Benefits of Hiring a Female Divorce Attorney

When considering the best divorce attorney for your case, there are a lot of factors that go into the decision.  You want someone trustworthy, that will be able to determine which fights are worth fighting and which fights are worth settling by agreement.  You want someone whose guidance you can trust.  You want someone who, either personally or through their profession, has a lot of experience dealing with the challenges that your case presents.  In making the decision about which attorney to work with, one of the things that you will want to consider is whether to hire a male or female attorney to serve as your champion in court.  There are real benefits to working with a female divorce attorney.

#1 – Female Divorce Attorneys Are Good Team Players

You should know that every lawyer has a different style of practicing law.  There will be attorneys who, after having one initial consultation with you, make the vast majority of the decisions for the remainder of your case.  They consider it their job to “quarterback” the case for you, regardless of your priorities and preferences.  You are significantly less likely to have an attorney seize control and power from you in this way when you work with a female attorney.  Female attorneys are far more likely to listen to the issue and present various options for how to approach a resolution to the challenge.  They will talk with you about their recommendations on the various options, and as a result, empower you to direct your own dissolution of marriage case. 

This all may sound daunting, and you may like the “quarterback” is a better option.  The only problem with that approach is that, frequently, that can involve unnecessary legal bills, and losing battles you didn’t know you didn’t have to fight, which frequently leads to people settling for a deal on their case that is less than equitable only to end the misery of the divorce case.

#2 – Female Divorce Attorneys Are Hard Workers

You may think it’s likely that most divorce attorneys are hard workers, regardless of their gender.  You may be surprised to learn that many attorneys do not prioritize elbow grease in their approach to your case.  You want someone who will be diligent, thoughtful, courageous, and passionate about protecting your interests and standing up for you in court.  For that reason, I recommend working with a female divorce attorney.  

Female divorce attorneys made it through law school with added pressures over and above their male peers.  They frequently have young children to care for, careers, or full-time jobs to attend to, in addition to their new law school responsibilities.  They frequently have other responsibilities – volunteering positions, church or religious responsibilities, and commitments to their communities over and above their male peers.  They’ve learned the hard way – trial by fire – to keep all of the plates spinning in the air.  Diligence, scheduling, and handling a dozen other important responsibilities are frequently the status quo for a female attorney.  A female attorney will be able to handle your challenges and keep all of the plates spinning for your divorce case.

Another thing to keep in mind is that a female divorce attorney will be able to cut through the noise and focus on the big issues.  While a male attorney might hear a story about a limited issue  and decide to respond from the hip, a female divorce attorney is good at witnessing and keeping track of trends, things that keep coming up over and over, and use those trends to establish a story about your case that the judge on your case will care about more than limited one-offs.

#3 – Female Divorce Attorneys Are More Communicative About Your Options and Preferences

Traditionally, female attorneys are better at case investigation and follow-up questions than male attorneys.  If you need an attorney to present possible solutions to an issue you are experiencing in your divorce case, you are going to want an attorney who can ask the questions they need to ask in order to arrive at a recommendation.  If that recommendation is taking the matter to the Court, then the information they gained by a thorough investigation into the allegations will be the factual basis for the relief you are seeking. 

Sound dry and boring?  Not by a mile.

Let’s say, for example, that during the course of your marriage, your spouse, Ross, paid the mortgage on the house.  Then, one evening, you come home and find out that he’s been having an affair with his British paramour, Emily.  When you discover the affair, Ross decides to move out and move to London to be with Emily.  He stops paying the mortgage and leaves you to fend for yourself.  At this point, you have several options.  You can ask him to agree to continue making the house payments while the divorce case is pending.  If he doesn’t agree, you can bring an action in Court to require him to pay the mortgage.  You can bring an action in Court to list the house for sale.  You can ask the Court to require him to return to Illinois and pay you back for any money you spent on the mortgage while he was away.  

Obviously, this moment in your case will hurt.  When you tell the story to your divorce attorney, it is very normal to leave a lot of information out – things that will matter to the Court.  A female divorce attorney is going to be more likely to get the relevant information from you the first time you talk to her about it because she will have been used to conducting a thorough case review and factual review with you.  Then, she and you can figure out your next steps together.

#4 – Frequently, Female Divorce Attorneys Are Moms

If children are involved, one of the harder aspects of your case will be how to approach your coparenting relationship with your former spouse.  Female divorce attorneys have been there.  They’ve breastfed.  They’ve supporting a child with a 101-degree fever.  They’ve coordinated gymnastics events, basketball events, space camps, summer camps, field trips, and museum expeditions with their own children so it’s easy for them to see when something will or could be an issue.  They know the lengths to which you go to protect and support your children and give them every possible advantage because they have done the same with their own children.  A female divorce attorney will be able to serve as a second pair of ears about things that need to be communicated to the other side, or whether to approach the issue with the support of a third party like a pediatrician, child therapist, school counselor, teacher, or the Judge.

Looking for a Chicago Female Divorce Attorney? Contact Anderson Boback & Marshall Today

Anderson Boback & Marshall is a team of dynamic, female attorneys who are ready and able to take on your case and approach it with grace, kindness, courage, and sheer grit – the same grit they use in their everyday lives. The feedback most provided by our clients at the end of their cases is that they appreciated the skills, care, and compassion we use every day in approaching each individual case.  That feedback comes from the lived experience of every woman on our team, and we love harnessing our power to help our clients and get them results.

Visit our Chicago Divorce Attorney page to learn more