Many young lawyers seem surprised by that fact. Obviously those who fancy themselves to be litigators are far more, or at least should be, aware of their role as combatants on behalf of others. My purpose in making these remarks is to share some of the wisdom I have acquired after almost twenty years of practice as a divorce lawyer. I have been told in the past that there are no more difficult clients, or, one might add, lawyers, than those involved in divorce proceedings. The generally temporary insanity attributable to the divorce litigants should be considered contagious since the lawyers and judges involved with these cases so frequently seem to become infected.
Nice people behave very badly during a divorce.
But then nice people will often behave very badly whenever they find themselves threatened in very basic ways. Abraham Maslow established a hierarchy of needs which is proven true time and again in the divorce proceeding or any conflicted situation in which those needs are threatened. Physiological Needs Divorce proceedings are perhaps the most dramatic examples of the impact leaving these needs unmet can have on the individual. Maslow has taught us that when these needs are satisfied, and they can only be adequately satisfied in the sequential order of his chart, the individual is able to move on to the next level. We, as counsel to the disheartened client going through a divorce or other serious and threatening litigation, would prefer the client stay in the less needy and more intellectual functioning levels.