that’s an interesting question because

i think everybody believes that when you

go to law school you know exactly what

type of law you want to practice and

where you’re going to end up which

i think in reality that couldn’t be

further from the truth when i started

law school i had absolutely no idea of

what i wanted to do

where i wanted to practice and really my

kind of thoughts were is that the law

would just be a stepping stone because i

really had my eye on moving to

washington dc and becoming a part of our

government which is a scary thought but

when i started in law school i had a

unicorn of an opportunity to work at a

family law firm

and i began as a law clerk working with

my partner today lisa helfen-meyer

i found her to be one of the most

extraordinary lawyers and people that i

really had ever met

and she was such a great example of how

i believed a woman should be

and hold themselves out as a

professional and as a woman

that she really was my

reason for

practicing family law and i never went

back

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the most rewarding aspect it’s actually

i actually have two answers for that

i think the first most rewarding aspect

of practicing family law

is when i

help

particularly women

um who come into my office and they’re

completely

either blindsided overwhelmed um

and just kind of drowning and treading

water with this entire process

and seeing that individual become

stronger

have greater self-esteem

become informed and

get their footing back and

their

respect and confidence in themselves and

just seeing them

end the process that was so daunting and

so scary actually ending it as a

stronger more confident person

and then my second most rewarding aspect

is when i actually see children

that were involved in the custody cases

that i’ve dealt with and actually meet

these children and realize that

their parents took some advice that i

might have given them in terms of

keeping children out of conflicts and

not over embroiling them in litigation

and seeing that that was beneficial to

these kids and they came out of it on

the other side as

great well-adjusted productive you know

young adults