Another Legal Storytears, drama, success and legalese

I wasn’t one of those people who knew what they were going to become when they grew up. I frequently tell clients that I tried other jobs before going to law school. However, I think that working in those jobs helps me understand my clients better today.
Even while in law school I had dreams of the career path I would take which are not where my practice has lead. I’m a trial lawyer – in local courts day after day trying to help people out of sometimes difficult situations. I am also an ad litem attorney (legalese) – appointed by the courts to represent children, wards, incompetent adults, or others who are not able to competently speak for themselves. I started before the Arkansas Supreme Court came up with Administrative Order 15.1, Section 5 which helps define my role in the court proceeding and guides ad litem attorneys in their duties to clients.
Representing children, in turn, helps me deal with my adult clients who are frequently more tearful and dramatic in their divorce case, custody case, adoption case, or guardianship case than the children. One case in particular will never be forgotten. Mom had custody of her four children and had been divorced from dad prior to hiring me. One of the difficulties mom encountered (other than dad consistently not paying child support) was that each of the four children, at some point, insisted that their life would be so much better living with dad. As I recall, one of the children had even built a shrine in their room based on the belief that dad was the persecuted saint of the family.
Drama ensued. Tears, arguments, and threats to run away weren’t unusual. Mom was right that living with dad would be a disaster. How does one convey that fact to a teenager? Taking a big risk, I advised mom to let each of the children, in turn, to go live with dad on an extended trial basis. After all, family law is about much more than what’s legal, it’s about real life.
As one can imagine, it was the most difficult decision this mom could make. Reluctantly, she followed through. The longest a child stayed with dad was close to a year. In the end dad ruined the relationship between himself and at least one of his four children doing exactly the kind of things the client had expected he would do. All of the children returned to mom with a better understanding of why she sought to protect them.
Today, all of the children are adults with good lives. Mom has retired and is living out an adventure of her own. Sadly, dad passed away some years ago. I hope the children could still shed tears over his loss.