When my wife of over 25 years filed for divorce, I was at a loss for how to deal with the many demands put forth in the petition. Part of my challenge was living in another state from where my case was filed, and I was unfamiliar with how differently things work in Oregon. I hired Joel's firm based o...n a friend's recommendation. I first met him at a family mediation, a confrontation for which I was ill prepared, and it concerned me that I would have no time to first meet Joel, then dive into the many issues which I faintly understood. On the fly, and much to my surprise, he handled every objectionable issue in the meeting with quiet confidence. It totally set me at ease to see how effectively he pushed back and caused the terms of my temporary settlement to be entirely satisfactory to me. For the final settlement, he took the lead and penned a document which put my wife and her lawyer perpetually on the defensive, even though I was the respondent in this case. Long before the final settlement, the bulk of my concerns for this case were allayed. Whenever objections to the terms of our settlement were brought up, Joel helped me find a good strategy for putting forth revised terms which were palatable to the opposition. Joel competently set the pace for the direction my case was to go, and he was good at holding the opposition's feet to the fire without being hostile or adversarial. That especially included the end game, where he was instrumental in getting the final settlement to take place at all, as the opposition was working furtively at dragging out the case in order to benefit financially from the terms of the temporary settlement, which were far more lucrative than the final settlement which he had drafted. In the end, my goals for the case were met, and his handling of it enabled me to continue having a good working relationship with my former spouse. It was not just fiscal assets that he helped to protect, but more importantly, the parenting time with my kids. Joel helped to make this stressful and difficult process as smooth and positive as it was for me. I highly recommend his services to you.