Family law litigation is a very stressful time in a person's life.  Any litigation is stressful but family law, which deals with things such as divorce, custody, alimony, and similar issues are much more personal than many areas of law.  When one hires an attorney, it is important to remember that the product an attorney sells is their time.  Most companies sell something that you can touch.  That is not true for most law firms.  Whenever a person at a law firm works on your case, you should usually expect to be billed.  To try and keep your bill manageable, try to be as organized as possible with every contact that you have with your firm.  It is probably a good practice to try and lump a bunch of questions together before you actually make a phone call.  Sometimes, clients are shocked to see that law firms charge for e-mail time and telephone calls.  Remember, all of this takes time and time is the product.  At Kenny Leigh & Associates, we try to be as cost effective as possible.  From time to time, we will send you informational memos letting you know the status of your case.  We do not bill for these informational memos.  We will also keep you informed of what is going on through letters.  When a hearing is scheduled, you will be instructed when and where the hearing is as well as a time for you to prepare with the appropriate person.  

We have a team approach, meaning everyone knows what is going on with your file.  Different people may handle your case at any given time for any given reason.  This approach ensures that we are able to move your case along as quickly and cost effectively as possible.  Our goal is give you a good result for a reasonable fee.  Sometimes litigation is not pleasant and takes a very ugly turn.  Opposing parties have been known to say all kind of things.  The opposing party could make a negative comment about our firm or tell you that their attorney makes negative comments about our firm.  This is typical to try and make you lose faith in us and make you second guess your decision.  The opposing party may say that "you will never see your children again", "you will loose all of your money", they "will take everything and you will have nothing", etc.  It is all meaningless.  Unfortunately it is family law.  Please do not respond to any negative comments.  Our firm will do all of your responding in court.  Please keep calm during this process.  Provide us with everything we ask for and your case will proceed smoothly and quickly; hopefully to what we both believe is a fair result.  At some point, you may believe your case is moving too slowly.  There may be circumstances that have risen but have made your case move slower than we expected and advised you.  If this occurs, please call our firm immediately.  There usually is a reason that a case has slowed down that you are not aware of.  We return all phone calls within 24 hours.

For most family law issues, a mediation must be scheduled and all parties must attend. Unfortunately, it is irrelevant whether we believe the opposing party will settle this case or not.  We still must go to mediation in a good faith effort to settle.  This would usually be by court order.  The procedure at mediation begins with the mediator and all parties in the same conference room.  After the mediator goes through a few ground rules, the parties will separate into their own rooms with their respective attorneys.  The mediator then will go back and forth until we reach a deal.  If at any point we do not believe that there will be a deal, we will leave. There is nothing binding in mediation until a document is signed.  If we do come to an agreement, the mediator will usually draw something up right there and everyone will sign and the case essentially will be over.  If we do not come to an agreement, your case will proceed to trial.

Kenny Leigh & Associates is a law firm that exclusively represents men and family law.  We have offices throughout the entire state of Florida.  Please visit our website at menonlyfamilylawonly.com for more information.