Ray Hrdlicka - Presentador - Attorneys.Media
You’ve mentioned uncontested. Does that mean they didn’t file? They went to you before, so there’s no court filings?
Bill Leininger – Divorce Mediation Attorney – Richmond County, NY
Yes. And now, that’s interesting because for the first 28 years of my practice in New York, it was unethical for a divorce mediator attorney, once the parties signed the papers, for me to say, hey, would you like me to represent one of you on an uncontested basis?
We had to say, here’s a list of mediation-friendly lawyers, hopefully they won’t blow it out of the thing, and I know these lawyers, I’ve known them for years, and they won’t hurt you.
Well, two years ago, the Bar Association of the State of New York prepared an ethics ruling that said we now rescind our last ruling from 20 years ago, which said no, the mediator is a neutral party, we don’t want them to be able to, at the end of the case, represent one of the parties.
The theory was that people might try to suck up to the mediator, because at the end of the case, maybe he’ll be my lawyer and go into court, maybe the papers could be shaded a certain way or so the client would think, that was their concern.
Well two years ago we said no, you can’t accept a retainer on a case until the divorce settlement agreement is signed in New York State. However at that point, I can have both parties sign a waiver of conflict of interest, and they can, either one of them can hire me to get the uncontested divorce, just carrying out the terms of the agreement. We’re not going to change the terms, okay? So that’s a wonderful thing that we have, and now I have this expedited divorce, where almost everyone gets divorced between 30 and 60 days, and you don’t have to wait up to 13 months to get divorced.
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