Timothy Tippins’ Matrimonial Practice article on Nov. 5, “‘Howe’ to Draw Disability Distinctions,” is another important dialectical step in his path toward educating the bench and bar about imprudence in our practice. His article points out some difficulties created by appellate decisions that fail to adequately explain the reasoning behind the results, as well as the judicial sufferance of “sloppy practice” that allows attorneys in this field to perform at levels “that would not be tolerated in other fields of law.”
The failure of the Legislature to clarify the laws that apply in family law cases, coupled with the lack of appellate direction, makes the practice a difficult one for lawyers and deprives the litigants of the kind of predictability that leads to settlements.
