Top 9 Qualities of high net worth divorce lawyers in British Columbia 

Not all lawyers and law firms are equal. If you regard yourself as a high-net-worth party who is about to go through a divorce, there are specific qualities you'd want high net worth divorce lawyers to have. 

Not only that, but there are also certain characteristics you don't want your high net worth divorce lawyer to have.

If you regard yourself as a person with high net worth and live in British Columbia, this article is for you.

Top 9 Qualities of High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyers:

#1 Quality of a High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyer -
Extensive Legal Experience:

If you are going through a high net-worth divorce, you want to hire the right kind of lawyer for your case. Family law in British Columbia is based upon two things, the BC Family Law Act, which came into effect in 2013, and the common law.

Your high-net-worth divorce lawyer will have extensive experience not only in terms of knowing the legislation but will have extensive experience in understanding how the legislation will be interpreted in relation to you and your family’s unique situation. 

Even if you resolve your matter out of court (and we hope you do), all of the legal professionals involved in your matter will still be guided by the BC Family Act and the common law. 

If you are looking for a high-asset divorce lawyer, you will want to ask them about their experience in dealing with high-net-worth and even ultra-high-net-worth divorce cases.

#2 Quality of a High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyer -
They understand complex financial matters:

A high-asset divorce lawyer will understand complex financial matters.

What do we mean by that?

Because high-net-worth divorce cases often involve significant assets, such as corporations, partnerships, investments, and real estate, all with their own particular tax considerations, your divorce lawyer must have a strong understanding of financial matters.

This means that besides family law, they must also know some accounting concepts, tax considerations, and asset valuation.

If they do not know the tax treatment of a specific asset, they should know someone who will.

For example, as we write this article, at Pathway Legal, we are assisting someone who has ultra-high net worth and they have assets both personally and corporately held. The net value of these assets and the tax treatment of those assets is particularly important. For example, a property held by one party’s incorporated company has a value of $12,400,000; however, if they sold that property for $12,400,000 and put the sale proceeds into their personal bank account or investment, then the net proceeds after tax will be $5,965,640.

In the property division, we are dealing with where we have both personally held and corporate assets, this distinction is highly important. There is a big difference between $12,400,000 and $5,965,64 when dividing assets. 

If you consider yourself someone with high-net-worth or ultra-high-net-worth, ask your lawyer how familiar they are with your kind of matter. We suggest you dive even deeper and ask about their familiarity with financial statements and accounting principles.

#3 Quality of a High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyer -
They know legal procedures:

Good high-net-worth divorce lawyers know what to do if there is an impasse. If you and your spouse cannot agree on dividing assets in your divorce, for example, your lawyer needs to know what to do to move your matter forward. Time and again, we have seen cases stall with no resolution because the parties have reached an impasse and the lawyers have not moved the matter to arbitration or court, thus causing their clients ongoing stress and turmoil.

Getting divorced is hard enough, you want to move on with your life and resolve your matter. Your lawyer needs to know what to do if there is an impasse. 

If they cannot answer your question right away, they are not the high net worth divorce lawyer for you.

#4 Quality of a High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyer -
They are in communication with their clients:

There is a right way for lawyers to communicate with clients and a wrong way. You want your lawyer to communicate the right way. 

Believe it or not, most lawyers in private practice get so overwhelmed that they do not know how to keep on top of their workload, keep their clients happy, and move their client matters forward. Mostly they are buried in their own stress and overwhelm, so much so that their clients get angry with them for not seeing their cases move forward. 

This entire problem stems from how your lawyer communicates with you, the client.

At Pathway Legal, we let our clients know right from the outset, that we work with you on your matter. What we mean is that we expect you to be with us for most of the work we are doing. We want you with us either on the phone, on a Zoom call or in the office.

We do this because it ensures our clients see the progress that is being made on their case.

It inspires our clients’ confidence in us because our clients see what is happening with their matter, and see their matter progressing. We don’t do work in secret.

Regardless of your level of wealth, you want to ensure your case is moving forward and that you are kept up to speed with what is happening.

We recently learned of a case (not a case at Pathway Legal, thank goodness) where the client had no idea what was happening in their case.

Although their lawyer was working on their matter, the lawyer was not sharing information and documentation. The lawyer was working very hard, but behind the scenes and the client didn’t see the work that was being done.

Don’t let your lawyer do all the work behind your back!

When interviewing your potential high net worth divorce lawyer, ask them how they communicate with you, and share information. When your lawyer keeps you up to date with what is happening, it reduces the additional and unnecessary anxiety you might have. Getting a divorce is stressful enough, you don’t want your lawyer adding to your stress by not letting you know what is going on.

#5 Quality of a High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyer -
They can keep their emotions in check:

Getting a divorce is almost always stressful, and if you have a high net worth, the financial issue can be complex and the emotions highly charged. Those highly charged emotions can affect your divorce lawyer too. Because, well, divorce lawyers are humans, just like you.

Let me share a story of a lawyer that does not have the ability to keep their emotions in check. I will call him Derisive Dean:

Derisive Dean is the opposing lawyer on a very high-conflict matter we were involved in. We were the lawyer for the ex-spouse of Derisive Dean’s client. Derisive Dean has acted scornfully not only towards us but towards our client.

