One Central Oregon Family Law Attorney’s CLE Perspective

I recently attended the 2015 Family Law Annual Conference held in Lincoln City, Oregon.  There were over 700 family law attorneys present.  The conference provided an excellent opportunity to talk with lawyers all over the state.  We attended classes on a range of subjects: vocational experts and spousal support cases, Deconstructing the Process of Conflict:  How to Support Clients  Without Losing Yourself, QDROphenia, Legalization of Marijuana and the Impact on Family Law, Elder abuse, Social Media and family law, Enforcing Judgments, Taxes in a Dissolution Case, Third party custody cases, Ethics, Parenting time – birth through age three and finally a legislative update as well as a Family Law Appellate Case Review.

I really enjoyed the different speakers.  I had not thought about how the legalization of marijuana would affect family law but it really does in so many ways.  For instance, it is usually a cash business so how do you calculate child support?   I especially enjoyed the class on Deconstructing the process of Conflict which speaks to my practice of keeping cases as peaceful as possible.  The speaker pointed out that conflict escalates family law case expenses and time to resolution, especially if two dueling lawyers are involved.

The class on social media was interesting.  The speaker talked about how the posts can be used against people and how they can be easily retrieved even when people think they have deleted the posts.  From a divorce or separation perspective, social media has allowed many people’s comments, rants and photos thought to be personal or private into the public courtroom setting.

I always enjoy hearing about the family law cases that the Court of Appeals hears and the Honorable James C. Egan gave a thorough review of the current Cases.  He talked about long term marriages and spousal support which is of interest of me in my practice because it is almost always an issue.

It was great to catch up with attorneys from across the State. The good news is that next year the conference is in Sunriver, Oregon and so I won’t have to travel far to be educated on the latest family law issues.  When they mentioned that the conference was moving to Bend, a big cheer went up from the crowd, of course it was pouring rain and it was 81 degrees in Sunriver at the time.

The Oregon Bar requires that lawyers acquire 45 credits of Continued Legal Education every three years.  I usually exceed my quota because I believe you can never learn enough.  I was reminded again through my classes that we family law attorneys need to know about child and spousal support, business and insurance law, pensions, financial accounts, real estate/property issues and now even the how the new marijuana law affects cases.  Ultimately, this education makes me a more rounded family law attorney and encourages me to better serve you.