Raise the Bar

Dear Devoted Trench-mates,

     This post will be less my typical rambling and more of an open letter with my take on an important new development in my practice. I assume many of you find your way here by doing online research into divorce attorneys in this area and want to know a little more about me, especially if you're thinking about putting some of your hard earned money in our firm's pocket for a consultation. If so, you may have seen some recent press notices in my Google results announcing that I was recently board certified as a specialist in family law.

     Until now, I haven't done a great deal of marketing on this achievement, even though I am proud to be recognized for the work I put into my practice, not to mention knowing after 8+ years I can still pass a standardized test! Truthfully, I meant to write a post about my certification much sooner. Sure I've been busy, but I also think I procrastinated because I don't want family law to utterly define me as a lawyer. I also practice extensively in general civil litigation, particularly construction disputes, and I do a fair amount of criminal work.

     So what finally prompted me to finally write this post? The answer lies in a series of conversations I had with some of my colleagues who were congratulating me on getting certified.

     I was flattered and humbled to have receive congratulations from at least a dozen of my colleagues who reached out in person or on social media after they heard I passed the certification exam. At least four of those conversations involved statements to this effect: "you know, now that you're certified you are held to a higher standard, right?"  What they are referring to is the standard for legal malpractice. Essentially, the standard of care by which my performance and conduct is judged is higher now that I hold myself out as a specialist.

     Imagine an Olympic high jumper who can jump over the bar at a certain height and generally clear it by 6 to 8 inches every time with maximum effort.  Practically speaking, he wouldn't have to give 100% every time to complete the jump.  Imagine now that we raise the bar by five inches, thus requiring the athlete to put forth maximum effort on every attempt in order to have a successful jump.

     I like to think I have given maximum effort on every case since the day I started my practice. In reality, I'm sure there were days I failed to meet that standard. My friends were only joking when they suggested I should be worried about being held to a higher standard, but they raise an excellent point - by becoming a certified family law specialist, I have "raised the bar" on myself, so to speak.  I want to promise you all that I will continue to give my home to clear that bar on every case and for every client.

Sincerely,

Ronnie (a/k/a the "GDC")