A quick Google search for the terms “California Divorce” leads to an impressive list of services that promise to get you divorced for $200; mostly online versions of forms you can get for free from the California court system. All they do is ask a series of generic questions and fill in the forms for you, like TurboTax.

Slightly more interesting (and relevant) is californiadivorce.info, operated by a partner at Dishon & Block, a family law firm practicing in Southern California. Unlike other law firm’s websites, it actually offers a bit more ‘meaty’ information than most law firm websites about divorce in general. Most of the articles are written by Dishon, and link back to his firm’s website as well as “EndSpousalSupport.com”. Taking advantage of the misconception that alimony lasts forever (not normally in Hawaii, and from his website, apparently not in California either), he bring them in on a sales pitch to drum up business – end paying your ex! A creative way of getting his name out there and bring in the clients, similar to another firm I saw in Hawaii that used a published book.

However, you’d get more bang for your reading time looking at www.courtinfo.ca.gov on how to fill out the form. But it’s really the nuances that makes the lawyer useful, and compared to the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii’s divorce clinic, neither the law firm websites nor government sources really offers a comprehensive ‘guide’ to the true pro se looking to get divorced. It’s also not that clear, at least to the pro se, just exactly how property is divided. Everyone starts off thinking it’s all about arguing in order to get the property, when it’s not so much arguing as deciding what kind of property it is…. like when a car was purchased, or if a house was brought into the marriage, or if it’s a community property state like California and how that affects an out-of-state property. As opposed to “eh, brah, those dishes should be mine cuz they’re $200!”

And then there are people who don’t have children or complicated finances, who don’t really need to hire lawyers to get their divorce done but could use the help – if it didn’t cost them a arm and a leg. Nothing really for them – although maybe Nolo Press has something printed for them. Haven’t checked yet.

Looks to be a crowded field. It’s too bad, really – with more education, one could really improve the law literacy of the public in general and improve the perception of the practice of law. But everyone’s out to make a buck, so all that knowledge and information becomes hidden.

I think they haven’t seen Hawaii’s beaches.

It’s April now, and I find myself turning on the heater at night. 60 degrees F is just too cold for me. Meanwhile, I see people walking around in T-shirts. T-shirt! As if there was a need to celebrate 60 degrees!

I’m not so sure about how much it costs to mail a chicken over to Hawaii, but I’ve been getting the eggs hatched from Asagi Hatchery.  Right now they’re preparing to do a heritage breed hatch, but the ones I wanted were not going to be available.

Recently, they seem to have picked up their blog postings, which can be found at http://blog.asagihatchery.com/

But now I’ve been told that the Motion to Set deadline is NOT vigorously enforced.  With the court being very busy and all, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.  But I am.

Both Makuakane and Park are attorneys, yet the show had them sitting at a desk in front of the inevitable oh-so-lawyerly-law-books talking about trusts, probate, and intestate succession.  They talked to each other, pretending as though they weren’t clear on the law or what the other guy was going to say.  I suppose they did that to educate the viewer, assuming the viewer wanted to watch Mr. Park reading off legalese papers held in his hand.

This got me thinking about lawyer advertising – what works, and what doesn’t work.  I have trouble believing there was someone out there, other than me, watching this show.

What have I got to show for it? Nothing productive, really. Unfortunately, playing the game is so addicting, I’ve stopped running.

Now that I feel completely horrible about my physical status quo, I suppose I’ll start getting back to work, and getting rid of this bad back posture.

In an odd twist of events, I’ve also been called to jury duty, and that is keeping me from work. We’ll see how it goes.

It was a rather unusual experience, punctuated with a lot of interaction with the locals because I could speak mandarin. There are several pros to being able to interact with locals, one being a realization that as an industrializing nation, China very much suffers several of the same drawbacks that a third world nation has. This includes the rather abysmal transportation and power shortages resulting from a mild snow storm in the weeks before the Chinese New Year, observing how lovingly the locals like to fleece tourists, and how bad the western tourists have it because they lack what economists call “information” in order to make a good trade.

Language is a fascinating thing, with cultural meaning and other aspects attached to its use. It is interesting to see how people there view the government, the news, and discuss items of interest to us Americans such as 9/11. The language usage also differs between mainland China and Taiwan, and to see the difference was rather marvelous.

I will be resuming my posts momentarily. Lately I’ve been in contact with several people who need my services, and it has been hectic getting things going. Taxes are due, financial statements must be filled, clients must be reached, tasks must be completed and necessary items must be purchased.

I am not the only person from my graduating class who has decided to start his own practice right out of law school; Kristen Bryant has opened up an estate planning office and we have been discussing some of the joys and nuances of solo practice. What it takes to start an office, the documents involved, library of paperwork, and fees.

Oh, fees. To make money….

I recently bought a safe to lock important items in, and a shredder to eliminate confidential paperwork. I also had to go buy myself an all-in-one machine, which should be arriving tomorrow since I could not fit it into my car. I’ll review it, I suppose, once I manage to get it up and running.

There is a stack of paperwork sitting on my desk, begging to be read. In due time, I say.

I can’t say the Fees, Billing, and Collection portion of this form provides anything other than the basic information you can learn from elsewhere, such as from reading the Rules of Professional Conduct or creating-your-own-law-practice books, but the beauty of this volume is in the forms, and I’ll review Volume I and III later.