i wish

that i could say

that in eighth grade i read to kill a

mockingbird

and wanted to be a lawyer and i never

looked back

or that both my parents were attorneys

and i never looked back but neither of

those circumstances are true

when i was in college my roommate

wanted very badly to become a lawyer

and to take the lsats which is the

exam to get into law school

and he turned to me and said burn

you are the only person i know who gets

up early

will you wake me up i said i don’t know

he said i’ll pay

for your

exam

which in those years was 35

if that

i said that’s great i got him up i took

the lsats

i became an attorney because i went to

law school

[Music]

i want to mention

that i have been practicing for 45 years

i won’t

say my age but people can figure it out

even though

my wife says i look pretty good

still

but

my mentor

was

a guy by the name of marvin mitchelson

he was a divorce lawyer to the stars

and he was out of california

he was the first matrimonial lawyer and

the only divorce lawyer to ever appear

on people magazine’s cover

and we

meaning my former partner and i

became his new york

lawyers

i saw from

his work

that

celebrities high profile people were no

different they were going through the

difficulties of life and that has stayed

with me

in addition

marvin who got into some degree of

trouble

at the end of his career

i have refused to do what he has done or

what he did which was

that he fell in love with his own press

clippings he fell in love with the

allure

of hollywood and representing

the elite and the movie stars

and

that became for him

his raisin detra

his reason for living he then

got into some trouble as i’ve said

before

so i have developed in my career

a healthy respect for my own

degree of celebrity but i never

mix it up

with

deciding that or or determining that

the life of the celebrity or the high

net worth person is my life

i go home

i live a respectable upper class life

but i don’t mix it up and that is what

i’ve learned

from my mentor

[Music]

here’s my

advice

and i’m going to make

you

and everyone who’s listening and expert

in child custody

i tell my clients as i’m telling you

that the law is

that you follow

the best interests of your child or

children

what does that mean best interests

and therefore

the

concept of custody is

entirely discretionary with the court

and i always tell my clients to wear the

white hat as opposed to the black hat

after i have made them

an expert in child custody as i’ve just

made you

by telling them that it’s the best

interest of the child that controls