New Lawyers and their Transition into the Marketplace
by Thomas F. Liotti
[continued from prior page]
Q - Earlier you had mentioned the phrase domestic violence. Is that something that matrimonial lawyers have to deal with, Orders of Protection, domestic violence, applications for pendente lite relief?
A - Unhappily, I would guess it is at least half of the cases that we have.
Q - Could you tell us, because I use this Latin phrase only for the purpose of the record here, what an application for pendente lite relief is?
A - This is an application made usually at the outset of the case to get emergency relief which is needed for a party or children during the course of the litigation where the relief cannot wait until the end of the trial, the end of the litigation, which might take a year or two years, and relief is needed immediately.
A simple example would be papa has left the home leaving the wife and kids without any funding, and the wife has no means of taking care of the household or the children, and you have to go into court and get a temporary Order of Support.
You have other problems with domestic violence where the client has to go to Family Court, usually it is Family Court, to obtain an Order of Protection. The orders of Protection will frequently slow down the activity or deter it for a time. There are violations of the Orders of Protection. Sometimes it is just a matter of having a party no longer harass or annoy the other spouse. Sometimes it is more serious where the party is actually put out of the house completely, have no contact.
I have one now where there is zero contact, not even communication. No communication in any form, written or verbal or anything else, in terms of contact between the parties.
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Page 5 of 9
Q - Is it possible, Mr. DaSilva, dealing with a domestic violence situation, where let's say an Order of Protection is in issue, that a matrimonial lawyer could have three proceedings involving the same case in three different courts such as Supreme Court the District Court, our Criminal Court, so to speak, and the Family Court?
A - Very easily. Understand, present law, which was changed several years ago, it is possible now to seek an Order of Protection in the District Court for a criminal proceeding, go to the Family Court on the same issues and apply for an Order of Protection in the Family Court based upon the same issues, do them simultaneously, while the divorce action is pending in the Supreme Court, so you can have three courts handling issues between the parties, some of them the same, at the same time.
Q - Concerning some of these rulings or decisions that are made by the trial courts in the matrimonial field, is it also possible to have interlocutory appeals?
A - Yes. Most of the interlocutory interim orders, it is necessary to make an evaluation, is the appeal worthwhile, is it cost effective. If the cost of the appeal is $10,000 and what you can save in a temporary support order is $8,000, it does not make any sense to pursue the appeal.
It is a business judgment that has to be exercised in all of these cases, which some lawyers, particularly inexperienced ones, don't use.
It takes an experienced lawyer to know that what we are talking about is money and most of these cases are business deals, business deals wrapped up in extremely highly charged emotions.
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