Divorce Southern Style: McGinnis & Chambers fight million-dollar battles with dashing diplomacy

When it comes to family matters, perhaps no other word cuts to the heart of a couple’s lifelong commitment than the dreaded “D” word. Jealousy strikes. Tempers rage. Tears flow. Even Hollywood’s comic take on the topic – pitting Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas in a death-do-us-part dual in “War of the Roses” – wasn’t too far off the mark. Love can be a battlefield.

Jim McGinnis and Pete Chambers know well the reality of divorce. As two of Atlanta’s top family law attorneys, they spend most of their waking hours immersed in it at McGinnis & Chambers, LLC, their domestic boutique law firm in Midtown.

With a combined 50 years of experience in the trenches, the practicing partners understand that the road to resolution is a rough one. But it’s also one that can be successfully navigated with competence and compassion – and a commitment that goes far beyond the million-dollar settlements and verdicts they’ve secured for their clientele.

“Most of the time when people come in to see me for the first time, there is a hurricane of emotion circling all around them and they really don’t know which direction is up,” said Eugene P. Chambers III (known to clients and colleagues as “Pete”), who represents professional athletes, TV personalities, prominent surgeons and their wives, among others. “It is my job to not only try to protect and secure their financial future as best I can, but also to help them find their way back to sanity, peace and calm, out of the storm.

“To me, it is never just another divorce case, with another set of facts, another file, another client. It is a human being with real hurt, anger, trauma or fear,” he continued. “So I try to provide more than just tossing legal advice to them, but to actually be aware of and sympathetic to their total emotional needs. One of the nicest compliments that I have ever received is from a client who told me, ‘Thanks for helping me find my way.’ ”

His partner concurs. “I represent people during the most difficult periods of their lives,” said James J. McGinnis, who has extensive trial experience in divorce and custody cases. “It is my job to provide my clients with the support, guidance, advice and, most importantly, advocacy to help them through their divorces.”

The two have even limited their small firm to seven, so they can closely monitor the details of everything that goes on in the practice and devote the necessary amount of time to each client. Spending enough time on a case is always important, particularly when representing clients with estates toppling $100 million and alimony benefits in excess of $50,000 per month.

Regardless of a person’s level of wealth, money does, of course, become a key factor in divorce cases.

“I tell my clients in their initial consultation that there will be three issues in their divorce,” McGinnis said. “The first one is money, the second one is money and the third one is money.”

So, don’t try to hide it, he added, because good divorce lawyers can always find it. “I am fond of telling my clients that ‘we are not going to buy cattle by candlelight.’”

One of the biggest concerns of divorcing parents is the welfare of their children. Though there are few true custody cases, the needs of the children should always govern the decision-making process, the attorneys advise.

“Don’t forget the children – their age, emotional state, needs, desires, concern and love for both parents,” Chambers said. “Don’t expose them to anything that they don’t have to see or hear about their parents’ divorce.”

“If you base your decision on what is in the best interests of the children then you make the right choice,” McGinnis added. “For example, it is not smart to begin dating and have your new friend meet your children while the divorce is pending. It upsets the children and it upsets the other parent.”

He recommends not dating at all during the divorce process and certainly not remarrying for a couple of years following the final decree. While half of all first marriages are statistically doomed, the odds are even worse for those who remarry within two years of a divorce, with an 80% likelihood of failure.

Unfortunately, folks don’t always think with their heads.

“The biggest mistake I think both husbands and wives make is taking their spouses for granted,” said McGinnis, adding that his own marriage of 18 years has been strengthened from being a divorce lawyer – and being conscious of what couples do wrong.

“Often years go by when either spouse engages in behavior that most normal people would find to be unacceptable. When the aggrieved spouse finally decides to leave the marriage, the spouse who has been taking the other for granted is usually shocked.”

Indeed, many surprises are often revealed during divorce proceedings.

“Practicing in the area of family law sure does prove that real life is better than fiction,” Chambers quipped. “We see it all.” That includes one husband’s private collection of 230 pairs of high-heeled designer shoes – Prada and Gucci to Manolo Blahnik.

The lawyers themselves have been dumbfounded by many a straying spouse’s utter lack of discretion.

“It still amazes me what people do and then put on film these days. If you are going to be doing what it is you are doing, just don’t put it on film! And don’t write about it,” Chambers said. “I would say that the computer (and emailing) has caused more problems for parties in a divorce than anything.”

Though the partners maintain the utmost respect for client confidentiality, much of a divorce is a matter of public record, with allegations (both actual and vengeful), settlements and all the dishy details there for the taking.

Divorce is rarely a pleasant affair, but it is a survivable one.

“Going through a divorce is like walking down a dark path in the forest and you are trying to get to that sunny field that you can’t yet see at the end of the path,” Chambers said. “It is a goal-oriented process.”

And one of the main goals should be to settle a case, if at all possible, leaving trial as the last resort, he added.

Regardless of the proceedings, honesty is always the best policy.

“If you are honest and you take a reasonable position, you will come out ahead and you will attain your goals,” Chambers said. “Be fair, don’t just try ‘to win.’ There is no ‘win’ for either party. Getting divorced should be about being fair and dissolving a partnership and not about revenge, winning or punishment.”