‘Not Your Everyday Custody Case’ CLE an Outstanding Success
The fourth annual “Not Your Everyday Custody Case” continuing legal education program was another huge success. Seminar attendance increased yet again. Many thanks to Georgia Lord, the program chair, who put together an agenda filled with hot topics of current significance in our custody and visitation cases. Also, many thanks to the speakers whose presentations were both educational and engaging. Topics discussed included:
- Determining legal parenthood in this era of assisted reproductive technology – and how much did Patton v. Vanterpool change the rules?
- Tackling potentially polarizing (and paralyzing) issues in custody cases – as gal, as party counsel, or as mediator
- Effectively preparing your client for litigation, mediation and trial
- The profound challenge of childhood trauma
- Cross-cultural considerations in custody litigation in our diverse community
- Understanding your therapy and evaluation options: what would be most useful in your custody case
- Using technology in custody litigation and co-parenting
- Crafting custody settlements and parenting plans that solve tricky problems
The day-long seminar ended with an interesting panel discussion on custody issues with judges from metropolitan Atlanta benches, including DeKalb Superior Court’s Judge J. P. Boulee, Judge Belinda E. Edwards and Judicial Officer Margaret M. Dorsey from Fulton Superior Court, and Judge A. Gregory Poole from Cobb Superior Court.
The DeKalb Bar Association Family Law Section co-sponsored the seminar with ICLE, which has made the program part of the State Bar Series. The program should soon be available by Webcast for CLE credit at gabar.org. The FLS officers, executive director, and program chair were grateful to the patient members of the ICLE staff, who smoothly handled the logistics for the seminar. Their efforts relieved us from the catering, duplication, and registration duties we have performed during prior seminars.