on the site dwindle).

Allison Shields publishes the Legal Ease Blog, which I enthusiastically read. She and Dennis Kennedy (another legal blogger whom I enthusiastically follow) have published Facebook In One Hour For Lawyers.  Part of the "One Hour" series from the American Bar Association, this book is sure to offer wonderful insights and tips.

On her blog Allison has this to say:

Law Firm Facebook Pages

Facebook use continues to rise, and many lawyers are using Facebook in their personal lives to connect with friends and family, but Facebook can be a valuable business building tool, and another way to communicate and engage with colleagues, law firm employees and even clients. One way to do this is by creating a Company Page for your law firm.

What can you do with a Facebook Page for your law firm?

Define Administrator Roles

 In the past, Facebook pages had only one level of administrator, but Facebook has recently created administrator roles, allowing firms to give different levels of permission to different people who have access to the firm's Page. This avoids the problem that arises if only one Page administrator has access to the Page, and that administrator leaves the firm. It also will aid firms who have employees who are interested in contributing to the firm's Facebook presence, but who the firm may not want to have access to all aspects of the 'back end' of the firm's Page.

View insights

It is often difficult to determine whether your social media and other efforts are reaching the audience you would like them to reach, or if your are engaging your audience. Facebook administrators (depending on the Role they have been assigned) have the ability to see 'insights' that show how many people your Page is reaching on a weekly basis, and how many people are "talking about this" or engaging with your content by liking, commenting or sharing it with others.
In addition to these 'big picture' stats, page administrators can see how many people have been reached with an individual post. For each post, you can find out:

Reach: The number of people who have seen your post (within the first 28 days after the post was published)

Engaged Users: The number of people who have actually clicked on your post (within the first 28 days after the post was published)

Talking about this: The number of people who have liked, commented, shared, responded to an event or answered a question you posed in an update (within the first 28 days after the post was published

Virality: The percentage of people who have engaged with the post in any of the ways mentioned in 'talking about this' above, out of the number of people who have seen the post.

Schedule posts
Another relatively new feature of Facebook pages is the ability to schedule posts in advance. This means firms can create a number of posts about newsworthy issues, firm happenings or events all at once, but schedule them to post in the future. Since batching or 'chunking' similar work together is one of the best ways to be productive, this can help firms to ensure that their message is getting seen by their connections and colleagues - or to their employees - without needing to constantly go back to update the Page. This allows the Page administrators to concentrate on engaging with others by spending only a few minutes a day on Facebook, with one weekly time set aside for creating updates.
 Offer Valuable Information to Your Audience
With Facebook's "apps" or "tabs," you can create calls to action. For example, if you offer free information or downloads from your website, such as a personal injury guide, FAQs on divorce in your state, a guide to the court system, etc., you can direct Facebook visitors to your website by creating a custom App. Upload an appropriate image and a link that directs visitors to a landing page you designate.

Use Your Timeline Effectively:

• Create Milestones, which are to Pages what Life Events are to personal Profiles. Milestones are designated with a flag icon and are the full width of the page (843 x 403 pixels), rather than the smaller size of regular posts (520 pixels wide). A Milestone must include a title, but it can also include other details. Mergers, office moves, and the addition of a new partner are events you might want to include as Milestones.
• Star stories to expand the post to widescreen and make it more prominent.
• Pin a post to the top of your Timeline for up to a week—after that, it returns to its chronological place in the Timeline.
• Backdate posts for special events in the life of your firm that occurred before you started your Page. 

Want more tips on what lawyers can do with Facebook - both as individuals and with law firm Pages? Take a look at Facebook in One Hour for Lawyers, my latest book with co-author Dennis Kennedy, now available for pre-order, with a 15% discount.
I'd love to hear how you and your firm are using Facebook, too! Leave a comment and let me know.

Read more: http://legalease.blogs.com/legal_ease_blog/2012/08/law-firm-facebook-pages.html#ixzz24J4M05kK

Please click here for Allison's original post.  To learn more about facebook buy her book, and visit her blog.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

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Advance Sheets Free Online

When I started as a lawyer our firm had a very nice law library.  Every couple of weeks a paperback book would arrive in the mail.  That book was a collection of all of the published appellate court opinions issued since the preceding book was mailed out.  We referred to these books as the "advance sheets."  Several times a year all of the cases in the advance sheets were re-printed in hard bound, leather volumes that then took their place of privilege in our library.  These hardbound copies were referred to as the "official reports" or "the case law."

I am now able to identify several problems with this timeless process. 1.  All those books require physical space for their storage.  Bookshelves and library floor space are expensive.  2.  A physical library requires maintenance.  Books have to be organized and indexed.  Advance sheets have to be rotated, and thrown out when they are replaced by hardbound volumes,  3.  Only one person can read each book at a time.  If two people need a case from the same book?  The second person waits.  4.  All those books were ridiculously expensive.  The publishers made a killing!  You needed the advance sheets so that you could stay current on the latest law.  You needed the hardbound volumes, because you needed the law.

