Blog Post

Opposing Counsel

Posted by: Felissa M. Garcia
May 21, 2009
Topic: A Day in the Life of a Divorce and Family Law Attorney

It sure has been a while since I last wrote. I can tell you that operating, managing and owning The Family Law Firm by myself makes it hard for me to have any time to sit and blog sometimes. However, I do have some time because the Staff we have is tremendous and they do their jobs so efficiently.

I have been working on a very interesting case. Our client is very wealthy and he has been fronting all of the attorney's fees for this case, including the attorney's fees for his Wife. So the opposing counsel knows this guy is rich, right? So they are burning through those fees like nobody's business. Today I had to write her (opposing counsel) a letter asking her to back off on burning the attorney's fees and that our client's funds aren't limitless. But they have a big firm to operate and pay for so I guess that's why they have gone through, and continue to go through, a ridiculous amount of fees. Hopefully this case will settle soon and our guy won't have to front many more fees for this case.

I just finished a Docketing Statement filed in the New Mexico Court of Appeals. I discovered through the latest appeals documents and cases I've been involved in that I really enjoy doing appellate work. Especially in New Mexico Family Law cases. The are of Family Law in NM in rapidly expanding and becoming more and more fascinating and intricate and I'm so glad to be in the midst of learning all about it and practicing law with it. Although many lawyers complain about their jobs, I was once told that it should never be taken for granted. We are privileged to be able to walk through those front doors of the Court house as officers of the Court and practitioners of law. No easy task, to be sure, and something worth praise if done honestly and for true justice. The problem arises when attorneys take their jobs for granted, they become complacent and even lazy in their work. If that ever happens to me, please put me out to pasture, ok? I'll find another line of work if that ever happens to me. For now I love what I do, practicing NM Divorce, Custody and Family Law and I am really enjoying it more than I can say.

We hired a new paralegal. Her name is Ronda Phillips and she has turned out to be a very great hire. I don't make the decisions on the hiring of paralegals anymore, that job is taken over by Barbara Bond and Jacob Olsen. I am, however, involved in the hiring and firing if necessary, of the lawyers in our Firm. Ronda has followed all of the instructions given to her, including my biggest rule of all which is NO GOSSIPING in the office about anybody. That is my worst pet peeve. It's cool because everybody gets along so well, probably because of that cardinal rule.

I am going to be very very busy during the month of June and July. Although I am honored to be hired for these very complicated Divorce and Appeals cases, I want to do the very very best job possible so it takes a lot of time to do that so I will do my best to blog as much as I can. Hopefully I won't have too many opposing counsels racking up outrageous fees and I won't have anything like that to report to you!

I've enjoyed writing tonight. It was fun. I hope you are reading, I hope you stay tuned even when I don't write for a while. I appreciate that you do read. Felissa M. Garcia