Technically, there are no general practitioners in the legal field. Every year, tens of thousands of new federal laws are passed and countless more at the state, county and municipal levels. Attempts to count the laws on the books have consistently failed for decades, let alone analyze each law’s specific verbiage. The precise language of a law will itself spawn a body of case law, which in turn must be analyzed and interpreted. Attorneys are human beings and have all of the attendant cognitive limitations; as their depth of knowledge increases, their breadth of knowledge will usually decrease.
Since maintaining a current mastery of all areas of the law is a practical impossibility, most attorneys will only practice in a few select areas. Some narrow their focus further, choosing to specialize in one area of law. Some attorneys select related fields of law, as concepts often overlap.
This may create confusion for clients, who often see individual attorneys who practice in one particular area; those who practice in multiple areas; and firms that service clients with a variety of legal needs. Oftentimes, the lawyer and the firm’s areas of practice will have an effect on the quality of representation.
The Benefits Of Retaining A Specialist Attorney
Hiring a lawyer who specializes in family law is usually the best option when the issues at hand involve child custody and asset distribution. A dedicated divorce attorney will have a greater depth of knowledge regarding the statutes, administrative regulations, and case law in the applicable jurisdiction than an attorney with multiple areas of practice. A specialist would also be more familiar with how judges are likely to view different situations. As such, he or she may be able to more accurately predict an outcome.
This is particularly important in jurisdictions that involve an equitable distribution of assets. Such jurisdictions do not require judges to limit the distribution to marital assets; judges may award assets obtained prior to a marriage to the other spouse in order to effect an equitable distribution.
In almost all jurisdictions, the law requires judges to act in the child’s best interests when making child custody decisions. Different judges will have different ideas of how to accomplish that task. Understanding how judges are likely to view each party is just as important, if not more so, than understanding the law.
The Benefits of Retaining An Attorney With Multiple Areas Of Practice
A lawyer with multiple areas of practice will be more flexible than one who confines his or her practice to handling divorces. This flexibility can pay dividends as the complexity of the divorce increases.
For example, a family law attorney who also handles tort matters will be better situated to advise clients who own businesses on their potential liability to investors than a dedicated divorce lawyer. Likewise, a family law lawyer who practices in the area of contract law will be able to identify subtle drafting errors in prenuptial agreements more effectively than a specialist.
Experience in other areas of law can improve the legal representative’s ability to represent his or her client. An experienced litigator will be able to draw from his or her experiences to thoroughly explore the issues and exhaust all avenues of attack in the pleadings, at settlement conferences with the other spouse, and in court. Such skills can be valuable even if the legal representative rarely practices in the area of family law.
The issues of the case will determine which areas of law will be relevant and which skills will be extraneous. Needless to say, parties to a divorce should not have to pay for legal skills that they are not using or experience in irrelevant fields of law.
Law Firms And Areas Of Practice
One way to gain access to a depth and breadth of knowledge in multiple areas of the law is to seek the services of a firm with multiple areas of practice. Most firms have lawyers that specialize in various areas of law; some of the larger firms will even have entire divisions dedicated to practicing a field of law in one particular area. By employing the services of multiple lawyers from the same firm, clients get the individual knowledge of each legal representative, prompt referrals to other qualified lawyers, and the ability for multiple lawyers to collaborate easily on different matters.
The downside is that retaining multiple lawyers to handle dissimilar, but related issues is very expensive. In most cases, the cost rises sharply as the size of the firm increases. The difference in cost to hire multiple legal representatives to handle multiple issues which are somewhat related will not be worthwhile for most people. Having said that, parties with complex business relationships and a high net worth may benefit from investing in a legal team to ensure that all of the bases are covered.
Most parties will benefit more from hiring a single family law representative who specializes in divorce. If a dispute revolves around a single point of contention, such as the terms of a prenuptial agreement, having a single attorney who practices in a related field of law in addition to family law will be a valuable asset.