Services
Attorney Consultation Procedures
Attorney Consultation Procedures are highly specialized and unique roles. Subsequent to completing approximately 400 child custody evaluations, I began to serve as a Reviewing Expert pursuant to California Evidence Code §733. To date I have reviewed over 100 child custody evaluations in that role. This work is commonly a neutral assessment of a child custody work product. Additionally I regularly consult with attorneys about multiple other aspects of such matters. I do regularly perform work product reviews of Relocation matters as I have special expertise in that area. There are essentially three unique versions of this role.
Confidential Consultation to Attorneys on Various Matters
First is to serve as a Confidential Consultant to an attorney.
This work begins with a confidential consultation and can be about any aspect of a custody matter in which an attorney seeks consultation and my input/perspective. I do not have any contact with the client. In this role I serve to educate counsel on their matter. It can pertain to a variety of aspects of a custody matter such as to receive a fresh perspective and my input on their client’s functioning in a high conflict custody matter that may be headed to Recommending Mediation or Child Custody Evaluation (or BFA). It can be about other types of custody related cases that are in dispute (e.g. relocation custody evaluations, high conflict matters, matters that show evidence of “refuse-resist dynamics”). In these consultations we discuss the concerns and then formulate and agree to how I may be of assistance. We outline how I will proceed and revise the role as necessary as we discuss the matter. We execute an agreement that this is only a confidential consultation.
Most typically this role involves reviewing the work product of a neutral mental health professional who has completed a Child Custody Evaluation. In this role I start and advise them that my opinions may not support their or their client’s position. I believe I serve to both educate (as above) and at later phases I may participate by discussing specific strategies of their practice and plan in the case. It starts with a consultation with counsel in which they fully explain the matter, the current status and what their goals are in the consultation. In these matters I explain that when doing such a review we may proceed in two distinct phases. In the first entirely confidential phase counsel explains the matter and what they would like me to focus on in my review of the work product. We execute a Child Custody Confidential Consultant/Reviewing Expert Consent and Agreement.
I then read the evaluation (it may also involve review of key documents and objections (if filed)) and do a full analysis of it. I strive to conduct the analysis objectively as though I would if I had been appointed as the neutral FL-327 evaluator. In this neutral review I conduct an analysis of the report’s strengths/weaknesses, assess the presence of any fatal flaws (e.g. forms of bias), if it has adhered to state and local rules, and address the attorney’s original questions and concerns in addition to any I may have noted. For this review I will use California Rule of Court 5.220 and AFCC Guidelines for the Practice of Child Custody Evaluation, and other pertinent and applicable guidelines and standards pertaining to the practice of child custody evaluations. The initial comprehensive feedback is provided verbally.
We then discuss whether the attorney would like to stop at that point or proceed to a second phase. Completion of the first phase does not guarantee that we will proceed to the second phase. If we agree to do so we execute a formal agreement in letter form that details the past and future nature of my work.
Disclosed Expert Role
At that point I become a Disclosed Expert and my work is no longer privileged or subject to work product protection. Thereafter I may review additional documents and do further analyses as appropriate. I am then available to be disclosed as an expert witness which may involve writing a declaration, being deposed, testifying at trial, and consulting with the attorney before and at trial..
Confidential Child Custody Consultant
In the second role I serve as Confidential Child Custody Consultant.
In this entirely confidential, non-disclosed role I work with the attorney (in a consultative role) and their client (in an educative role). Most typically the client is about to commence a child custody evaluation or other evaluative process (e.g. BFA or Recommending Mediation). At the start of this consultation the attorney explains the status of the matter and what the focus should be for my work with their client. We discuss in some detail the attorney’s sense of their client’s level of sophistication and expected ability to participate in both the custody evaluation and consultation processes. My work is guided by that input and what is discovered in my initial interview with the client. I view this work as primarily educational and in the first interview I will review the typical process of a custody evaluation (or other evaluative procedure) with the client in order to familiarize them with the process and work with them to be comfortable in it.
Another key aspect is to help the client clarify and express what their goals and requests will be in the process they are about to begin. I will discuss age and developmentally appropriate time share plans for children. I discuss with the client all the items that are typically included in a full parenting plan. Frequently I provide various educational materials on parenting plans including constructing developmentally appropriate parenting plans. I make clear to the attorney and the client that this role is not psychotherapy or counseling. Further, it is not a role in which I will coach the client through the process by having regular meetings. We will meet as appropriate and indicated during the process and that frequency is assessed over time based on what develops in their particular process. Once the custody evaluation is completed I am available to review it and consult with the attorney about the eventual work product. However as we have agreed I will not serve as a disclosed expert.
