We recently connected with Adrian Doty, Esq. and have shared our conversation below.

Adrian, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with a hypothetical question – if it were up to you, what would you change about the school or education system to better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career?

It is amazing how law school does little to prepare students on how to actually practice law. Law school focuses on the black-letter law and how to pass the Bar Exam. However, students are not taught the day-to-day of being a lawyer. For example, most law grads do not know how to file a lawsuit.

Other than taking courses that are subjects on the Bar Exam, law students should also focus their education on skills that they will actually utilize when they become attorneys. For example, my Trial Advocacy and Counseling/Negotiation courses were the most important subjects for me as they directly relate to my current practice every single day. They were far more helpful than general subject courses like Business Associations or Constitutional Law.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I obtained my law degree from Southwestern Law School in Downtown Los Angeles. I started practicing civil litigation in Los Angeles County before moving to the Bay Area and working for a well-respected San Jose family law firm.

I relocated to San Diego five years ago and I am now a senior associate attorney at Sunnen Law focusing exclusively on family law cases. I am now entering my 12th year of legal practice.

The current family law industry standard is to litigate heavily in court. I try to dedicate my practice to efficiently managing my clients’ cases and keeping them out of the courtroom. My goal is always to work to achieve settlements through negotiation whenever possible. Part of the reason is that litigating in court (especially in San Diego County) is very slow and expensive. Also, my clients are usually happier when a settlement is reached and they are finally able to turn the page on an emotionally difficult time in their lives. However, I do understand that not every case can be settled, so I am always ready to aggressively litigate in court to protect my clients’ interests when necessary.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Family law attorneys used to rely on word of mouth and client referrals for new client business. But now internet review sites such as Avvo, Yelp, and Google are the best sources for new clients. So internet presence is now a big deal in the family law industry.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Most clients do not want to engage with their family law attorneys after their divorce is finalized or their case is resolved. However, it is common for post-judgment issues to come up – especially involving child custody/visitation and child support since the Court retains jurisdiction over those issues until the children age out.

So I try to keep in touch with my clients even after the dust settles in their case because you never know when additional issues may arise.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.sunnen-law.com/

Image Credits
Roberto Magana Photography