Fortunately technology has evolved to the point that a physical law library is really a waste of space and money for most law firms.  Every California statute and every California appellate opinion is now available on line.  There are free options, and there are subscription options.  Regardless, the cost has come way down from the paper days, and the convenience has gone way up.

There is still a time lag though as appellate opinions are released, and until they get online with some commercial providers.  Also those advance sheets that showed up every several weeks were a convenient way to stay abreast of the latest case law.  They were the place you knew where to look for the latest law.  You just grabbed the d\advance sheet and read.  Where can we turn now?  Why the internet of course.

The Judicial Council of California/Administrative Office of the Courts' California Courts website is now the web based publisher of the advance sheets.  All published, and unpublished (i.e. not citeable as authority, but valuable nonetheless) opinions, hit the CC website first.  And guess what, they are right there for your review for FREE!

Want to do a daily review of new cases affecting your practice, go to the CC website and read away.  Click here to visit the site.

The site keeps the opinions online for 120 days.  Conveniently, the opinions released in the preceding 100 hours have their own screen.  There is no indexing by type of law, i.e., family law, probate, criminal, etc.  However, with a bit of practice it becomes fairly easy to find the family law cases.  Here are a couple of tips, look for the cases that have "Marriage of" in the title.  That's a pretty good indication that it is a dissolution action.  Also look for cases where the last names of the parties are the same (i.e., Smith v. Smith, or Hansen v. Hansen).  Also look for cases with surname names rather than corporate names.  The case of Wesson v. Peterson is more likely to be a family law case than is Xerox v. IBM, or Greenberg v. Form Motor Co.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

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LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers Now Available as iBook

I am shamefully cutting and pasting the text below from Dennis Kennedy's DennisKennedy.com blog.  I am assuming he won't mind since I am advertising his book for him:

Allison Shields and I are grateful for the overwhelmingly positive response we gotten to our book, LinkedIn in One Hour for Lawyers. A big thank you to everyone who has purchased the book.

I’m pleased to announce that the book is now available as an iBook in the iTunes store. The price of the iBook is $17.99, a nice discount from the price of the traditional paperback version.

Allison and I have also started a LinkedIn Group in connection with the book (and the upcoming Facebook in One Hour for Lawyers book that we anticipate being published in August) called “Social Networking for Lawyers. Please consider joining the group to continue the conversation about the use of LinkedIn by lawyers.

We have been (welcomely) surprised by the interest by law firms in using the book as part of their internal LinkedIn training efforts. If your firm might be interested in exploring that route, we can help you get in touch with ABA Publishing about volume discounts. And, if you are an ABA Law Practice Management Section member (and, if you read this blog, you should be), it looks like there’s still a great discount available on the paperback version for LPM members.
iBook link

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information about Harding & Associates Family Law 

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LinkedIn In One Hour For Lawyers

The American Bar Association sells a great series of "In One Hour" books. They are are ridiculously over-priced (as is everything about the ABA). But if you can get past the extortionist cost, the books really are good.

The latest in the series is LinkedIn In One Hour For Lawyers. Written by Dennis Kennedy and Allison Shields, I am sure it will be packed with practical, useful information. Please click here to check it out.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information of Harding & Associates Family Law

#Harding&AssociatesFamilyLaw #californiafamilylaw #divorce #family law #superlawyers #americanacademyofmatrimoniallawyers #Pleasantondivorce #AlamedaCountyDivorce #ContraCostaCountyDivorce #lawyers

California Family Law Book Review

Most of the library in our firm is now in electronic format. We only have a couple of actual paper products left. One that is still on the wood shelf is California Family Law Basics, published by the Harriett Buhai Center For Family Law. This is a great, huge, practice based publication. It includes:

• Comprehensive step by step, line by line comment and instructions for family law forms and procedures
• Based on experience with thousands of actual cases over 29 years of family law practice
• Over 1,000 pages, 25 chapters, loose leaf binding, updated annually
• Extensive sample forms, declarations and pleadings
• Includes forms, step by step instructions and filled out samples for:
• Petitions, Response, OSCs judgments, Judicial Council attachments, Motions, Default Requests, UCCJEA, Wage Assignments, Restraining Orders, Pension Joinder, Income and Expense Declarations and much more

Proceeds from the sale of this book benefit The Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law. Please click here for more information or to order the book.

The Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law was founded in 1982 and is a co-sponsored project of Black Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (BWL), the Los Angeles County Bar Association, and Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles (WLALA). In 1981 due to federal funding cutbacks, the largest legal aid program in LA closed its family law program. Envisioning the impact this action would have on poor women and children, WLALA, under the leadership of Patsy Ostroy, approached BWL, under the leadership of Mablean Ephriam, and invited them to form a joint project offering assistance for low-income persons in Los Angeles County. The “Family Law Project” was born and opened its doors in late 1982 at a location on Central Avenue in South Los Angeles. A fundamental tenet of the Project was self-help; teaching low-income persons to prepare their family law cases and represent themselves in court, with much of the help provided by volunteers. Now common place, at the time it was a revolutionary concept in family law. In 1984 The Family Law Project was re-named the “Harriett Buhai Center for Family Law”. During that time the LA County Bar determined to join the two other pioneering bar associations as a sponsor, resulting from the efforts of Susan Stockel, an early Buhai Board member. In 1985 WLALA and BWL achieved national recognition as recipients of an award from the National Conference of Womens’ Bar Associations for their work establishing the Center, in an historic ceremony at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Now an icon in family law, the Center is truly the product of untold numbers of persons; its founders, boards, staffs, volunteers, donors and others, working together to successfully create a living and still growing institution dedicated to helping those without means and power. To watch a video of the Center’s history through the words of its earliest supporters, please click here.

Please visit hardinglaw.com for more information of Harding & Associates Family Law

Need Some Free Case Law?

Thanks to the internet the expensive paper law library is giving way to the more affordable, and in certain instances free, internet library. Case in point: case law. At lawtechnews.com Robert Ambrogi provides a review of ten websites providing free case law. Click here to take a look! You may just save yourself some money, or frustration.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

Chicken Soup for Divorce

The folks behind the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul book franchise are offering their tips for families of divorce. The publishers contacted me recently to explain their new book. Here is what they had to say:

Attitudes about divorce have changed as it has become more common in our culture: 40 to 50 percent of first marriages today will end in divorce, and about 10 percent of adults are currently divorced and single, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. From divorce parties, to post-breakup getaway packages, to custom-made divorce cakes, filling the needs of divorcees celebrating their split has become a booming cottage industry. But while many modern singles may feel relieved following the dissolution of their marriage, divorce remains a painful, shocking experience for millions of Americans, who still believe in the words "'til death do us part."

Recently divorced from her husband of 27 years, Chicken Soup for the Soul® co-founder Mark Victor Hansen, Patty Hansen knows all too well the life-changing effects of divorce. As editor of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Divorce and Recovery (Chicken Soup for the Soul, October 2008, 978-1-935096-21-4, $14.95), Hansen shares her personal story, along with tales of others who have divorced and emerged stronger, healthier and even happier.

"[My ex-husband] and I still love each other, but it has morphed into something other than a husband/wife kind of love," Patty writes in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Divorce and Recovery. "We share a history and our children, so we will always be connected in a way. I admire his energy and his dedication to making the world a better place. I know [he] cares for me -- after all, I am the mother of his children and someone that he can depend on if he needs me. We just don't belong together anymore."

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Divorce and Recovery shares stories of real men and women who each experienced their own, unique version of divorce. Like the Hansens, some found a way to remain friends with former spouses, while others were able to finally find their true selves in single life.
"Through my divorce, I learned to become the person I was meant to be," writes contributor Catherine Graham. "I went on a journey, deep into my soul and met the me who I had left behind so many years ago. I realized I am beautiful, capable of love and of giving love in effortless amounts."

In Divorce and Recovery, you'll read about:

• How author Marcy Darin and her ex-husband decided to switch residences twice a month, rather than shuttling their children back and forth
• Author Laurie Perry's "Cheat Sheet of Grief" for helping a loved one in a dark, post-divorce period
• How author Steve Hern and his wife remained committed to each other's happiness, even after their marriage had ended
• How author Melinda L. Wentzel learned to trust again after divorce, and find love again

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Divorce and Recovery (Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, and Patty Hansen) released October 7, 2008. Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing, LLC, publishes all the latest titles in the famous Chicken Soup for the Soul book series which are distributed through Simon and Schuster, Inc. Since 1993, books in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series have sold over 112 million copies, with titles translated into over 40 languages. Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishing also licenses the right to use its famous trademark to high quality licensees through IMG, the world's premier licensing agent. The company is currently implementing a plan to expand into all media, is working with TV networks on several TV shows and is developing a major Internet presence dedicated to life improvement, emotional support and inspiration. In 2007, USA Today named Chicken Soup for the Soul one of the five most memorable and impactful books in the last quarter century. For more information visit: www.chickensoup.com.


Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.

A Great Family Law Firm Book!

While the ABA is hot on my mind, I wanted to mention one of the best books that I have ever read concerning the creation and operation of a family law firm. How to Build and Manage a Family Law Practice is written by Mississippi family law lawyer Mark Chinn, and published by the ABA (Family Law Section). I have read this book cover to cover more than once. It is a jewel! You can get more information by following this link to the ABA store. I endorse it whole heartedly.

Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.