Well, it has been another year of fun and games. Horse shit and misery was still the choice of many that found themselves in the throes of DIVORCE. Judge Thomas Trent Lewis likely gave what I think was the best comment that says it all, Litigation can turn into liquidation. You have a hundred dollars, you take $40.00 give the other side $60.00 and walk away. If you dont? Complete strangers will walk away with the entire
$100.00 and one day you will be scratching your ass wondering ‘what just happened?’ Worse yet, your children will be asking what did mommy and daddy do with all the money and did they really spend $25,000 dollars fighting over a ‘Holiday’?
There are many wonderful men and women who sit (bench officers) in the miserable position of having to deal with DIOVRCE and in the end folks, it is all on you, who will decide your fate, easy or hard. For us, it makes little difference. Recently during an interesting conversation I was told that I was expensive……by a lawyer no less! A lawyer who made a million dollars in just a few months! I laughed. We make a mere fraction of what a lawyer makes and we take all the hits. So, in thinking of what my dear friend said, we are raising our fees for the coming year. $395.00 to $495.00. We just want to live like some of you fat cat lawyers out there. Thank you Patrick!
The real issue is that many lawyers in DIVORCE want to suck every dime out of a client for themselves and not hire any experts and instead of surrounding themselves with competence they seek out cheap and dumb. Like serving the wrong person live on TMZ! Another issue is that I dont give a flying f*&k, 21 plus years in the trenches and here is where we find ourselves! We are blessed to be the choice of some of the best law firms in the country. I am further blessed to consider many friends, Neal, Lisa, Judy, Ros, Anne, Joe, Susan, Joy, Gary, Lisa, Avi, Patrick, Melanie, Adam, Michael, Ron, Joe, Aaron, Chet, Brian, Anita, Mark, Peter, Paul, Mary, Harry, Greg, Armand, Sam, Raul….well I could do this all night! Thank you all and you all know who you are and how special you are to me and those close to me.
BTW, we do not give out goodies till after the holidays. We are special and do not want to have our ‘Thanks’ mixed in with the commoners…..so stand by, they are coming. Little tiny DESPERATEEXES dropping off some fun stuff to those we like, one might say it is a short list!
Attended a few Christmas / Holiday parties and the best hands down was the one thrown by Lisa Helfend Meyer and the wonderful crew at M.O.L.M. Only this group would rent out Shutters on the Beach. Great food, great music and top shelf adult beverages. Lisa, Dana, Doreen, Felicia, Ben and Anne have one direction and that is to the moon, and always first class. Visiting the incredible offices of M.O.L.M. for a ‘legal’ event, (opposing counsel) you can be promised one thing. You may leave miserable but you will be fed well! As for the Holiday bash, it was just the best! The entire crew from M.O.L.Ms new offices in Orange County where also present for the party. It was great to meet the crew who are guiding the expansion of M.O.L.M under the guidance of Lisa and her partners.
Speaking of up-beat and great lawyers, I am ending my year on DESPERATEEXES.com with a story on someone that I have the greatest respect for and she happens to be a DIVORCE lawyer. She is my friend Melanie Shornick, Esquire. Melanie is an associate at Trope & Trope based here in Los Angeles. Most, and certainly not all, ‘Associates’ are nothing more than folks who passed the BAR and for whatever reason have no desire or sometimes talent to go to court and practice law. Some of these folks sit in horrible office spaces tucked away so as not to be a nuisance and figure out ways to bill hours for the principals of the firms and act as ‘wallets’. Not this one folks. When you ‘meet’ and do the ‘greet’, hope and pray you get Melanie Shornick. Hell, why not ask for her and tell the nice man you read about this incredible lawyer right here on Desperateexes.com. A finer lawyer at this firm will be hard to find, my opinion.
Any ‘litigant’ who is lucky enough to get Melanie Shornick on their side should consider themselves very lucky. And immediately drop to their knees and pray to the DIVORCE god, thanking me. Or you can just call me and tell me how right I was. This associate knows the law and can stand in front of any judge with the best of them in this town and throw those big words around. Strategizing while she is under fire is also a talent and Melanie seems to have mastered this technique too.
Watching Shornick in court ,and I / we have many times over the years, is like watching a well oiled machine, cool under fire and on top of her game. No waffling here. Never ever have I ever seen her make a fool of herself or not look and sound professional. This also might sound like a given for a lawyer, however, there are lawyers who show up in our cities courts almost everyday that, if not for having a law degree, could pass for ass clowns. I am sorry if this is offensive but the truth, it hurts, and I know it, and sometimes I am there to pass them their big red noses in the form of an entertaining piece on DESPERATEEXES.com. I love passing out noses!
Trope & Trope has several good lawyers on staff, few have the ability of Melanie Shornick. This is a lawyer who really practices law. Melanie has been with Trope since 2006 and if and when she ever decides to close her brief case and search for greener pastures, I think I heard some ‘Bulls Mooing’. There is not one doubt that many firms would leap at the chance to have someone with the ability and talent of Ms. Shornick.
Shornick is in fact, a ‘Super Lawyer’. No, not the one who ‘pays to be a Super Lawyer’, Melanie has too much class to get involved in such a silly pay to play scheme. And why would she? The real deal is what we have in Shornick.
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By John Nazarian
Straight Talk with John J. Nazarian, Private Investigator
December 21, 2014
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