I woke up in a cold sweat one night.
I was thinking about how most of my new divorce clients come into my office expecting that their judge, even if it turns out to be a new judge, will be experienced, knowledgeable, and wise. People feel entitled to that.
And then I started thinking about what that would look like in any other profession.
Imagine Your Heart Surgeon Was a Podiatrist
It was only a dream. Or a nightmare, depending upon your perspective.
In my dream, I was in a hospital on a gurney, being wheeled down the hallway for open-heart surgery. The two men transporting me into the operating room, one at each end of the gurney, were having a conversation as if I wasn't even there.
The one at the front said, "This guy, Mr. Kaplan, is going to have his heart surgery performed by our hospital's absolute best podiatrist."
"PODIATRIST?!" I screamed. "I'm about to have open-heart surgery performed by a PODIATRIST? A foot doctor?!"
The hospital had apparently decided that all of its doctors should be able to handle any type of medical procedure. They were all expected to be generalists.
I jumped off the gurney, ran out of the hospital, got into my car, and sped off.
I was not going to allow some podiatrist to operate on my heart.
You Don't Get to Choose Your NJ Family Court Judge
When it comes to healthcare, we generally have choices about which doctors we use and which doctors we don't. That isn't how it works when it comes to your Family Court case in New Jersey.
Your case is assigned to a particular judge, and that person will be your judge. That may be true even if the judge is relatively new to Family Court or had little or no experience practicing divorce and family law before joining the bench.
In that respect, the hospital in my dream wasn't so different from our court system.
New Jersey judges may serve in different parts of the Superior Court, including the Criminal, Civil, and Family Divisions. Each requires a very different type of knowledge and experience.
Criminal judges handle cases involving people accused of crimes. Civil judges handle noncriminal litigation involving individuals, businesses, accidents, contracts, and other disputes.
Family Court judges handle some of the most personal issues imaginable: divorce, child custody, child support, domestic violence, restraining orders, adoption, and many other matters that directly affect New Jersey families.
Family Law Is Its Own Specialty
My concern is simple.
You cannot take a lawyer who spent 20 or 30 years practicing in an entirely different area of law, appoint that person to the bench, provide some training, and reasonably expect that person to immediately have the same understanding of New Jersey family law as someone who has spent years working with these cases.
Family law isn't just another category of litigation.
A Family Court judge may be asked to make decisions affecting where a child lives, how much time that child spends with each parent, whether someone receives or pays alimony, how a family's finances are handled during a divorce, or whether someone needs protection from domestic violence.
These decisions can affect people for years.
Experience in NJ Family Court Matters
Over the course of my career, I have watched new judges enter Family Court and become excellent judges. There are absolutely judges who learn quickly, work extremely hard, and develop a strong understanding of New Jersey family law.
But I've also seen what can happen when a judge is asked to handle complicated family-law matters without significant prior experience in the field.
And I don't think that's fair.
It isn't fair to the litigants whose children, homes, finances, and futures may be affected by those decisions. Frankly, it isn't fair to the new judges either. They're being asked to make extraordinarily important decisions in an area of law that may be completely unfamiliar to them.
Divorce Court Judges Should Be Specialists
I've practiced New Jersey divorce law for decades, and I continue to believe that Family Court should be treated as the specialized area of law that it is.
We recognize specialization almost everywhere else.
You wouldn't ask a podiatrist to perform open-heart surgery simply because both people are doctors.
So why shouldn't experience in family law matter when deciding who will preside over divorce, custody, support, and domestic violence cases? These are not insignificant disputes. They involve families at some of the most difficult moments of their lives.
They deserve judges who understand the law, understand the Family Court system, and understand the enormous consequences their decisions can have.
At least that's my opinion.
Until next time,
Steve