December 2018 will mark my 30th year of practicing law. During those years, I witnessed family law litigation becoming far more complicated, time consuming and expensive. Not surprisingly, at the same time, I witnessed the evolution of the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process, which aimed to resolve certain family law cases in a more efficient, cost-effective way than the traditional litigation model.
During the early years of ADR, I was concerned, though, that participants would not necessarily have the benefit of the professional expertise needed to provide a fair and appropriate resolution based on the current state of the law. More specifically, over time, it became clear to me that here in Central Massachusetts there was a need for an experienced ADR firm to enter the family law space – to bring less expensive and reasonable solutions to complicated and not-so-complicated issues.
So, gradually, I spent more and more time entertaining the notion of starting a local ADR firm. My intent was to put together a group of highly knowledgeable legal professionals skilled in helping clients efficiently resolve legal matters of various kinds.
Fortunately, Fran Russell, another Worcester attorney who has been practicing probate law as well as tax, real estate and financial law for 35-plus years, shared my interest. (I had gone head to head with Fran in many cases over the years, resolving some in front of judges and others prior to trial.) We shared a mutual respect for one another, and I knew his ability as well as his personality would fit nicely in the area of ADR.
So, in 2015, Fran and I established Why Litigate.
In the past three years, we have been extremely fortunate to have four retired probate judges join our firm, as well as Laurie Raphaelson, another local attorney with 15+ years of divorce mediation experience, and Michael Herman, who served the Worcester Probate and Family and Court for 38 years. Together, we bring a plethora of experience in the courtroom with real world experience and abilities.
We hope you will take the time to explore our website – find out more about our services and our team. And if ADR sounds like an option you want to explore, we look forward to hearing from you.
