Family Law
Less Stressful, More Affordable. Fighting For the outcome you deserve.
In any family matter, whether it is divorce or disputes involving children, there’s stress. There’s stress because of the deterioration of your relationship with the other party. If you have children, trying to manage the child’s ability to go through the process as well is stressful. Stress from uncertainty of outcome, is it going to happen, what’s going to happen? A lot of people have difficulty managing all the stress.
On top of the stress, it’s expensive to go to court. The average cost of divorce in the United States is $15,000 per person. Families with children that were not poor before the divorce see their income drop as much as 50 percent, and almost 50 percent of the parents with children that are going through a divorce move into poverty after the divorce.
Many lawyers focus on maximizing their billing, Brenda focuses on maximizing your and your family’s healing and ability to help you move on with your life in a constructive way.
Brenda’s goal is to work with you and fight for you to make sure you not only survive this, but that you thrive afterward.
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In Brenda’s Words: How do you choose the right attorney for you?
It is important for your lawyer to be experienced in every aspect of the legal process. Brenda is experienced in settling cases, in the process of preparing cases for trial, and in being a strong advocate at trial.
A resolution you deserve. You need a lawyer who knows the law inside and out, and how to advocate for you to get what you’re entitled to.
Preparing for trial. It doesn’t matter how good a lawyer is in the court room if they don’t properly prepare for the trial. A lot of work goes into properly preparing for a trial, you need a lawyer who knows how to conduct appropriate discovery and investigations to get answers to all the questions that may be relevant to the proceedings.
Experienced trial lawyer. Brenda has over 36 years of experience as a trial lawyer and has litigated numerous types of cases. She has a good reputation with judges and other lawyers, so nothing detracts from your case or presentation.
How do you choose an attorney to meet your goals?
When selecting an attorney, it’s important to make sure you and your attorney work well together and the relationship meets your needs and personality. But the most important thing in selecting the right attorney is to find someone who has the experience, knowledge, and ability to help you meet your goals. I sit down with you early on and help you determine what your end goal is. I help you look at the reality of the situation. If you’re getting divorced, assets and liabilities are going be divided between the two parties, so how do you survive losing half your assets, how do you go forward, how do you build it back, how do you prepare for that? I try to help you while we go through the process to be ready for the day you get divorced.
What does it mean to be an aggressive advocate?
Being an aggressive advocate is about knowing what is the most effective way to accomplish your goals. I make sure to always tell you up front: I will work well with you, we’re always going to have a positive relationship — but don’t misunderstand that with the other side. I will try to resolve the case to avoid a costly and stressful trial, but when that can’t happen for whatever reason, I’m very aggressive.
My clients love knowing I’m a bulldog and that I fight for them, I’m a very aggressive lawyer in approaching meeting your goals, and I’m a very aggressive lawyer in court. And my clients sometimes don’t see that when we’re in the office. I had someone say they didn’t think I’d be mean enough; I said, “Gosh you’re hiring me, that shouldn’t mean I’m gonna beat up on you. I save that for the other side.” I want to get along with you and help reduce your stress and manage you through this, and save the hostility toward the other side. I won’t attack you, and if you’re just really not listening to me then I try to help you understand what you’re doing wrong. Sometimes you hear lawyers screaming at their clients, and I don’t do that.
Once we start working together, it is easy to realize and see I have really strong advocacy skills and am relentlessly tough in a very effective way.
Who do I represent?
I like to represent people who I think are doing the right thing. I like to win, I don’t like to lose. I try to be on the right side, and I want to know my clients are doing the right things, that they’re not going to place their children in harm’s way, that they truly have a good purpose in doing what they’re doing. I don’t like to work with people who are promoting bad things.
I represent a good balance of men and women, I work different types of cases with different types of issues and assets and businesses and family situations, which helps keep me balanced in the way I approach trying to resolve people’s cases.
Why is it important to have a lawyer who cares and communicates?
It matters a lot to have a lawyer who communicates with you and who cares, because this is already a difficult enough time for you. You don’t need your lawyer making it even more difficult.
I care a lot about my clients. I want to do the best job I can do for them, and my clients sense that I really care, and that I’m going to make sure their interests are advanced. What I hear from clients is how they appreciate that they can tell I care about them. They appreciate that I communicate with them effectively. Some lawyers don’t send out pleadings or copies of letters or communications, and the client maybe doesn’t realize the lawyer is actually working. I send you copies of everything, so you know what’s going on every step of the way. If I have a communication with the lawyer on the other side, you know that, you don’t have to hear it from your spouse’s mouth that “my lawyer talked to your lawyer.”
I have a lot of clients who consider me family. They say I’m like their second mother, and I have many honorary grandchildren. They sense I really care about them, so the relationship doesn’t always end when the case is done. They stay in contact, keep me updated on their children, they feel like I’m part of their family, I get invited to birthday parties or their next marriage.
I fight really hard, I always take your phone call or return your phone call, I talk to you in a respectful way, and overall we’re part of a team together, and you can feel I’m right there in it with you.
How do you know if you’re ready for a divorce or to take legal action?
Sometimes people need to call a lawyer before they’re ready to do anything, so I help you decide if you’re ready and how to get ready. I talk to a lot of people who know they want a divorce, but they’re not sure they’re ready to be able to navigate through it or afford it. So we’ll talk about what’s the status of your marriage, are you safe in your home, can you continue living with this other person without having any negative health consequences? Then we talk about your assets, debts, and lay out what it would look like if you got divorced. And if you’re not able to do it yet, then I help you understand what you need to do to get ready and prepare for it. So we’ll talk about paying off certain debt, saving money, protecting an asset, spending your money in a certain way in terms of paying certain bills first over others, do you need further education, can you do that now so that you’ll be able to work and support yourself. Sometimes people will call two years later, say I met with you two years ago and you told me how to prepare and survive divorce and now I’m ready.
Testimonials
Through it all she never quit fighting for my child. She is a defender of those who are in need of a defender. She is dependable, loyal, unwavering in the face of adversity and has a compassionate, caring nature. These are just a few of the many attributes she has. One other word sums Brenda Clark nicely: WINNER!
Carrie Y.
In the end we won and our kids won. Brenda stood by us, guiding and fighting for us every step. She is an amazing person and a great attorney, and she was our Guardian Angel. Without her knowledge of the law and the compassion she has, we would not have won our case. We had been trying for years to win our case with no luck, until we found her… She saved our kids. Attorneys are not cheap so you don’t want to waste your money on just any attorney, Brenda Clark is a great attorney and someone you need to speak to before choosing an attorney, you can count on her to work hard for you.