The Remedy For Most Anything”
Yorba Linda is a television show waiting to happen, and Attorney Brenda McCune, with her warm smile and perceptive, right-on-the-button sense of humor, is the perfect face for a city known as The Land of Gracious Living. I think what I like most about Yorba Linda is that the people who live there aren’t above making fun of themselves, and how idealised their lives are: they know they have it good. In fact, things are so “right” they should be wrong, and that’s not a pun about the political slant of a city whose most famous resident was former President Richard Nixon. Yorba Linda is full of surprises, and the smooth texture of its surface is built upon -- and, in fact, depends upon -- the dichotomy, complexity and contradictions just a few feet down.
Though Att. McCune has clients in Placentia, Fullerton, Brea and Anaheim, she joked with me that some people think of Yorba Linda as a sort of “Stepford Wives” community, but she herself is the Great-Granddaughter of a Sioux Medicine Woman -- pretty far removed from Stepford. What I discovered in talking with Att. McCune about her practice is that (again, no pun intended), a Family Law Attorney cannot divorce themselves from other career professions and focus primarily on “Law” with their clients, because at times they will have to function as a Psychologist, Domestic Abuse Therapist, Life Coach, Armchair Accountant and Motivational Speaker – if you throw in Comedian and Office Babysitter, you’ll have the full spectrum of services offered to you by your friendly, neighborhood Attorney practicing Family Law.
HW: “Your Grandmother was half Sioux, and I know you two spent a lot of time together; what did you learn from her?”
ATTORNEY BRENDA McCUNE: “She taught me that life was about working hard, and to never be a person of excuses. She said we’re not entitled to waste anything, and that I should learn something every day.”
HW: “And you certainly have learned a lot; I mean, before you graduated from Law School, you worked in the car business doing high-end sales of fleets of cars at a time. How did that experience help you as a Lawyer now.”
ATT. McCUNE: “Well, I learned how to multi-task, but I think just being a mom teaches you that. I already had one child when I graduated from Law School; I was sworn in as an attorney on December 16th, 1996, and my second child was born on December 31st, 1996. I literally had a license to practice law with two kids in diapers.”
HW: “I think that’s the greatest line I’ve heard in a long time.”
ATT. McCUNE: “And it’s the truth.”
HW: “So, what did you do?”
ATT. McCUNE: “Early on I took cases as a volunteer attorney with the Public Law Center, which was a Free Legal Clinic, and this is where I first encountered women who were victims of domestic violence, and this is something that affects anyone. It doesn’t come in the same car, race or face -- even men are sometimes abused.”
HW: “I like the fact that you have a lot of resources on your website about where to find help if you’re a victim of domestic violence. It wouldn’t take a lot of imagination to guess that you’re probably pretty hard on the ‘abusers’ who are afflicting pain on their spouses.”
ATT. McCUNE: “Yes, I firmly believe that people who terrorize others need to be dealt with authority. Remember, I’m essentially helping people in crisis, but the one thing that’s always the same with the victim is that they thinks it’s their fault. The abuser’s agenda is always about control. Whether through financial means, violence, isolation (from family, friends, social relations). The victims always feel worthless, so I have to stand up for them, because usually they’ll take their abusers back.”
HW: “What a world... How do you make your way back to the light after seeing something like that?”
ATT. McCUNE: This is definitely a job that spills over, but, as they say, a thankful heart is the remedy for a lot of things. My husband, Ross McCune, who has a Masters Degree in Psychology, is invaluable to me; he has a very unique understanding for what I do. I love my children and I’m just very thankful for what I have.”
HW: “What’s your goal as a Family Law Attorney?”
ATT. McCUNE: “I really, whenever possible, try my best to preserve what the family has built, because divorce is, in essence, about dismantling a family. Most often, what I’m seeing are decent, ordinary people at the worst times in their life, and I don’t lose sight of that... If I can’t do my job with sensitivity I won’t do it.”
(714) 695-0502 FAMILY LAW - BRENDA McCUNE