http://www.gitlinlawfirm.com/writings/general.htm

Family Lawyer's General Reading List — for Illinois Lawyers

By: Gunnar J. Gitlin

The Gitlin Law Firm, P.C., Woodstock, Illinois

www.gitlinlawfirm.com

"Get the books, and read and study them till, you understand them in their principal features; and that

is the main thing. It is of no consequence to be in a large town while you are reading... The

books , and your capacity for understanding them, are just the same in all places."

"The best mode of obtaining a thorough knowledge of the law" is received. The mode is very simple, though laborious, and

tedious. It is only to get the books, and read, and study them carefully. Work, work, work, is the main thing."

Selections from Letters from Abraham Lincoln

1. Reading List: Before Lincoln became President he practiced law for 25 years. Lincoln's

advice to a law student especially applies to an Illinois divorce lawyer. I give you a primer of

treatises that a top notch family associate should read.

a. Gitlin on Divorce — A Guide to Illinois Matrimonial Law: Yes. I am biased. This

was drafted by my father with input by me on certain sections — including retirement

benefits, attorney's fees, etc.

b. Reports: The Gitlin on Divorce Reports are very helpful to read. From reading the

reports, an Illinois family lawyer will receive significantly more background regarding

the case law than by simply reading the book. I would be inclined to not just read the

last year's worth of reports but the last several years worth of reports. (I believe that

going back and reading the holdings of all of the reports is an excellent task and can be

done through printing out the key cases from the research system and going from

holding to holding).

While I was studying for the AAML (American Academy of Matrimonial

Lawyers) certification exam I reread and studied all of our Gitlin on Divorce

Reports. I found this helpful. And before my first job at Schiller, DuCanto &

Fleck, I read all of the Gitlin on Divorce Reports that had been published to

that date (1987). Reading these reports gave me a comfort level with Illinois

family law. These can be read and reviewed online on the Gitlin on Divorce

Research System. It now has summaries and links to cases covering two

decades.

c. Initial Statutory Law:

i. Read the Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act a number of times.

ii. Other Acts to Read:

(1) Illinois Parentage Act of 1984;

(2) IDVA (Domestic Violence Act);

(3) IWSA (Support Withholding Act);

(4) Relevant provisions of Code of Civil Procedure (click here to download

to your PDA).

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See also: Illinois Compiled Statutes:

735 ILCS

(5) Supreme Court Rules —

Especially Article II -- Range of “Rule

101

through

298”

Civil Appeal Rules.

e. Later Statutory Law:

i. UIFSA; See also my article regarding UIFSA and the UIFSA amendments.

ii. UCCJEA: See also my article on the UCCJEA.

iii. UPAA (Illinois' version of the Illinois Premarital Agreement Act (it is an easy

read));

I read the statutes over regularly and each time I read the family law statutes I

pick up different things about Illinois family law. This is recommended

reading prior to your employment. You should have a binder which contains

the family law statutes, the local rules, the important Supreme Court rules and

provisions of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure. You should immediately

develop your own notebook.

Reading the book, the recent Gitlin on Divorce Reports, the forms, the IFLR

Family Law Statutes, the pertinent Supreme Court Rules and the pertinent

Illinois Code of Civil Procedure are the basic works to bring you up to speed

with Illinois family law issues.

f. Taxation:

Frumkes on Divorce Taxation: 8th Edition. James Publishing. Updated each year.

$99.00. This handbook is excellent. It is written in an easy to read style but is quite

detailed and addresses the more difficult divorce tax issues. For more information and

to order Frumkes on Divorce Taxation, see

http://www.jamespublishing.com/books/dtax.htm

I agree with the reviews on this web page.

g. QDROs:

i. Qualified Domestic Relations Order Handbook, Third Edition by Gary

Schulman, published by Aspen Publishers, supplement published each eyar.

See: http://www.qdros.com/purchase.asp. This book goes into sufficient detail

to obtain a very good handle on all of the issues when negotiating and drafting

qualified domestic relations orders. They also publish the QDRO Report by

Shulman which is worthwhile. 1 800 234 1660. Your firm should have the

Shulman book. For a further description see

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http://www.divorcesource.com/research/edj/qdro/00mar25.shtml.

For ordering online see, Aspen Publishers

ii. QDROs the Division of Benefits Through Qualified Domestic Relations

Orders, U.S. Department of Labor / EBSA, see For the PDF of this document

click here. See: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/Publications/qdros.html

This is required reading as to QDROs and written in plain English. It is free.

iii. Information available on the web includes information on obtaining copies of

certain forms directly from the Department of Labor. See

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/publications/how_to_obtain_docs.html For

information on how to obtain copies click here.

h. Negotiations 101: Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, Fisher,

Ury and Patton, Penguin. This book sets forth the principled

approach to negotiations - of which Gitlin Law Firm is a proponent.

I consider the book "Beyond Reason: Using Your Emotions as You

Negotiate" to be an essential supplement to Getting to Yes. Beyond

Reason is co-authored by one of the co-authors of Getting to Yes --

Roger Fisher.

