Commentary: Child representation in a perfect world.

• Date: 06 August 2007
• Author: Herman, Gregg

Byline: Gregg Herman

This is the last in a series of articles examining the role of representing children in family court actions. In the first article, I discussed the dispute between the ABA Family Law Section and the ABA Litigation Section regarding a lawyer serving in a non-traditional role by representing a "concept" of best interests, rather than representing a client. In the second article, I discussed the role of the GAL in Wisconsin and some of the issues associated with the evolution of that role. In the third article, I discussed some roles for a GAL, other than the role in Wisconsin. In this, the final article in the series, I will discuss what the role of a child's representative would be in a perfect world. The Flawed Reality The Litigation Section position is that, simply put, lawyers should be lawyers. Lawyers are not psychologists, child specialists or super-experts on custody and placement. Therefore, the investigatory role of a GAL is a lawyer...