Julia M. Garwood

SAN DIEGO - Sometimes Julia M. Garwood telephones divorce clients just to check on how they’re doing. “I just talk to them and find out where they’re emotionally at, which I don’t think a lot of attorneys do,” she said.

She tells them she’s not billing for her time on the call. “I just want to find out how you’re doing, how’re you holding up, that sort of thing.”

Occasionally, the clients respond with questions about things they don’t understand or don’t like, such as producing detailed financial records. Other times, Garwood just gives them some reassurance.

Or if clients are worried about how long their cases are taking, she might tell them that discovery with forensic accountants takes time. “It’s not going to be done overnight, but it’s not going to take five years.”

“I do try to give people the reality of what to expect,” she said.

Garwood and her eight-lawyer firm handle all types of family law matters except adoption, and they represent all sorts of clients, including the very wealthy. She describes Garwood Reeves as a family firm; her son, Casey Reeves, is the managing partner. They represent all kinds of clients, she said, including very wealthy stars of the industry.

“I’m hired to be objective, but also … empathetic and caring and to get [clients] where they want to go.”

“People need empathy. People need you to care about them, and that’s what I try to do.”

It was that attitude that brought her into family law. Earlier in her life, she worked with her father, a contractor. In 1981, she obtained her own license as a general contractor and as a real estate broker.

After law school, she went to work for a firm handling construction defect litigation. “I started taking all the divorce cases at that firm, and I really liked it.” She opened her own firm in 1989.

Garwood has been on inactive status as a contractor for some time. The knowledge she gained becoming a real estate broker is still useful in her practice today, she said.

Sometimes caring for clients requires giving them bad news. In one matter years ago, a client called to tell her his ex-wife had found his memorabilia from his military service and his “maple leaves.” Those turned out to be Canadian gold coins worth about $190,000 at the time. Because he had hidden them during the divorce, a court awarded them entirely to the wife.

“Tell the truth,” she said. “It’s not worth not telling the truth.”

Divorce clients generally want and expect her to be discreet. But occasionally, they breach their own confidentiality.

Garwood said sometimes if she is with a friend at a concert or other event, a former client will approach and tell the friend, “She did such a great job for me.”

Sometimes they don’t approach. “I don’t acknowledge them unless they want to be acknowledged,” she said.

Other times, she doesn’t recognize them at first. “They look so different because they’re happy.”

- DON DEBENEDICTIS