THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL 16 | JANUARY 2025 only last so long. In family law cases, clients often don’t understand this. They want to tell the judge every little detail. As their lawyer, our job is to highlight the most important information so that we can hold the judge’s attention and be the most effective. GET THE CLIENT INVOLVED Here’s an example of how to do that. Let’s say a client comes in with an overabundance of information, such as countless emails saved on a thumb drive. This is common. Usually, the best thing you can do is identify the main topics covered in these emails and then, for each topic, identify the three best examples to use as exhibits in the various chapters you’ll be presenting to the court. The client can then testify that there are hundreds of other examples just like those. The timeframe from the start of a case until the case goes to trial is typically several months or even more than a year. During that time, things will happen. Exhale. The parties may call or text you regarding new issues or developments that have arisen. You must have an organized way to capture that information; otherwise, right before pre-trial, you will have to go through a month’s or even a year’s worth of information and try to pull out the relevant details. That is not only stressful, but it is also an ineffective way to prepare your client’s case for trial. Instead, as information comes in, add chapters as needed. Do it right away. They don’t have to be perfect, but when an event happens, create a new chapter on it. Bates stamp and index all new information and evidence so that you’ll have an updated list of everything the client has sent you. This will help you in client meetings when the client says, “Well, I already sent you that.” You can pull out the exhibit index and ask the client to point out what they’re talking about because you’ve indexed everything they sent. Getting the client involved in their case is essential to giving them a sense of empowerment and control during their time of fear and uncertainty. Do this by sharing the chapters, indexes and corresponding exhibits with them throughout the process, including any new chapters or exhibits. Put it all in a cloud storage link, and send it to them for easy review. Bates stamping the exhibits is key because it lets you easily go to a specific document or page of a document in the cloud. Also, ask the client if they have any additional ideas when they review this material because no one else knows the facts of the case better than they do. Keep chapters to one or two pages. They should contain facts the judge needs to know regarding certain incidents. For example, if your client experienced an incident during a visitation exchange, the chapter would contain that information. When did it happen? Who was there? What happened? Who said what? Who did what? The chapter should be sourced to any supporting documentation, such as photos or videos of the exchange or relevant text messages sent or received before or after the exchange. As you prepare for trial, you can use the chapter index while working with the client and your paralegal (if you have one). You can decide on the order to present the chapters and evidence right before trial, a process called sequencing,11 but do not wait till the last minute to get the chapters ready. Procrastinating will make it very difficult to deliver a strong case at trial. Procrastination also puts a lot of stress on you, your staff and your client. Most judges statewide require mediation before pretrial. Fortunately, you’ll be well prepared for mediation because you’ll know what your client wants and what evidence you have as support – assuming you’ve established your client’s end goals in the request for relief and prepared your chapters, exhibits and indexes. All you need to do is send the request for relief, which can serve as the mediation statement, to opposing counsel and the mediator prior to mediation so that your client’s position on each issue is clear to everyone. This saves the client a lot of money and streamlines a mediation because the mediator doesn’t have to spend a lot of time in the room trying to figure out what the client wants. PRETRIAL The next step is pretrial. Pretrial is handled differently in family law cases than in other civil cases. The courts often handle it quickly and informally. Still, you’ll need to get a draft of the pretrial order started before pretrial. Identify what issues are agreed upon. Do the parties agree on jurisdiction and venue? If so, cite those details. List any other factual issues or matters the parties agree on as well. And then identify the issues that are not agreed upon. The judge will need to hear those issues and make a ruling on them. However, identifying them early on will help you organize issues for trial and pare things down so that the trial can be more efficiently run and more effective for both parties. Also, it’s always Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.
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