Even though Maren and I handle all sorts of civil matters, we do have quite a few family law clients, and as a mother of two that has been married for fourteen years, I have not lived what most of our clients are going through, and that was why working with a firm that handled family law did not initially appeal to me. I started my career as a paralegal right out of college working for a firm that specialized in estate planning, trusts and probate. I stayed in that field for almost fifteen years, ultimately ending up as a deputy clerk at the Cabarrus County Courthouse in the estates department just before joining Godley, Glazer & Funk in March of 2021. Maren had to beg me to come work with her for YEARS before I finally agreed, and my hesitation was based mostly on the fact that I didn’t think I had anything in common with clients going through divorce or custody battles, and partly on the fact that I am a bit of a perfectionist and was worried about having to start over in learning multiple new practice areas almost fifteen years into my career. Maren was relentless, though, and as it turns out, my experience in estate planning, trusts and probate (and especially working directly with people trying to manage their loved ones’ estates at the courthouse) made the transition to working in litigation quite smooth. I have come to love having something different to tackle every day, and I truly enjoy seeing the transition our clients make from the time they first come meet with us until we can finally close their file (at least for a little while). I always want to do everything I can to make sure our clients leave here better than they came in, and while that is quite stressful and frequently means I am responding to clients on nights and weekends, it’s really all worth it. Being a native of Mooresville, I am also frequently meeting and working with people that I have known for years (or I went to school with their children, or their father used to work with my mother, etc.) so everything I do has a huge impact on my personal life as well as theirs, and it’s a delicate but highly rewarding balance.