In today`s strange economic times, divorces aren`t much different from jobs, salary increases and good credit ratings:
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More want them, fewer get them.
At least that`s been the experience of several lawyers, who`ve been fielding an increased number of inquiries from couples seeking divorce-but at the same time have seen settlements disintegrate like real estate deals in a cold market.
”Settlements fall by the wayside so quickly,” said Gemma Allen, partner and co-chair of Pretzel & Stouffer`s divorce division. ”If the income isn`t coming in, people are locked in mortal combat.”
That`s what happened to a client of lawyer Stuart Palmer, a partner at Kanter & Mattenson. He recently saw a settlement fall apart when the husband lost his job, leaving him unable to buy out the wife`s share of the mortgage. And it goes beyond that. Palmer said wives are reluctant to file for divorce because, in this weak economy, the husband`s assets-such as his company or shares-have a lower value.
”It`s to the detriment of the person who isn`t in the business,” Palmer said. That traditionally is the wife.
”Generally speaking, it`s probably a pretty good time for men to get divorced,” he said.
Regardless of what happens when they get to the point of dividing assets, more people are taking the first step and contacting lawyers for a divorce. That, too, is part of the recession.
”People need someone to blame, and they`re blaming each other,” Allen said. ”It`s been a deluge. What surprises me most is that people don`t seem to be hesitating, male or female, affluent or not affluent.”
She said both sides seem to be saying that ”it`ll be rougher, but it`s already rough, and I`d rather be happy.”
Seems like old times
It`s not often that a trial spectator becomes the topic of discussion between a judge and lawyers in the judge`s chambers.
It`s even rarer for a spectator to file a formal request with a judge, asking that the transcript of the discussion be kept secret.
But then Therese Halas, former wife of the late George S. ”Mugsy” Halas Jr. and a frequent spectator at the federal bribery trial of former Cook County Circuit Court Judge David Shields, already is a legend in the annals of Chicago`s legal history for her protracted courtroom battle over the reorganization of the Chicago Bears and the estate of Bears founder George S. Halas Sr.
Last week, Halas and her lawyer, G. Robert Blakey, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, were back in court, seeking to have sealed a two-page portion of the transcript of Shields` trial.
Halas and Shields are longtime friends; Halas apparently offered to pay the cost of having a court reporter prepare daily trial transcripts.
A dispute over payment resulted in a discussion in chambers last Sept. 17 involving U.S. District Judge Ilana Rovner, who was presiding over Shields`
trial, defense lawyers and prosecutors. Halas and Blakey were not present.
According to Rovner`s version in the transcript, Halas had berated her court reporter, Karen Lorentz, screamed at Lorentz and threatened to file a complaint.
In asking Rovner to seal that portion of the transcript, Blakey called the dispute ”unfortunate” and said Halas had paid for all the bills she received. The transcript included nothing of public significance, Blakey said. But Rovner, whose consideration for those who appear in her courtroom-lawyers and criminals alike-also is legendary, said placing that part of the transcript under seal ”serves no purpose.”
”The situation truly got out of hand,” Rovner told Blakey in court as Halas looked on from the spectator section. ”She must accept the consequences for those actions.”
High-tech jury
Can a computer effectively draw the line between sanity and insanity in such multiple murder cases as those of John Wayne Gacy and Jeffrey Dahmer, who was found sane Saturday by a Milwaukee jury?
It`s time to find out, suggests attorney Robert M. Motta, who along with Sam Amirante, now a judge, represented Gacy at his murder trial in 1980.
Motta said that juries have a tough, if not impossible task of setting aside emotion when listening to and viewing graphic testimony and evidence. But a computer?
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It`s worth a try, Motta said. ”With every conceivable factor programmed in,” he added. ”Even the credibility of witnesses.”
Gacy`s defense was that he was insane and thus not guilty to charges linking him to the murders of 33 young men and boys. As in Dahmer`s trial, Gacy`s was a battle of conflicting opinions by psychiatrists and
psychologists.
– ATTORNEY GENERAL UPDATE. Joseph Ponsetto and Richard Schwind, assistant attorney generals who were promoted last week by Illinois Atty. Gen. Roland Burris, are expected to figure prominently in statewide grand jury investigations of drug trafficking. And their work won`t be confined to rural counties. Some initial indictments will focus on Du Page County.
Ponsetto succeeds Michael Ditore as deputy director of enforcement. Schwind takes a new post as chief of the criminal prosecution and trial division.
– LAW BRIEFS. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy speaks Wednesday at the Chicago Bar Association`s annual Dickerson Award luncheon. Retired Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall is the recipient of the award, named for Earl Burris Dickerson, one Chicago`s pioneering black lawyers.
. . . Lawyer William Harte receives an award of excellence Friday at St. Ignatius College Prep`s annual alumni luncheon. . . . The Chicago Volunteer Legal Services Foundation sponsors a conference March 7 on preventing homelessness at the Illinois State Bar Association`s Chicago offices, 20 S. Clark St.