Cleveland Jewish News
Finding chemistry with an experienced divorce attorney
By LYDIA KACALA | Jun 17, 2024 | Andrew Zashin consulted and quoted
Divorce can be a difficult life event for people to get through. Many factors can impact proceedings, including marital assets and if the couple has children.
Lawyers can help their clients get through these proceedings, while ensuring they have an agreeable outcome. Finding a lawyer may be time consuming, but it’s important that a client finds a lawyer they can trust.
Lawyers should also be experienced, but beyond that, the client and the lawyer they choose should have chemistry, according to Andrew Zashin, founding partner of Zashin Law in Mayfield Heights, and Anthony Pecora, director and partner at Dooley Gembala McLaughlin Pecora LPA in Sheffield.
“Any potential client looking for a divorce lawyer should find someone with whom they ‘click,’” Zashin said. “Chemistry should be good between the lawyer and the client. It is not enough that someone had been recommended or that someone is experienced.”
Clients should choose their lawyer based on the “gut feeling” the relationship is right, he added. However, this gut feeling should be informed by the client’s feeling that the lawyer can handle anything that may come up throughout the case.
When looking for a lawyer, clients should look for someone that has experience, a history of perseverance and the ability to “see the larger picture,” so they don’t get distracted by fights or other details, Zashin explained.
“Too often, lawyers, particularly in family law, get bogged down in small fights and details and lose perspective,” he said. “Obtaining the best results for individual clients comes from identifying a client’s objectives early on and not getting distracted by things that, in the end, do not matter that much.”
When helping a client, lawyers should work to understand their needs and wants not only at the beginning of their time together, but throughout the proceedings, he added. This can be achieved through open communication, allowing preparation for the future to occur.
More than preparation, communication gives the lawyer a chance to show empathy for their client, which can also help build the relationship between the two parties, Pecora said.
“If you have empathy for the situation they’re going through, whether you’ve experienced it yourself or you know loved ones or family members or friends who’ve gone through it, if you can empathize with somebody they’re going to feel that connection,” he said. “If you have a connection with somebody, they feel they feel confident, they feel that you’re not putting them out and that you’re actually interested in helping them.”
Lawyers should also listen to their clients and show they are hearing and understand what the client is saying, Pecora added. Through listening, the lawyer can figure out a strategy and provide guidance and advice to their client throughout proceedings.
A lawyer can develop a strategy after learning about their client’s past and their future goals, he said.
“I get the basic information from them at first – the length of marriage, are there children involved, what type of assets and debts do you have (and) what are your needs,” Pecora said. “I always ask about goals … and once you have an understanding as to goals, then you can say, ‘All right, this is the strategy that I would I would take on,’ or ‘these are your options of strategies,’” he said.