A Guest Column by Denise Tamir, Esq.
Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil and Family Mediator

Denise Tamir Esq.

So here I am a middle aged attorney and mediator, racking my brains to find ways to use social media to market and expand my practice. Until recently, it seemed a nobler endeavor than say, showing the world my latest vacation pics or posting my daily musings about politics and society’s frustrations. That was until the true power of the new social media became apparent to the world in the overthrow of a Tunisian dictator who ruled with an iron fist, and now, the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt after a 30 year rule; two revolutions that would not have been possible without Twitter and Facebook.

Frankly, it was my then college freshman daughter who first told me about the role of Twitter and Facebook as a new form of journalism following the Iranian election protests last year. She wrote a brilliant English paper, the premise of which was that just as a democracy requires a free press, dictatorships require complete control of the press and media; and in an age when cell phones make any man on the street a potential reporter, dictatorships will find it increasingly difficult to maintain power with loss of control of the “press” through the social media revolution.

But even she didn’t foresee the degree to which social media could first rally the average citizen to active engagement, then help dissidents coordinate the location and logistics of protests, and finally, show the world the graphic images of violent protest despite the government’s best efforts. Clearly, the reaction of the Iranian, Tunisian, and now Egyptian governments in shutting down the internet and cell phone service demonstrates how big a role social media played in these revolutions.

In retrospect, I marvel at my daughter’s insight to recognize the power of a media that most view as frivolous and mundane. I am also humbled by the courage of young techno savvy protestors from Iran to Egypt who not only have an exceptional understanding of the technologies at their disposal, but also the courage and intellect to use them for a much greater national purpose. And here I sit wondering if I am brigt enough, or have enough grit to set up my first business blog!

I am sure inspiring a middle aged attorney/mediator to take risks and put her voice out there on the internet was the farthest thing from their minds as protestors took to the streets in Tunisia and Egypt, but what excuse could possibly remain to keep any of us from using Facebook and Twitter in more constructive ways than sharing the minutia of our mundane lives with the world.

About the Author: Denise Tamir is a Family Mediator with The Family Law Cooperative, a group of caring professionals who offer a cooperative approach to divorce and other family disputes. Contact her at the Family Law Cooperative at (786) 236-6281.

Guest Blog by Denise Tamir, Esq.
Certified Circuit Civil and Family Mediator

From the minute I heard about the USA network’s new series Fairly Legal, I have been waiting with wide eyed anticipation for its premiere.  As I read the series synopsis about Kate Reed, a “recovering attorney who, frustrated with the rigidity of the legal system, quit practicing law to pursue justice from a different angle,” I instantly felt a kinship.  I was practicing personal injury attorney until I took a hiatus to raise my children years ago.  Rather than rigidity, it was the cost and pace of litigation and what I saw it do to the parties involved, that lead me to pursue a full time career as a mediator when I returned to the workforce.  I was curious to see how they could make my new profession exciting enough for a weekly TV series.  

USA did it the way they have done it in their other shows; by using the featured profession as a contrivance to take a quirky, funny, or clever character into the lives of complete strangers to solve their problems.  Burn Notice (spy), Royal Pains (doctor), In Plain Sight (US marshal), White Collar (con artist), and Psych (a very observant police consultant) all employ the same formula.  I don’t know why I thought this show would present a more accurate picture of what mediators really do than Royal Pains does for doctors.

In the first few minutes of the show, our heroine, Kate Reed, mediates a hold up by convincing the robber to accept $50.00 worth of beer and beef jerky to walk away.  She then mediates a contract for her deceased father’s law firm with a father and son who don’t see eye to eye on their company’s future.  That case spills over into an auto accident DUI involving the son and an African American Yale University bound teenager whose future is jeopardized by the accident.  A fourth case, thrown in for its comic relief, involves a wedding proposal gone awry when the bride lost the heirloom engagement ring and the groom sues the confederates he hired to handle his wacky proposal scheme. 

As expected, using intellect, wit, and chutzpah, Kate Reed resolves all four farfetched cases by shows end and still has time to sleep with her lawyer ex-husband, do battle with her lawyer/ step mother/boss, have lunch with her lawyer/brother, and shmooze with her lawyer/father’s ashes for good measure.  Do you see a pattern here? The only non lawyer in her life is her legal assistant.  She is also jailed for contempt, for arriving four minutes late to a hearing, by a judge who seems to take it a little too personally that our heroine left the legal profession to pursue one that is merely “Fairly Legal.”

This article is the first in a two-part review. Watch for the second article next week.

About the Author: Denise Tamir is a Family Mediator with The Family Law Cooperative, a group of caring professionals who offer a cooperative approach to divorce and other family disputes.  Contact her at the Family Law Cooperative at (786) 236-6281.

Many law school graduates who accepted a deferred start date from a major law firm turned to public interest law on an interim basis while awaiting their new job. Now some of these same attorneys have decided to stay in public service, according to a New York Times story titled “Young Lawyers Turn to Public Service.”