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Originally Posted by xdeuceswild81xx
Got my first custody hearing coming up early next week. I'm a mixture of nerves and excitement.
Unfortunately, our CL isn't the most cooperative. Got it through a referral service where the fee is fixed for CL's who fall 150% below poverty line. Won't really get a chance to prep her for court/had an initial meeting for like 90 minutes.
Not feeling super confident obviously. OC is a biglaw attorney who does some family law in addition to transaction work. Her billing rate is higher than our fee for the entire case lol.
Any suggestions/tips? I'm buckling in for an interesting hearing
Turned out it was a custody conference, not a hearing. Ended up way overprepping, which is obviously better than the alternative lol.
Kind of got worked over by OC. His counters to my arguments were lightning fast and well-constructed. I was impressed, unfortunately. The temp order ended up getting extended 60 days instead of modified, so that's a slight win, but man, it hit me how little I knew compared to somebody with 5+ yrs experience.
I know that's like, duh obviously, but on display in an oral hearing, it really shines. Writing a demand letter or prepping a memo of law seems like experience edge is lessened, since we all have an adequate amount of time to prep....but the oral advocacy takes practice I suppose.
A little down about losing, not gonna lie. I know it's to be expected/it's going to become somewhat frequent for a few years, but the first one kind of stings more