Call me sentimental, but when I think of Alec Baldwin, I like to remember him for his incredible performance in David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross.” Most people, however, associate Alec Baldwin as one half of Hollywood’s nastiest divorce – the other half being Kim Basinger, of course. I feel the same way about David Hasselhoff – let’s stop talking about his divorce and focus on the legacy of “Knight Rider,” “Baywatch,” and his role as Judge on “America’s Got Talent.”
All kidding aside, what Alec Baldwin and David Hasselhoff have in common is that they could have both used an Attorney like Linda S. Gross, whose work in Collaborative Family Law is considerably reducing the number of hate e-mails, vicious voice mails, hexes and general bad vibes sent between warring spouses in a divorce. For Att. Gross, it really comes down to the children. Though she doesn’t have any biological kids of her own, she extends her maternal instinct to protect the children of every client her Firm represents where minors are involved. Part of her “parental” nature can be attributed to being the eldest of 7 children, and taking care of her younger brothers and sisters, but the makeup of her character and the moral principles of her life’s work may have come from her early years as a volunteer helping Nuns at the Sacred Hearts Hospital in her hometown of South Dakota, a place most notably known as the birthplace of Tom Brokaw..
HW: “What’s the easiest way to explain Collaborative Family Law.”
ATTORNEY LINDA S. GROSS: “Collaborative Law is a way for two people to have a divorce without emotionally ripping apart each other’s lives, and damaging the psyche of their children. It’s about finding a peaceful way for a couple to divorce, using cooperative strategies, rather than adversarial techniques and litigation.”
HW: “So, this is basically divorce without going to court.”
ATT. GROSS: “Exactly. A written agreement called a stipulation is filed with the court, and the attorneys for both parties agree to assist their clients in resolving any conflict and reaching an agreement.”
HW: “It sounds great, but how do you get couples to stop fighting and buy into something like this?”
ATT. GROSS: “Well, one of the attractions to Collaborative Law is that we’re focused on reaching a mutually beneficial resolution for both parties, so all of the experts that we have – the Child Specialist, the CPA or the Certified Financial Planner – they come in completely neutral in their positions, so they’re 100% objective in their assessments of these cases. Sometimes we’ll also have Mental Health Professionals who can help both parties with their communication, so we can avoid a lot of blaming and finger pointing and really get down to finding solutions for the important issues at hand.”
HW: “This sounds like the kind of program Bruce Willis and Demi Moore went through with their divorce, and Bruce ended up attending Demi’s wedding to Ashton Kutcher – I guess we really all can get along.”
ATT. GROSS: “Yes we can.”
HW: “It’s clear you love what you do. I guess you made the right career choice.”
ATT. GROSS: “You know, I really can’t think of a higher calling. The hardest part of divorce is when there are children involved, and you’re trying to help them adjust to this new arrangement, and I don’t think anything helps them face this transition better than Collaborative Law. Children are our resources, and we have to take care of them, but to do that we have get past this ‘half-empty’ syndrome and start looking for the good things in this world.”
(310) 829-3221 FAMILY LAW - GROSS