Walk into any state bar conference and watch the conversations at the breaks. The practitioners who clearly know each other are usually the ones who have built reputations in specific areas. First Things First is a specific area that compounds well.
Intended for family-law attorneys comparing their current approach to First Things First with what experienced practitioners in the area actually do.
For family-law attorneys, First Things First usually shows up in active matters with specific procedural deadlines. The work has to integrate with discovery timelines, motion calendars, and (in litigated matters) trial preparation. Practitioners who carve out time for First Things First analysis outside the immediate procedural pressure produce better work than those who squeeze it between filings.
How First Things First engagements begin
Document the intake. Either contemporaneous notes you keep in the file or a follow-up summary email to the client. First Things First engagements involve enough small decisions across long timelines that working from memory six months in produces errors.
The intake conversation for First Things First matters does most of the work of the engagement. Practitioners who run a structured intake — covering the client’s objectives, the timeline they’re working with, the co-professionals on the case, the data and documents needed, and the form the deliverable will take — produce engagement letters that hold their shape through the matter. Practitioners who run an unstructured intake produce engagement letters that get rewritten or absorb scope creep silently.
What happens in the middle phase
Analytical work during the middle phase often produces interim findings that affect the engagement scope. A finding the client didn’t anticipate may open new questions; a finding consistent with expectations may close lines of inquiry. The engagement letter should anticipate these scope adjustments and provide a path for handling them without requiring full re-papering.
The pacing of the middle phase depends heavily on third-party responsiveness. Some First Things First engagements can complete the middle phase in 30 days; others stretch to four months because a critical document custodian is slow to respond. Practitioners who actively chase third-party documents — rather than waiting for them — keep matters moving meaningfully faster than passive practitioners. For deeper reference, see ABA Family Law Section resources.
How the matter ends
Most First Things First deliverables follow a consistent format that practitioners refine over multiple matters. An executive summary at the top. Background and scope. Methodology. Findings. Conclusions and recommendations. Appendices with supporting documentation. Practitioners who maintain a template they refine engagement by engagement produce stronger deliverables faster than those who reinvent the format each time.
Review the deliverable with a peer before it goes out, especially in your first dozen First Things First matters. A senior practitioner or a peer who has done similar work will catch things you didn’t notice — both substantive issues in the analysis and presentation issues that affect how the deliverable lands.
Common variations across matters
High-conflict matters require different communication and documentation discipline than cooperative ones. In high-conflict First Things First engagements, every communication may eventually be reviewed by opposing counsel or a judge; the practitioner needs to write as if the matter will be litigated, even when it won’t be.
Matters with unsophisticated clients require more explanation, slower pacing, and more deliverable walk-through time than matters with sophisticated clients. Practitioners who run the same engagement structure regardless of client sophistication produce uneven outcomes; calibrating to the client is part of professional judgment.
The honest summary of First Things First for family-law attorneys: it rewards depth, it punishes shortcuts, and it compounds across years for practitioners willing to invest in the long arc.
How VennBoard fits in
Practitioners who handle First Things First repeatedly find that the back-office infrastructure is the difference between a practice that scales and one that absorbs the practitioner. VennBoard provides the structured workspace that lets you focus on the substantive work — the part that actually compounds.
Practitioners interested in seeing VennBoard’s case-management infrastructure for First Things First work can learn more at VennBoard.com.
Further reading
IRS Publication 504 (Divorced or Separated Individuals)
ABA Family Law Section resources