Wolters Kluwer
legal education

About the Book

Work of the Family Lawyer

Front Cover - Work of the Family Lawyer

Second Edition

Robert E. Oliphant
Emeritus, William Mitchell College of Law

Nancy Ver Steegh
William Mitchell College of Law

2008. 816 pages. ISBN 13: 978-0-7355-7092-4. With Teacher's Manual.


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About the Book

Ideal for both classroom and clinical settings, Work of the Family Lawyer, Second Edition, offers succinct coverage in an accessible format that encourages the development of skills used in practice.

Work of the Family Lawyer takes a focused approach that includes:

  • concise and accessible introductions
  • tightly edited cases
  • student-friendly problems and questions that promote in-class learning
  • a flexible organization, based on issues commonly confronting a family law practitioner, that can easily adapt to a variety of teaching approaches
  • a consistent and sensible chapter structure:
        - a brief introduction
        - case orientation
        - carefully edited and focused cases
        - discussion questions
        - summary of context and principles
        - review problems
  • mediation and professional responsibility coverage that illuminates the lawyer’s role as a problem solver and counselor
  • a detailed Teacher’s Manual that discusses and explains cases, questions, and problems, and which also provides Sample Syllabi
  • On this companion website you will find:
        - PowerPoint slides
        - Quizzes
        - Updates and supplemental material

What’s new in the thoughtful revision of the Second Edition:

  • major U.S. Supreme Court decisions and recent state decisions including:
        - Goodridge v. Department Of Public Health
        - Lofton v. Secretary of Dept. of Children and Family Services
        - Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales
        - Whorton v. Dillingham III
        - Nicholson v. Scoppetta
        - Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey
        - Stenberg v. Carhart
        - Bartsch v. Bartsch
        - In Re Marriage of Hansen
        - Roe v. Wade
  • new chapters on marriage requirements and grounds for divorce and the issues and law surrounding abortion
  • discussion of non-adversarial forms of practice, such as mediation and collaborative law, reflecting its increased use
  • a survey of the new roles of the family law professional
  • a more streamlined organization—26 chapters, down from 32
  • hypothetical problems that relate chapter topics to a variety of family structures
    the addition of interdisciplinary material from the social sciences

Honed to a fine point, this family law casebook is the perfect teaching tool—adapting to your students’ needs and to your preferences as you create your syllabus.


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Preface / Sample Chapters