If you are going through a divorce, and you and your spouse cannot seem to agree on terms, you may be heading toward a trial. If that’s the case, you should be asking yourself, “Do I have a trial lawyer?” Even if you already have a lawyer, you should still ask yourself that question. I say that because many attorneys who practice family law fancy themselves as “trial” lawyers, simply because they spend a lot of time in the courtroom. However, spending time in the courtroom and actually conducting trials are two vastly different things. Not all family lawyers are trial lawyers.

Trials in family law cases are a peculiar animal. There are many specific, technical rules that apply to the rights and duties of the parties who are preparing for trial. Conducting a trial on a family law case is not the same thing as conducting any other type of hearing.

Most family law attorneys are experienced at conducting modification hearings. In these type of hearings generally there are no witnesses who testify on the stand, the rules of evidence, for some reason, are much more slack and generally disregarded, and there is a substantial amount of hearsay that comes into evidence. In trial, however, none of these things are true. Trial attorneys, real trial attorneys, know the rules of evidence, know how to get the good facts into evidence and keep the bad facts out of evidence. Trial lawyers are skilled at handling a witness on the stand, and quick on their feet.

In short, if you think your case may be headed to trial, make sure you hire a trial lawyer to get the best results possible.

If you have any questions at all about your case or how Wallin & Klarich can help you, please call us at 714-730-5300.