He has acted mockingly and disrespectfully. Just recently, he flipped me “the finger” and did so in front of his client, court staff and other parties at the courthouse.

We felt that Derisive Dean had gone too far and we wrote him an email:

Your communication remains hostile and combative. It may be personal to me for some reason, or if you are under the belief that you are advocating for your client. Either way, your manner towards me and this situation must change if this child is going to be kept out of conflict. 

Last week, you gave me "the finger" in front of your client, other parties, and court staff. I invite your apology.

Your aggressive behaviour is unnecessary and remains unhelpful to this family. Why do you not see that? 

This is about a young child entitled to positive relationships with the adults in his life. The relationship between counsel is thwarting that opportunity rather than making it possible. 

As lawyers who work within the family law context, it is our duty to maintain respectful communication, this is for the benefit of our respective clients and their children in particular. What can we do to move forward and get out of the way of having these clients resolve this matter on an amicable and respectful basis? 

I have given you numerous proposals to resolve matters and you have yet to respond to the proposals. 

This is all occurring with the background to family violence. Your client acknowledged that he attended anger management training to resolve some of the challenges he had with his behaviour during his relationship with my client. I am wondering how your client will have his behaviour improve going forward when he sees his lawyer behaving in a fashion as you did last week. 

Please advise me as to how we can put this situation right for the benefit of this four-year-old boy. My client remains open to solutions and moving forward.

Derisive Dean responded with:

So, yes, that is a very good example of a lawyer who has not kept his emotions in check. You want your high-net-worth divorce lawyer to recognize, understand, and manage their own emotions. Derisive Dean does not appear to be able to recognize, understand, or manage his own emotions at all.

Unfortunately, this way of behaving is costing both parties a lot of emotional stress and financial expense that is highly unnecessary. 

#6 Quality of a High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyer -
They demonstrate good relationships with others, including the opposing lawyer:

It is a must that your high-net-worth divorce lawyer has strong relationships with you, their other clients, their colleagues, their support staff, and others in the legal profession. When your divorce lawyer connects with others on an emotional level, they build rapport with everyone, including the judge. This often results in better and more efficiently obtained outcomes for you, the client.

We are thinking of this one lawyer we know. We will call him Litigation Larry:

Although Litigation Larry goes to trials much more often than I do and frequently fails to  settle his cases outside of the court system, we still think Litigation Larry does great work for his clients. I have acted “against” Litigation Larry many times. Although we do not always agree with his legal analysis (and the judge agreed), we appreciate that he is always respectful both inside and outside the courtroom. Because he always behaves like a “gentleman,” Litigation Larry benefits his clients because he does not waste time having petty disputes with other lawyers.

#7 Quality of a High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyer -
They have a competent support team:

Good high-net-worth divorce lawyers not only have intelligent and skilled support staff, they also know how to delegate to them. Recently we were involved in a case involving two very wealthy parties. The opposing lawyer is someone we have a ton of respect for. He is solution-focused, has a high degree of emotional intelligence, and does great work for clients. He has loads of legal experience and understands complex financial matters.

He was unable to complete the matter, however, because he is a “one-man show.”

Because this particular matter has hundreds of financial documents literally, he was unable to keep up with the sheer volume of financial materials being exchanged between the parties. As a result, he stepped down as the lawyer for his client, and his client retained another high-net-worth divorce lawyer. 

If you have a high net worth, it is likely that the financial aspects of your matter will result in a lot of material to wade through. You want your high net worth divorce material to have assistance with ensuring that material is well-organized and easy to locate. 

You don’t want to spend money paying your lawyer to file and manage documents when a legal assistant or paralegal can do the job for a fraction of the cost, and also, at the same time, free up your lawyer to focus upon the substantive financial issues associated with your case.

#8 Quality of a High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyer -
They are well-organized:

Good high net worth divorce lawyers have a very well-organized legal practice. Many such lawyers have worked with a business coach, or a consultant relating specifically to their law practice. Such an investment has allowed them to increase their law practice efficiency. This means that they will keep track of communications, keep track of documents, and be efficient with their time, all of which keep their clients happy and well-looked after. 

One way to figure out how well-organized your lawyer is, is to take a look around their office. If it is messy with files piled up everywhere and messy papers sticking out all over the place, get out of there. They are living in chaos. You don’t want the chaos of your lawyer’s lack of organization impacting your family law matter.

#9 Quality of a High-Net-Worth Divorce Lawyer -
STRONG Negotiation Skills: 

Good high net worth divorce lawyers have strong negotiation skills. This means that they have done dispute resolution training that goes well beyond what they were taught in law school.

When your high-net-worth divorce lawyer gets you to a legally binding settlement in an efficient manner, you will be able to get on with your future sooner than if you hire a combative and hostile lawyer who has no such skills. As you can already see, the most significant qualities of a high-net-worth divorce lawyer are about much more than understanding how to read a financial statement and understanding wealth. High net worth divorce lawyers typically possess legal expertise, emotional intelligence, and specialized knowledge. 

Oh, and before you take off, please take a quick look at what high net worth divorce lawyers are not . . .