Family Law

It is with surprise and pleasure as I reflect on the 17th anniversary of the Domestic Relations Update that it remains a vibrant, successful and integral CLE to Jefferson County family law practitioners.

When Alan T. Slyn and Retired Judge Richard A. Revell first presented this seminar in 1991 few attorneys limited their practices to divorce law. The Jefferson Family Court Pilot Project was just beginning, with Judge Revell sworn in as its first Chief Judge. Continuing legal education had just been mandated. The Annual Domestic Relations Update seemed to fit a great niche of bringing general practitioners up-to-date on Kentucky divorce law once a year and providing the venue for discussion among this nascent family law community.

Today we have a large family court bar and dedicated family courts. Presumably the many lawyers limiting practices to divorce and family law stay up-to-date. All new decisions are available on the internet as they are published. Three years ago when Alan Slyn asked me to present in his place, I feared this seminar may have become a dinosaur. It was my happy discovery in accepting the invitation to participate that this seminar remains a fabulous opportunity for the family court bench and bar to brainstorm cases and to debate the nuances of the law. Presenting is as exhilarating as Supreme Court oral arguments, for the questions are consistently insightful and provocative.

I invite you to join Judge Revell and me on March 14, 2008 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. for the 17th Annual Domestic Relations Update at the Louisville Bar Association. Sadly, Alan???s health will not permit him to attend even though he has requested the material and no doubt read every word of every case backward, forward, and upside down. I wish he would let us beam him in by hologram, but I guess carrying on the tradition will have to suffice.

Published in Louisville Bar Briefs, March 2008, Volume 08, No. 3

Diana L. Skaggs is President of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. Her firm, Diana L. Skaggs + Associates limits its practice to divorce and family law.