In 1992, Winner, a consultant on women's rights in the courts, wrote the report "Women in Divorce" for New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs, and this study is an elaboration of that account. The gist of it is that when a divorce is not amicable, the woman is usually treated unfairly by the courts. Ironically, some of the legislation passed since 1970 to aid women in divorce cases, such as equitable distribution, community property and mediation laws, has had the opposite effect, because it allows lawyers to rack up hours chasing down assets. Winner considers lawyers a major factor in the many injustices divorcing women suffer, largely because many lawyers, in her view, are interested not in fairness but money. Winner offers several valuable solutions "to shift the balance from a lawyer-centered system to a consumer-driven system." This book will be important reading for women contemplating divorce. $50,000 ad/promo; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Women in divorce cases experience abuse, not justice, from the judicial establishment, states Winner, journalist and former investigator for the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs. She guides readers through the inner dynamics of divorce court proceedings and uncovers the too-common scene of unethical lawyers using the fee-for-profit system for self-enrichment and insensitive judges misapplying community property, equitable distribution, and no-fault divorce laws. Wives fare worse than husbands because they lack adequate financial resources for competent legal defense; face gender discrimination from the mainly male legal profession; and, after the divorce, descend in economic status, if not into poverty. Winner provides examples of wives who fought for their rights and won, and she advocates citizen activism and government intervention to discipline the legal profession and insure justice. This readable and timely book is recommended for public libraries.?Charles L. Lumpkins, Bloomsburg Univ. Lib., Pa.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
A useful if somewhat nave assessment of the labyrinthine divorce system. In the early 1990s, Winner, now a private consultant on women's rights and the courts, investigated complaints filed with the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs by women who felt that they had been abused by judges and lawyers in divorce court; many of her recommendations for reform were later adopted by the state. She found rampant overbilling, clear instances of conflict of interest, and repeated failures to disclose information on the part of lawyers, particularly those representing the nonprofessional women least likely to have the resources and sophistication to cope with such conduct. Winner also discovered what she considers to be persistent failure by family court judges to follow the law. The result of this pattern of malfeasance, she argues, is that well-off men find it easy to take advantage of the women they are divorcing. Most of her proposed reforms are debatable, but plausible: reducing judicial discretion, creating citizen review boards to monitor judges and lawyers, applying rules requiring clearer disclosure by lawyers of what they have done to earn their fees, and bringing lawyers under the authority of consumer protection agencies. An outsider to the legal profession, Winner has sharp perceptions of some strange lawyer customs, such as failing to itemize fees and having young associates perform the work for which a high-profile partner has contracted. She also, however, underestimates the degree to which bad judicial and legal practice are caused by sloth or incompetence, rather than avarice or cruelty. She seems shocked that lawyers share the general population's regard for profit, and she ignores the rapaciousness of many clients, including abandoned wives. That said, however, this book has much good advice on protecting oneself from unscrupulous or sloppy lawyers. ($50,000 ad/promo; author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
