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that client doesn't turn into 'I'm them,' lose my objectivity, and go through ev- ery up and down to the extreme that they do," she says. Indeed, the opportunity to have an intimacy with your clients that she doesn't imagine you can have in other ar- eas of law is one of the things that Cameron finds so compelling about work- ing in this field. "People come at a real time of need with their emotions kind of really out front and all around them," she says. "Of course, my role isn't the same as the best friend or the sister or the hairdresser who hops onto the emotional roller-coaster." In a sense, she says, her role is to be vive in this work. "I think there's a certain thought that, yes, in order to work professionally, you do need to keep people at arm's length and you do actually need to try to stay As soon as you can manage some of maintain objectivity, but not so much that you don't really care about their situation." – LYNN REIERSON both dispassionate and compassionate in giving clients support. "Certainly you don't want to say, 'I'll take on all your stuff and then take all your stuff home with me.' No one would ever sur- away from the emotional piece," she says. "I think the danger, actually, of doing that, is the emotional piece is still going to run the settlement attempts, and until you have started to really have conversa- tions with clients that take that into ac- count, your opportunities for settlement are going to be hampered." "The trick is to remove yourself to the degree required to your clients' reactions, it becomes easier to manage your own emotional ups and downs as you go along with your client, says Reierson. "I don't think you can do an effective job as a family law lawyer if you're completely removed from the ups and downs of your client's feelings about the process," she says. The first level of dealing with a client's emotional is- sues is in fully understanding that you, as counsel, do not control the outcomes, she says, as other factors, such as the client and the court, can impact this. "There's a lot more to a family law practice than the outcome," she says. "In family law, there are many, many process issues that affect how your client feels about the outcome, as much, in many ways, as the outcome," she says. At the same time, there are certain things that family law lawyers have to do www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com JUNE 2008 43