Valerie Qian Photography by Matthew Raymond In a recent interview with Chief Justice Angela M. Ordoñez, Valerie Qian , of Skylark Law & Mediation , and the Chief Justice discussed the benefits of Limited Assistance Representation ("LAR"): Chief Justice Ordoñez: "one of my goals and objectives in this department is to increase lawyer retention, and we have an enormous amount of unrepresented litigants, and a small percentage of represented litigants. We could close that gap significantly with LAR." In Valerie's article the Chief Justice and retired Justice Hon. Edward M. Ginsburg both noted the lack of public and bar knowledge about LAR and the need to spread the word. "The sad consequence of our ignorance is that by overlooking LAR, attorneys fail to extend our hands to help those who most need it. If there is any vestige of the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed lawyers we were when we emerged from law school ready to change the world, we owe it to...

The more I write and speak about mediation, the more opportunities I have to hear from people who still have questions about how it works.  Recently one attorney on LinkedIn asked me about whether there are rules for financial disclosure in mediation like there are in court .  This is, in fact, a common complaint about mediation; that many mediators don't require the parties to share information that the same parties would have to share in court.  Specifically in Massachusetts there is a rule, called Probate and Family Court Supplemental Rule 410, which requires the sharing of certain documentation in a divorce case within the first forty-five days of the case. Should mediators be enforcing this rule and requiring financial disclosures in a non-litigated case? I know mediators who would answer this question yes and others who would answer no.  My answer is no, mediators should not be enforcing financial disclosure (and I explain why below).  That answer trou...

Limited Assistance Represetation (also called "unbundling" or "LAR") is a program that allows a lawyer to provide partial services to a client, limiting the attorney's representation to only a specific matter while the client mangages the remainder of the case. On May 1, 2009, the Supreme Judicial Court issued a press release that LAR is now permitted in all trial court departments in Massachusetts. In Famly Law, this often means that the lawyer either assists in the preparation of court pleadings, but doesn't go to court, or agrees to only go to court for specific events. Limiting services in this way allows for greater predictability in the amount of time an attorney might spend working on your case. This predictability allows us to provide a flat fee for many family law related services. The LAR program is an exception to the normal rules, in which attorneys file unlimited appearances and "ghostwriting" is frowned upon. Under the LAR program...