I'm in Costa Rica.  I'm trying a case.  But not today.

Today I'm in Domincal, actually about two miles above Dominical, sheltered by a house on the edge of the mountain.  The house looks out across the Pacific Ocean. 

On Wednesday I return to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica.  I was there on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday getting ready to and trying a Hague Convention case.  Perhaps you've heard about it in the news.  On Wednesday, our trial resumes.

The parties are a Cobb County couple, married 11 years.  My client is the husband/father.  The mother is a Costa Rican by birth, but became a US Citizen many years ago.  As she has done every year for years and years, she took their two daughters, 10 and 5, back to Heredia, Costa Rica, Marietta's Sister City. The mother took the girls home for the annual visit to her family.  Only this time, the mother and the girls did not come back.

The mother gave no warning to the father.  "See you in three weeks.  Love you." But such was not her plan.  Such was not her heart. 

Like some women in mid-life crisis, she had renewed an old love, a college flame, a flame in Costa Rica.  Over the six months before she left, the mother and her renewed beau rekindled and stoked the passion of their decades old romance. When mother left, she was never coming back.  She was to start her life over, her new life, her new life in Costa Rica with her new man.

Such is life.  But mother took the girls and intended for their father to never see them again.

Their father, my client, by all reports, is a man of exceptional character and exceptional devotion and attention to his daughers.  All the family friends spoke exceptionally well of the father, his committment, his love for those very special little girls.  Also, the family friends spoke well of the mother, which is why I have such a great comfort level with their reports.  My client is above reproach.

Not until we filed our Hague action in November of 2011 did the mother raise the pectre of abuse.  Under Article 13, a judge can deny return if there is a grave risk to the child.  Mother feels this is her trump card.  However there exists no evidence whatsover and no one mother ever confided in, before she was caught in her torrid affair, ever heard strains of mother's complaints or saw any suggestion of such tension in this family. An Article 13 defense is a tired old song in Hague law.

Now we are in Costa Rica, pursuing our Hague action in an effort to bring the girls home.

Our Costa Rican Judge is fantastic.  She appears exceptionally well versed in Hague law.  She holds no faith in mother's specious claims of abuse.  She well understands mother's dark heart in depriving her daughters of their father's love, care and support.  She well understands the mother's complete disregard of her daughter's well being by snatching them up from the community they have known, the community they excelled in, the community that gave them sustenance every day upon this earth.

So on Wednesday, after the Costa Rican' national holiday, our trial in San Jose will resume; our struggle to have the girls sent home will continue. 

And I am so blessed and so thankful, to have the Costa Rican Court's permission to try this case, my client's faith in our eventual success and in the greater powers that be for my opportunity to be here at this moment, trying this case, in Paradise.

Michael Manely

In this season of judicial elections, many attorneys are lining up behind the persons they think are best suited for the Bench, which is to say that we are writing checks to help our favorite judges' campaign coffers.  The message, then, that a given attorney should be hired because they are cozy with a judge in light of campaign contributions is a naked claim that justice can be bought with money or with friendship. 

First, let me assure you that there are very few jurists who can be persuaded by anything other than a good argument.  Now, we can debate what constitutes a good argument but my point is that the number of judges who rule by favoritism is so small that is relatively unlikely that you'll run into them. Further, those who will take a bribe is, to my knowledge, zero.

So I'm all the more alarmed that some attorneys are touting their access since access equalling persuasion seldom exists. It is a false marketing ploy and suggests sinister and substantially untrue things about the Bench and Bar. 

As I review The Manely Firm's literature, I'm concerned that it could be read to suggest favorable access.  I don't mean it to.  "Local Knowledge, Local Courts" certainly means that we know the Judge who will decide your case and we know their proclivities.  But any sense that we can or would "nudge, nudge, wink, wink" the judge to have them rule in our favor is right out. And any suggestion that any attorney has the ability to get a judge to rule their way because they bowl with them or break bread with them or they attend church together is preposterous.  Judges almost always are better than that.

Again, don't read this as an absolute.  There are some jurists who do horrible, wicked things.  Many of those are in jail.  Others will eventually be, or will at least sent off the Bench in disgrace.  But they are the exception, not the rule. And any attorney who uses a sales pitch to convince you otherwise doesn't deserve your continued attention.

So, for judges it is what you know far, far more than who you know.  The practice of law is a quirkly business.  The history we build with judges doesn't make them better friends, it creates a deeper respect.  This respect is born from and built upon what we have known and what we have done year after year, decade after decade.

Michael Manely

Davy was one of those constants in life, and, by all accounts, extremely genuine. That boy doing the shuffle dance and grinning from ear to ear was the real deal. His smile was trully infectuous.  Even though all us boys were jealous of him (the girls my age dearly adored him) I couldn't help but admire the strength of his pleasantness.  In a time when dour and depressed and despondent were an emerging trend, still in vogue to this day, Davy was there with irrepressible optimism.

