A Judge’s Guide

Commentary
6. Communicating with children;
7. Preparing and presenting a child’s viewpoints, including child testimony and
alternatives to direct testimony;
8. Recognizing, evaluating and understanding evidence of child abuse and
neglect;
9. Family dynamics and dysfunction, domestic violence and substance abuse;
10. The multidisciplinary input required in child-related cases, including
information on local experts who can provide evaluation, consultation and
testimony;
11. Available services for child welfare, family preservation, medical, mental
health, educational, and special needs, including placement,
evaluation/diagnostic, and treatment services, and provisions and constraints
related to agency payment for services;
12. Basic information about state and federal laws and treaties on child custody
jurisdiction, enforcement, and child abduction.
Courts, bar associations, and other organizations should sponsor, fund and participate in
training. They should also offer advanced and new-developments training, and provide
mentors for lawyers who are new to child representation. Training in custody law is
especially important because not everyone seeking to represent children will have a family
law background. Lawyers must be trained to distinguish between the different kinds of cases
in which they may be appointed, and the different legal standards to be applied.
Training should address the impact of spousal or domestic partner violence on custody
and parenting time, and any statutes or case law regarding how allegations or findings of
domestic violence should affect custody or parenting time determinations. Training should
also sensitize lawyers to the dangers that domestic violence victims and their children face in
attempting to flee abusive situations, and how that may affect custody awards to victims.
C. Compensation
Lawyers for children are entitled to and should receive adequate and predictable
compensation that is based on legal standards generally used for determining the
reasonableness of privately-retained lawyers’ hourly fees in family law cases.
1. Compensation Aspects of Appointment Orders
The court should make clear to all parties, orally and in writing, how fees
will be determined, including the hourly rate or other computation system
used, and the fact that both in-court and out-of-court work will be paid for;
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