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The Gitlin Law Firm - Practicing Exclusively in Family Law -- Divorce, Custody, Paternity, and Adoption

Geographical Coverage

The Gitlin Law Firm practices in the following Illinois counties:
McHenry, Lake, Kane, and Boone, DeKalb, Winnebago and DuPage.

Practice Exclusively Devoted to Family Law Cases:

The Gitlin Law Firm attorneys limit their practice to divorce and family law. The firm handles:

Original Divorce Proceedings
Post-divorce Judgment Enforcement Proceedings
Child Custody Cases
Adoptions
Premarital Agreements
Parentage (paternity) Proceedings
Appeals of Family Law Cases
Collaborative Law and Collaborative Divorce
Advising Clients in Family Law Cases While in Mediation

By exclusively handling family law cases, the lawyers at The Gitlin Law Firm are more familiar with family law than lawyers who do not limit their practice. Concentrating the practice also increases a lawyer's efficiency in handling a case--as it is likely that a similar case was handled before.

Court Proceedings:

In some firms the lawyer with whom you interview will not handle court appearances. For the sake of efficiency, Gunnar J. Gitlin believes that the same lawyer who handles your case on a day to day basis should also be the lawyer who handles any contested matters in court. The lawyers of The Gitlin Law Firm, Gunnar J. Gitlin, Paulette M. Gray, Stephanie A. Kasten and Scott Farrell are experienced in negotiating and in trying family law cases.

State of the Art Practice:

The Gitlin Law Firm's practice is state of the art. This involves both investments in technology which increase efficiency as well as investments in remaining at the cutting edge of family law issues. This web site is one example of the investment that the firm has made into compiling resources for family lawyers including the lawyers of the Gitlin Law Firm. The Gitlin Law Firm efficiency is demonstrated by its online database of Illinois family law cases. This electronic database was developed over the years by Gunnar J. Gitlin and includes copies of the Gitlin on Divorce Reports, edited by H. Joseph Gitlin. It includes charts and various comments by Gunnar J. Gitlin. The online database is used in-house by the lawyers and legal assistants of the Gitlin Law Firm so that virtually any family law issue can be researched quickly and authoritatively.

Clients of The Gitlin Law Firm may communicate with the law firm via fax transmission. If secure protocols are established, clients may also communicate with the law firm via E-mail.

Nature of the Practice:

Family law proceedings involve one of the most difficult periods in a person's life. Studies indicate that three of the most stressful events are divorce, moving and death of a close family member. Divorce often involves at least two of these significant events. Post-divorce proceedings can be equally traumatic. They may involve proceedings for modification of custody which is one of the most difficult areas of a family lawyer's practice.

It has been said that family lawyers see good people at their worst. For this reason a lawyer handling a family law practice must have the ability to listen well, to communicate promptly and to commit himself to providing quality legal services. This is the goal of The Gitlin Law Firm.

Balanced Practice:

Most firms handle only traditional adversarial representation. Some people refer to Baruch's Observation as: "When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Accordingly, when a lawyer only knows about traditional adversarial representation, generally this is the only approach that the lawyer will suggest. There are cases appropriate for adversarial representation and cases appropriate for collaborative representation. All the lawyers of the Gitlin Law Firm have been trained as collaborative professionals (Fellows of the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals] and have significant experience in adversarial representation. Accordingly, the lawyers of The Gitlin Law Firm will be able to give the pros and cons as to the type of representation that is appropriate.

For questions, please contact us at:
e-mail:		call:	815.338.9401
write to:	The Gitlin Law Firm 663 E. Calhoun St., Woodstock, IL 60098