A good book to also read is The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and

especially the chapter on negotiation as a counter-point to Getting to Yes. Buy Getting

to Yes in soft-cover. It is an inexpensive book.

i. Business Valuation Books

i. IICLE Chapter on Business Valuation in Divorce Cases. This was co-authored

by me and written primarily by me. It is no longer part of the IICLE handbooks

but is kept up to date.

ii. Valuing a Business: The Analysis and Appraisal of Closely Held Companies,

5th Edition, January 2008, Pratt, Reilly, Schweihs, Irwin Publishing Co. This

book was first published in 1981 and I have read every version since the 2nd

edition.

iii. Alternatively, Valuation of Small Businesses, 2000.

See e.g.,

http://www.bvresources.com/bvstore/ShannonBookList.asp

for a list of books written by Shannon Pratt or in

which he was one of the authors. Also see their

recommended business valuation book list.

j. Reading Tax Returns:

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i. The Business Tax Return Handbook, 3rd Editio

. Family Law Section,

American Bar Association and 1040 Handbook: A Guide to Income and Asset

Discovery, 5th Edition.

iii. Financial Statements: Read a good book on howto understand financial

statements of a business. There are several.

k. The MMPI and Custody 101:

i. Psychological Experts in Divorce Fourth Edition. Aspen Law & Business.

Marc J. Ackerman and Andrew W. Kane. Last Updated: March 28, 2010.

ii. MMPI-2 Books: Read either.

(1) The MMPI, MMPI-2, and MMPI-A In Court: A Practical Guide for

Expert Witnesses and Attorneys (3rd Edition). By Kenneth S. Pope,

James N. Butcher and Joyce Seelen. American Psychological

Association, Washington, D.C., May 2006.

For for information see: http://www.kspope.com/assess/mmpi.php

Order through Amazon.

(2) The “Bible” and the book that I have used the most is: MMPI-II,

Assessing Personality and Psychopathology, 5\th Edition, John R.

Graham. Oxford Univ. Press. Phone 800/451-7556, I have read each

edition since the first edition.

iii. An inexpensive book that I recommend uses a somewhat reverse approach.

Usually, partners will recommend your reading DSM-IV-TR. It is dry. When I

know a client or the opposing party is taking psychiatric drugs, I first look up the

drugs and then determine what was the likely diagnosis. A good book for doing

so is PDR Drug Guide For Mental Health Professionals. A recent book addressing

psychological instruments is: Forensic Uses of Clinical Assessment

Erlbaum Associates.)

l. Trial Practice 101:

i. Cross-Examination:

(1) Read, Cross-Examination: Science and Techniques, Second Edition.

Pozner & Dodd. 2004. Lexis Law Publishing.

(2) The first book I read was Wellman's The Art of Cross Examination.

Although the book was written around the turn of the century, it is

wonderful. The book is as true today as it was 95 years ago. It is a fun

read. Only $8.00

(3) Irving Younger's “The Ten Commandments of Cross-Examination”

Audio-tape series. While this tape series was made in 1975 it is a classic.

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It is a cursory treatment, however, when compared to Cross-

Examination: Science and Techniques.

ii. Evidence:

(1) “Illinois Evidence with Objections in Family Law Cases.” The genesis of this is

a small handbook by NITA called, “Illinois Evidence with Objections”

Revised 4th Edition (2008) by James P. Carey, Anthony Bocchino and David

Sonenshein.

(2) The version based upon the Federal Rules of Evidence: A Practical

Guide to Federal Evidence: Objections, Responses, Rules and Practice

Commentary, Seventh Edition, 2005.

(a) States with their specific version of this small handbook are:

Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota,

New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, Wisconsin.

http://www.nita.org/bookorder.asp

(3) A tip another lawyer gave me which has helped my trial skills was to

purchase the computerized trial simulation CD. Their web site is:

http://www.objection.com/

The programs are available at my office and I will work to updating

these to work with our version of Windows. The series of programs is:

Objection (a murder trial), Civil Objection (auto negligence), Civil

Objection (slip and fall), and Expert Witness. I disagree with several of

the rulings made on the CD. While the simulations are not based upon a

family law case, I still find this series to be helpful in teaching how to

make prompt and accurate objections. We have this text.

m. Legal Writing: While mentioned last, the most important skill of any lawyer is

writing well. The newest book I recommend is Garner on Language and Writing,

American Bar Association, 2009. Skip the chapters on Writing in Law School and

Judicial Writing. While 706 pages, this book is a remarkably quick read.

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The Gitlin Law Firm, P.C., provides the above information as a service to other lawyers to assist with

continuing legal education. A person's accessing the information contained in this web site is not

considered

as retaining The Gitlin Law Firm for any case nor is it considered as providing legal advice.

The Gitlin Law Firm cannot guarantee the outcome of any case.

The Gitlin Law Firm

Practice Limited to Family Law

63 East Calhoun Street

Woodstock, IL 60098

815/338-9401

www.gitlinlawfirm.com

Last Updated: April 25, 2013