Bar Talk

• Author: Richard Acello
• Pages: 33-34

Business of Law

34 || ABA JOURNAL JULY-AUGUST 2019

etc.—then there may be no reason to c ontact a divorce attor-

ney, says Lisa Marie Bustos, of Bu stos Family Law in Austin,

Texas. In fact, Bustos s ays, sometimes a potential client’s

case is relatively si mple, and the cost of going to a divorce

attorney out weighs the benefits.

“Most of the time, clients who ag ree on every aspect

of a case won’t even call a di vorce attorney,” Bustos says.

“Instead, they ’ll use free public forms to complete t he

pro cess .”

IT CAN GET COMPLICATED

The key: These servic es should only be used for an uncon-

tested divorce , says Richard Hathaway of the Hathaway Law

Group in Omaha, Nebra ska. A traditional divorce at torney is

able to identify the ideal met hod for each couple, which can

range from negotiation, med iation, collaboration or litiga-

tion—and an app is not equipped to do this , Hathaway says.

Those fearing high lega l fees who already understand how

they want to div ide everything may be able to go this r oute

to save money, however.

But, Hathaway says, it’s not always as si mple or as inex-

pensive as it origina lly appears.

“Many apps are self-di rected, or you incur additional fee s

if you need guidance f rom a paralegal or contract att orney

within the app’s network,” Hathaway says. “ This sometimes

leads to wast ed fees, because after pay ing for and becoming

frustrate d with the application, the person then decides to

hire a local divorc e attorney.”

Unless your divorce is uncontes ted and you have already

divided your propert y, determined what parenting plan

works best for you and your child ren and resolved any other

issue you may have, you may be disappointed w ith a one-

size-fits-al l model, he says.

Another issue with t he automated divorce service s is that

some couples may believe that their divorc e will be simple—

but they don’t anticipate every thing that should be addressed

and negotiated, such a s distribution of retirement asset s,

debt, appropriate amounts of suppor t and more.

“Certain ly, free divorce software may sound tempt ing to

some, but there is far more entailed t han filling out paper-

work,” says Galit Moskowitz, fa mily law attorney with

Moskowitz Law Group in New Jersey. “At the end of the day,

many people learn the ha rd way that it is more cost-eec-

tive and beneficial to re tain a skilled attorney t o guide them

through uncharted territories.”

The attorney would ask key que stions such as: Do you

have terms to refina nce the home so that it’s in the sole own-

er’s name? Are property t axes paid up? If not, who is going to

pay them? Do the titles properly trans fer the house?

“You would be surprised at how many sel f-made divorce

decrees I’ve seen that awa rd a home to a spouse, but deeds

were never executed and tra nsferred to the home,” Bustos

says. ■

Bar Talk

#AppellateTwitter gives appellate

lawyers a chance to chat, help one

another and even develop business

By Richard Acello

#AppellateTwitter may not be quite as

convivial a s the bar “where everybody knows

your name,” but members of the appellate

bar like to gather at the on line Twitter com-

munity just the same.

There’s almost nothing that ca n’t be discussed on

#AppellateTwitter, it’s open 24/7, and lawyers can v isit in

their bathrobe or gy m shorts. For members of a legal disci-

pline who often keep long hours away from t heir colleagues,

it’s a break in the day and an oppor tunity to communicate

with others in their sho es.

The group traces its h istory to a 2016 tweet from Ra

Melkonian, an appellate p artner at Wright Close & Barger

in Houston. “#AppellateTwitter is having a DC powwow. We

provincials will watch

from afar,” he wrote on

June 8, 2016.

“Appellate is kind of a

solo enterprise,” he says.

“I joined Twitter specif-

ically looking for appel-

late people. I wanted to

find other prac titioners

I could talk to, and it

worked out.”

The hashtag caught

on and has become a

community for appel-

late lawyers looki ng

for help, informa tion

or friendship. In recent months, law yers have taken to

#AppellateTwitter to seek help with the rule s for amicus

briefs in Minnesot a state court, post orders of the Texas

Supreme Court, dis cuss getting chastised by a judge , post

employment opportunities a nd catch up with colleagues

who have been too busy to pos t. “I never anticipated there

would be a lot of people who would like to meet up and

didn’t anticipate that judges would pa rticipate, and that’s

also been a great t hing,” Melkonian says.

“I get excited when I see a new post ,” says Chad Ruback, a

Dallas-ba sed appellate lawyer who has been solo for the la st

14 years. “#AppellateTwitter is a 21st-century version of law-

yers mentoring each other. It used to be t he lawyer across

Social Media

“#AppellateTwitter

is a 21st-century

version of lawyers

mentoring each

other.”

—Chad Ruback

Continued from page 32