Considering Switching To 'Happy Law'? This Book Can Help.
If you want to enter this practice area, say goodbye to making it rain -- but hello to a warm heart!
You probably end up in a lot of conversations where people ask you — after finding out that you’re a lawyer — “Oh, what kind of law do you practice?” Frankly, I never had a good answer (or at least one that didn’t make people’s eyes glaze over or furtively scan the room for an exit), until I began practicing Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) law.
I started off in BigLaw. And I liked it sometimes, but like many people, never saw myself there permanently. At the same time, I was fascinated by the law surrounding egg and sperm donation and surrogacy, which I only later learned was called ART law. (Even though it has nothing to do with, like, paintings and sculptures.) Even more, I really wanted an area that I could connect with, and feel like I made a difference. What better way to do so then to help people have babies!
When I started my firm several years ago, there weren’t many resources to get started. There still aren’t. But good news! The ABA’s Section on Family Law just published a new book for those of you thinking about taking the plunge into (giving birth to?) this new practice area. Even though the book may inspire you to become my competition, I would encourage you to check it out.
Law Firm Business Development Is More Than Relationship Building
A New Hope. The American Bar Association’s Section on Family Law recently published Developing a Successful Assisted Reproduction Technology Law Practice. The book is written by Richard B. Vaughn & Stephanie M. Brinkley. It’s written for attorneys thinking about starting a practice in the ART area or expanding their practice to include ART law.
Luckily, for those of you swamped with your current practice, the book is a short read (only 74 pages before appendices), and it covers the basics on getting your foot in the ART door. For instance, it covers marketing tactics, and even how to draft a contract in such a sensitive areas of the law. (Unfortunately, no book can settle the awkward question of where exactly the intended father should stand during the surrogate’s delivery.) The book’s appendices are also helpful, and provide some sample contracts and checklists.
Inspiration. I interviewed Stephanie Brinkley, an ART-law practitioner in Charleston, South Carolina and co-author of the book, about her decision to co-write the book. Before becoming an ART lawyer, Brinkley spent over a decade entrenched in personal injury work, and felt that she knew it inside and out.
But she chose to get into ART law because she wanted something that would challenge her. She loved that ART was such a developing area, with plenty of gray areas and constant new and developing law. But when she entered the area, she felt, like me, that there were few resources to help her start. Now, with her heavy involvement with the ABA and — specifically supporting its mentoring program — as well as the American Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, she wants to see interested attorneys supported and given the resources they need to succeed.
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Rough, Scandalous Sex. You just skipped to this paragraph, didn’t you? When I spoke with Brinkley, she pointed out that only in ART law can you consult with your clients about a contract provision regulating the amount of “rough, scandalous sex” and nipple stimulation they can engage in. That’s because gestational carrier (surrogacy) contracts are often very specific about the type of strenuous activity the gestational carrier must avoid for the safety of the pregnancy. Even more controversial, we often have to negotiate how much coffee a surrogate can drink on a daily basis. Sex is one thing, but be careful when you mess with people’s caffeine intake!
It Probably Shouldn’t Be About The Money. I will warn my fellow Biglaw escapees: the pay is unlikely to ever compare. And if your interest relates only to the previous paragraph, I believe that you could still probably consult about certain intercourse issues if you were Robert Redford’s lawyer in Indecent Proposal, although those jobs are probably hard to come by.
With the expansion of same-sex marriage and technology, the ART attorney market is booming, but it remains fiercely competitive. Almost all regular practitioners charge a modest flat fee for each contract representation and parentage order. No more lucrative billing by the hour. So if you want to join us, say goodbye to making it rain. But hello to a warm heart!
Ellen Trachman is the Managing Attorney of Trachman Law Center, LLC, a Denver-based law firm specializing in assisted reproductive technology law, adoption, and estate planning, and Co-Director of Colorado Surrogacy, LLC, a surrogacy matching and support agency. You can reach her at [email protected].
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Law Firm Business Development Is More Than Relationship Building