And the Monkey's music was really kicking.  Listen to many of their songs and there is great quality there.  Sure, the early stuff was written by some of the best song writers in Hollywood like Neil Diamond.  Most artists still don't write their own tunes.  But the boys found their voice and their musical talents for the brief period they were on the air, and carried enough clout to see their songs produced and promoted.  If you get the chance, listen.

A few years ago I had the wonderful opportunity of attending a Davy Jones concert.  We were visiting my sister who knows my musical tastes well.  She bought us tickets to the event which was hosted at a relatively small venue. After the show, Davy came down and spent several hours with his fans.  He was generous with himself and gracious in his disposition.  His concert was enchanting.  His presence was, as he appears to be, most pleasant.

Davy, from the bottom of my heart, for all those hours I spent hanging out on the sofa watching your antics and the many more hours I spent with my headphones on plugged into your tunes, I will miss the brilliant energy you brought to our planet.

Michael Manely

We were recently retained by someone sued for contempt for $10,000 which was still owed to the other party.  As we dove deeper into the case, we discovered that our client was owed $35,000 from the other party.  As that case developed, don't you know that the opposing counsel received quite a call from his client. Don't you know that the opposing party learned and learned and learned times 25,000, just how stupid a mistake he had made to ever raise the issue in the first place.

Not too long ago, we were retained when a fellow filed a modification action, as he later told the judge, just to prove a point.  Unfortunately for him, we found evidence of his contempt stemming from the Final Judgment and Decree which totalled well over $250,000.  That is a gift that keeps on giving.

Many biblical references come to mind.  I've cited one above.  Another one is, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  A non biblical reference is, "people in glass houses should not throw stones."  One never cited, because I just made it up, is: "Tread softly on your neighbor's grass when it is well fertilized by your own dog."  Okay, I realize why that one is never cited. It's fairly lame.

The moral to the story, though, is just because you go looking for a fight, that doesn't mean you're going to win it.  Before you pick a fight, get a real good assessment of what your likelyhood of winning is.  And if you are having to defend a fight you didn't bring, get a really good, outside the box assessment of all of your options.  More often than not, we have found the hidden gem that makes your ex rue the day they ever stooped so low as to go back into court with you.

Michael Manely

One of the critical efforts we make is to develop personal relationships with the people in the countries in which we remotely and/or directly practice law.  Today we met with the Clerk of Civil Courts to have a long and fruitful discussion about the Hague Convention and service of process under the Hague, which is handled exclusively through his office.  We had a wide ranging discussion about Cayman's judiciary, their practice and how a Cayman Island final appeal is still handled before the Privy Council in London.  We toured the Courthouse, viewed the Courtrooms, evaluating their technological savvy (yes, they can handle video conferencing),  and assessed different agencies that review and report on courthouse action, always essential when you need day by day intelligence during the pendency of a case. 

After our appointments at court, we sat with natives of the Island, some of them decendants of Cayman Islanders from centuries ago.  We spent a long time enjoying the hospitalities of Pedro St. James and a decendant of the man who built the great house back in the 1700's. We learned about life on the island, not only its extensive, rich history, but its present pace. What it means to live in Grand Cayman now.

We moved from there to Bodden town where we sampled local wares. They made me the freshest most sumptuous fruit smoothy I have ever had!  We enjoyed our conversation as the local band was warming up for the Friday night festivities.  

Next we drove up the center of the island, past the Botanical Gardens, at which we had spent considerable time in some days ago, then driving along the north shore, heading west on out to Rum Point.  While Rum Point is particularly pretty, the picturesque small inlets of beach and sun setting brilliantly over the water, the entire north shore looks lost, derelict. There are certainly examples of significant wealth hanging on, but so many places were abandoned or for sale that, rather than seem well out into the hinterlands of Grand Cayman, the place seemed more abandoned, lonely.  Even out here, you can see the effects of the world wide recession.

Soon enough we headed back through the island and into Georgetown to enjoy dinner out on the water.  We didn't keep late hours there for we wanted to get back to the hotel to take our first walk on the beach.  We were successful! Hence, I am blogging again at this obscene hour, but thankfully from my hotel room.

International family law has many perks.  One of the best is meeting the judges and clerks of the far away courts in which we work.  Another is spending time with and getting to know the people who live there, in that wonderful far away place.  Not only do Shelia and I dearly enjoy getting to know such fantastic people in all corners of the globe, and not only do we know the value of having such one on one connections which only strengthen through the years, but the on the ground learning we gain from being there, touching the Earth from whence a case arises, gives us immeasurable understanding.

Our trip is drawing closer to its close.  Our seminar wraps up tomorrow and we fly home on Sunday.  We are looking forward to being home after being gone from our boys this long week, but the education, the experience we have derived from here, is invaluable.

Michael Manely