If you’re going through a divorce or facing any family law issue, you could be feeling confused, angry, and overwhelmed. I have heard clients saying: “my life feels like a mess”. I can help you clean up the mess — without spending lots of time or money, so you can move on to a new chapter in your life.

Making the chaos go away

I have been practicing family law since 1978 and I believe that family lawyers, for all the hoopla surrounding their profession, are really only glorified cleaning staff. The function of a family lawyer is to take a messy situation, stop the bleeding, and make the chaos go away. This requires experience, firmness, and diplomacy.

Being there 24/7

I invite my clients to bring their extended family and friends with them, so they don’t feel alone when meeting with me for the first time or even afterwards. Since 1978, I have provided my home number and a cell phone number to all my clients and made myself available for meetings, phone calls and consultations seven days a week.

Being there for my clients does not mean being a mouth piece. It does not mean just blindly doing what they want. It means using my experience and my intellect to help them achieve the best result. But it also means being completely honest with them and if their expectations are unrealistic, then they have to be told that fact. I appreciate people’s intellect and am completely honest with my clients. I do not sugar coat or soften the truth. I talk to them, listen to them, hear them and advocate for them.

I have been told that I am consistent in the advice that I give and I have had, on one occasion, a client who has tape recorded the interviews, played them back later in the process, and told me that I was being consistent throughout, from day one through to the last day that they met with me.

Providing options for divorce settlement

I am a trained mediator and collaborative lawyer. I prefer the processes of mediation/arbitration or a collaborative approach which is far more dignified for the resolution of family law issues than court, if possible, but will litigate if the situation warrants it.

My goal is to provide a “quick-as-possible resolution” with the most reasonable cost and the best result possible so you can move on and start a new chapter in your life.

To discuss how I can help you resolve a messy situation and start anew, please call me at (905) 303-1070 (Maple) or (416) 977-3050 (Toronto), or email me at judith@jhlawoffices.com.

“Every new day is a gift. That’s why we call it “the present”.

By C. Winterle Olson