Rick Santorum and his tea-partying cohorts have their knickers all in a knot about the government telling people what to do with their money. As in the government making them pay for health insurance. Or making them pay more income tax. Or using their tax dollars to educate other people's...

It's a club, and we all know it. We're joined together through a common work life that can be difficult, emotionally intense, sometimes exhilarating, and sometimes thankless. I'm talking about my colleagues -- my fellow members of the family law bar. I've been practicing in the same community for a...

Sometimes I get a chance to walk in my client's shoes, just for a moment. It can be very sobering. Like today, when my client's ex-husband started screaming at me when I was attempting to get into the courthouse and then continued to verbally attack and mock me in the...

Shoppers hurry by, red cheeked and purposeful. Salvation Army Santas jingle their bells in front of Macy's. Cookies arrive in offices from clients and vendors and are promptly eaten, accompanied by the obligatory groans about too many sweets. And for us family lawyers, the holiday season invariably brings a unique...

I am obsessed with the topic of women's economic self-sufficiency. When I was in my early twenties, I thought it was important, as an abstract principle, for women to be able to support themselves. But I didn't know the half of it. Being a divorce lawyer for more than two...

You should've seen us. Beaming as she walked down the aisle, radiant on her father's arm. Pulling Kleenex from our purses as she ascended the altar to meet the groom. Dancing at the reception, a wild circle of us, frenzied with laughter, champagne and excitement.

Typical scene at a...

When people get divorced, they have to divide up property they accumulated during their life together. Houses, cars, bank accounts, investments and retirement benefits are all on the table to be shuffled, distributed, or sometimes divided. To be sure, I often spend a lot of time negotiating exactly how this...