Keeping It Civil

Starred review from July 8, 2013
A prominent family lawyer with the Philadelphia firm Berner Klaw & Watson shines a light on the tumultuous and complex world of domestic relations law in this optimistic yet cautionary exposé. Klaw addresses the old and the new, covering everything from divorce cases to the evolving legislation on same-sex marriages. Illuminating chapters on these legal conundrums alternate with a detailed narrative of a particular divorce case as it wends its way through the Pennsylvania court system. This “Anatomy of a Trial” serves as an excellent, non-technical crash course on how and why lawyers do what they do—from planning a witness examination to devising strategies to appeal to a judge, navigating conflicts with the opposing counsel, and managing the relationship with their own client. Klaw’s candid and pragmatic commentary provides additional insight into how lawyers balance personal convictions and professional considerations, a feat made all the more complicated by the nature of Klaw’s particular kind of practice. Substantive yet accessible enough to appeal to both law students and clients alike, this book accomplishes an admirable goal: to foreground the humanity in the halls of justice.

July 15, 2013
A lawyer specializing in family law relates, with appropriate redactions, some unhappy war stories. Many attorneys avoid cases involving family practice because it's too emotionally demanding. Others, like Philadelphia lawyer Klaw, are less averse to the family fights, marital mayhem, late-night calls and all the high drama. The author, a wife and mother, deals professionally with such intimate, basic human concerns as love, heirlooms, money, acquisitions, money, sex, children and, of course, money. In daily practice, she may confront lying spouses, secure protection orders, counsel same-sex marriage partners or arrange for new birth certificates for transgendered clients. Family practice, it should be noted, is an evolving legal specialty. There have been titanic social and scientific changes in just a generation or two; evolving sexual mores and relations, as well as new reproductive technology, have outpaced the stately progress of the law. Klaw's tilt is manifestly feminist, but she acknowledges the camaraderie among family-law practitioners. "We're joined together through a common work life that can be difficult, emotionally intense, sometimes exhilarating, and sometimes thankless," she writes. All lawyers, of course, enjoy reprising their courtroom adventures and recounting what they think are interesting "matters" (cases); Klaw, a regular blogger, is quite adept at anecdotal exposition of legal principles. Especially effective is her analysis, running sporadically throughout the book, of a representative custody trial. The conversational, entertaining text may sometimes sound more like Judge Judy than Learned Hand or Felix Frankfurter, but it is all informative and smart. (It may also enhance her total of well-deserved billable hours). An accessible description of an intricate field of law, examined in an open-hearted style.

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